EDRG has been involved with colour ringing Avocet chicks since 2011 and below is a resume of those ringed, the majority with conventional colour rings but more recently using leg flags, and their recapture history.
EDRG-ringed birds have a Yellow flag (with two digits) on the left leg above the ‘knee’ and plain yellow ring above right. Birds with colour rings have a combination of two rings on each leg, again above the ‘knee’, for identification in the field. The left leg is read first, top colour followed by bottom colour and then similarly with the right leg. For example, the Avocet chick on the top far right of the photographs would be identified as LB, OO.
From 2016 onwards, EDRG is now only using leg flags.
For the purposes of the list below, these are the codes for the colour rings used.
R = Red; B = Blue; L = Lime; O = Orange;
Click here for details of the ringed Avocet Chicks
Yellow Flag FL
Chris Pennock 
Ringed as one of a brood of three, Yellow flag FL was ringed at Marfield Gravel Pits near Masham, on 9 July 2023 (siblings are FK and FN) and was sighted on 25 January 2024 at St. Osyth Stone, Essex. This is 326km (202 miles) SSE of Marfield.
This is the first sighting since FL left Marfield the question being, has it wintered further south (Holland or Portugal?) and is making its way back north? Will it return to the Ripon/Masham area or go somewhere completely different to breed this year?
EW28899 (Yellow Flag DV)
Ringed on the 28 June 2016, Yellow Flag DV has been sighted on numerous occasions including:
Alkborough Flats, North Lincolnshire on 13 August 2016, 22 June 2017, 4 and 6 August 2017 and 2 October 2017
Breydon Water, Norfolk on 6 and 16 September 2017
Marshside RSPB, Southport on 24 March 2018
DV was seen at Marshide RSPB, Southport on the 9 March 2020 almost one month earlier than in 2018!
Below is the recapture history of some of the Avocet chicks ringed at Nosterfield.
EW28637 (Yellow Flag DZ)
Ringed on 24 July 2016 and sighted at Nosterfield at the following times.
13 August 2016, 18 August 2016 and 9 September 2016
EW28748 (Yellow Flag D3)
Ringed on 16 July 2018 and sighted at Alkborough Flats, North Lincolnshire on the 11 August 2018.
EW28644 (Colour ringed R/B, L/L)
Ringed on 17 July 2011 and sighted at the following times and places.
Newsham Pond, Richmond North Yorkshire 30 May 2013
Alkborough Flats, North Lincolnshire on 6 August 2013
Lytchett Bay, Poole, Dorset on 25 January 2014, 16 and 19 February 2014, 8 and 12 February 2015 and 11 January 2018.
EW28645 (Colour ringed R/B, O/L)
Ringed on the 17 July 2011 and sighted at the following times and places.
Langwith House, North Yorkshire on the 13 April 2012 and the 23 September 2012
Nosterfield NR on the 25 and 27 May 2012, 22 March 2014, 28 April 2014 and recaptured on the 22 May 2015
Alkborough Flats, North Lincolnshire on the 30 June 2012, 14 September 2012, 1 July 2013 and 2 September 2013
Frampton Marsh, Lincolnshire on 9 May 2014
EW28646 (Colour ringed R/B, O/O)
Ringed on 21 July 2011 and sighted at the following times and places
Alkborough Flats, North Lincolnshire on 30 August 2011, 19 April 2013 and 29 June 2015
EW28719 (Colour ringed L/B, R/O)
Ringed on 25 May 2014 and sighted at the following times and places.
Alkborough Flats, North Lincolnshire on 31 July 2014
Orfordness, Suffolk on 21 February 2016 and 13 March 2016
Little Downham, near Ely on 5 April 2016
Newshan Pond, Richmond, North Yorkshire on 18 and 21 April 2016 and 10 and 14 June 2016
Nosterfield NR on 21 May 2016
EW28737 (Colour ringed L/B, B/R)
Ringed on 14 June 2014 and sighted at Langwith House, North Yorkshire on 22 July 2014
EW28738 (Colour ringed L/B, B/B)
Ringed on 15 June 2014 and sighted at Alkborough Flats, North Lincolnshire on 28 July 2014
EW28898 (Colour ringed L/B, O/O)
Ringed on 28 June 2016 and sighted at the following times and places.
Coalhouse Fort, Easy Tilbury, Thurrock on 12 and 15 April 2017
Snettisham RSPB, Norfolk on 13 July 2017
Titchwell RSPB, Norfolk on 7 August 2017
EW28899 (Yellow Flag DV)
Ringed on 28 June 2016 and sighted at the following times and places.
Alkborough Flats, North Lincolnshire on 13 August 2016, 22 June 2017, 4 and 6 August 2017 and 2 October 2017
Breydon Water, Norfolk on 6 and 16 September 2017
Marshside RSPB, Southport on 24 March 2018
EW28900 (Yellow Flag DX)
Ringed on 28 June 2016 and sighted at the following times and places.
Alkborough Flats, North Lincolnshire on 13 August 2016
Saltholme Pools, Stockton-on-Tees on 17 May 2017 and 10 May 2018
Fairburn Ings, Castleford on 26 May 2018
Baie de Sallenelles, Calvados, France on the 19 October 2018 where it was found dead
The following two Avocets were sighted/recovered at Nosterfield NR by EDRG
EY04834 ringed on 24 June 2014 at Greenabella Marsh, Hartlepool and sighted by EDRG at Nosterfield on 2 July 2017
EY98071 ringed on 10 June 2015 at Seal Sands, Hartlepool and sighted by EDRG on the 2 July 2017.
Map showing EDRG Avocets which were seen at Alkborough Flats, North Lincolnshire
Below is a UK distribution map for the above birds.
Robin Ward writes :
The timing of visits is evidence that the seven Avocets have visited Alkborough for post-breeding moult. Avocets form post-breeding moulting flocks on favoured sites, with British breeders joining flocks both at home and across the North Sea. From late October, Avocets move to their wintering sites. The Alkborough / Reads Island area is a well-known important Avocet post breeding/moulting gathering.
Sightings later in the year conform with the known dispersal of birds to some of the well-established wintering sites at Orfordness (Suffolk), North Thames Estuary (Coalhouse Fort) and Poole Harbour, with sightings of birds returning through the Wash (e.g. Frampton Marsh) and Cambridgeshire (Ely).
The individual sighted at Marshside (Southport, Merseyside) in late March, is a good example of an immature wandering, one which probably winters in East Anglia or south of, moulting at Alkborough. Avocets generally breed when 2 or 3 years of age.
EW28900 Yellow Flag DX, though sadly found dead, is the first record for EDRG of an Avocet been found in France.
East Dales Ringing Group 