Abstract

While the majority of wintering Snow Buntings Plectrophenax nivalis in Britain are known to come from Iceland, the origins of some of the birds remain something of a mystery. This paper summarises the literature on the geographical variation and movements of this species, with particular reference to Siberian and high-Arctic populations, and documents two individuals in Norfolk that showed characters matching those described for birds from these regions. The paper suggests that, in the absence of ringing recoveries, field observations of such birds may still shed some light on where some of our Snow Buntings might be coming from.