Hungarian Black Stork tours Scotland

Having been annoyed by the repeated sightings of a Black Stork all over Scotland, it was a pleasure to finally get some details! Photos of the bird on the Outer Hebrides showed a ring, but the code unfortunately couldn't be read.


By the time it made it to Shetland a few days later it was a bit more obliging though, and Mike Pennington managed to read the combination - 50P9. This was, remarkably, a bird ringed in the nest in Hungary in June 2007. It was seen again in Hungary in September 2008 and then in The Netherlands in March 2009, making a beeline for the UK. OK, so not quite a beeline, as this bird will presumably still have wintered in Africa, edging slowly westwards each spring migration.


View Black Stork 50P9 in a larger map

It has toured Scotland since 10 May, but now it's made it to Shetland there isn't much land left for it to explore. This is our first ever recovery of a Black Stork and nice to have one from such an exotic location!


Thanks to Mike Pennington for the details and pics of this amazing record.