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"I'd like to alert shorebird watchers to the fact that since 2005 Somchai Nimnuan and I have been banding and leg-flagging shorebirds in the Inner Gulf of Thailand at Samut Sakhon and Phetchaburi, in collaboration with the (Thai) Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plants Conservation, the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources and The Wetland Trust (UK).

If anybody is watching waders in S. Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore or Indonesia there is a slight chance that you may see some of our birds, all of which are flagged black over green on the right leg. Some of the Long-toed Stints additionally bear other colour-combinations on the left leg (usually two colour-bands) as they are the subjects of a more detailed study.

Two of our leg-flagged Common Redshanks were sighted last autumn, one in Penang and one in Singapore, even though relatively few were banded, and already this autumn one of our Common Redshanks banded in 2007, a juvenile, has been seen in Penang. The chances of further resightings must be higher this year as rather more have been banded - 42 Common Redshanks in just two mornings just a couple of weekends ago, and we are still catching a few each week.

Sightings should be reported online to http://www.tasweb.com.au/awsg/ using the form provided on that web-page, and the information will get back to us. Thanks."

"With the longer-legged waders, both flags are placed on the tibia. With smaller or shorter-legged waders, we put the black flag on the tibia and the green flag on the tarsus."