40°E

60°N

The recovery in Syria was the first for a British ringed Blackcap.  Scandinavian Blackcaps and those from populations to the east of 12º E migrate in an easterly direction towards Cyprus and the Levant. Blackcaps from populations in western Europe including Britain migrate in a south westerly direction towards southern France and Iberia. This recovery is difficult to explain in terms of population origin. Probably from one of the populations normally expected to migrate to the east in autumn, and when captured in Britain in May on return passage was too far west.
Clearly it survived and returned to its wintering area the next autumn and its subsequent return migration through Syria the following March might indicate its true origins more accurately. Although it came to an unlucky end by a hunter.