When the Sea Empress ran aground in Milford Haven on 15 February 1996, it spilled 72,000 tonnes of crude oil into Carmarthen Bay (more here). The bay supports around 30% of the British wintering population of Common Scoter, often numbering over 10,000 birds.
Following the spill, 4,571 Common Scoter were found dead or dying, but many were also successfully rehabilitated, ringed and released. Although many of these were found quite close by, several have since been found in Europe (in blue below), including one unlucky bird found following the Tricolor spill in the southern North Sea!
View Sea Empress Common Scoters in a larger map
We have just received details of GF67015 (rehabilitated and ringed following the spill), shot in Russia in June 2009 (the red marker above), actually very close to where another bird was shot in May 2007. So it is encouraging to see that some of these birds are still alive and doing what they should after being successfully rehabilitated.
27 January 2010
25 January 2010
New longevity record for Red Kite
Just a gratuitous reason really to put up a nice picture of a Red Kite! We heard recently that 'Orange/Orange R' (below) is now the oldest BTO-ringed Red Kite.
More details about 'Orange/Orange R' can be found on the Welsh Red Kite Trust blog.
More details about 'Orange/Orange R' can be found on the Welsh Red Kite Trust blog.
22 January 2010
Winter Whitethroat ringed in Devon
After our brief mention of a winter Blackcap movement, this recent capture is far more bizarre!
On 17 January Jon Avon was ringing in his Devon garden and found this Whitethroat in his net! We're not sure of the age of the bird, but the colour of the eye and tail both suggest it might be a first-winter bird.
Amazingly, despite the recent Arctic conditions the bird was in really good condition, weighing in at 12.9g which is what you'd expect a Whitethroat to weigh in autumn.
Thanks to Jon for the photos and to find out what our migrants should be doing in the winter, check the blog here.
On 17 January Jon Avon was ringing in his Devon garden and found this Whitethroat in his net! We're not sure of the age of the bird, but the colour of the eye and tail both suggest it might be a first-winter bird.
Amazingly, despite the recent Arctic conditions the bird was in really good condition, weighing in at 12.9g which is what you'd expect a Whitethroat to weigh in autumn.
Thanks to Jon for the photos and to find out what our migrants should be doing in the winter, check the blog here.
20 January 2010
Snow Bunting mystery (now solved!)
*****MYSTERY INSTANTLY SOLVED!*****
We've had an instant response on this and it looks like this is a female bird ringed in Norfolk in February 2009 (not January 2005 as posted earlier).
We've also just heard a colour-ringed bird from the same Norfolk site was seen in France in October 2009, so this is now the SECOND record to France!
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We're being plagued by a mystery Snow Bunting seen in France recently. The bird was well photographed and obviously has a BTO ring, but what number?!
The bird was seen on the beach in Dunkerque on 13 December and thanks to the photos of Daniel Haubreux we have got as far as --84768 but can't seem to figure out the first two letters!
Hopefully we'll figure it out and will post an update here... This is our first Snow Bunting exchange with France (either way), with most movements involving Iceland (48), Belgium (12) and The Netherlands (11), though we have had birds go to Canada and Italy!
We've had an instant response on this and it looks like this is a female bird ringed in Norfolk in February 2009 (not January 2005 as posted earlier).
We've also just heard a colour-ringed bird from the same Norfolk site was seen in France in October 2009, so this is now the SECOND record to France!
******************************************
We're being plagued by a mystery Snow Bunting seen in France recently. The bird was well photographed and obviously has a BTO ring, but what number?!
The bird was seen on the beach in Dunkerque on 13 December and thanks to the photos of Daniel Haubreux we have got as far as --84768 but can't seem to figure out the first two letters!
Hopefully we'll figure it out and will post an update here... This is our first Snow Bunting exchange with France (either way), with most movements involving Iceland (48), Belgium (12) and The Netherlands (11), though we have had birds go to Canada and Italy!
19 January 2010
BTO Slav Grebe in Iceland
Just a quick post today, of a really nice recovery, if not current... We recently received news though of a Slavonian Grebe found dead in a fishing net in Iceland, and this is in fact only our third foreign movement.
FB12777 was ringed at a site near Inverness in October 2004 and found in June 2008 on Mývatn in central Iceland. This movement is quite the opposite of one other BTO bird which was also ringed near Inverness (in August 1983) and found dead in Italy in June 1984! The finding locations are shown in blue below.
View Slavonian Grebes in a larger map
The only movement 'the other way' is a bird ringed in Russia in July 1962 (on the wonderfully-named Lake Molotovskoye) and found oiled at Hinderwell, North Yorkshire in April 1963. It was cleabned and succesfully released (shown in red above).
FB12777 was ringed at a site near Inverness in October 2004 and found in June 2008 on Mývatn in central Iceland. This movement is quite the opposite of one other BTO bird which was also ringed near Inverness (in August 1983) and found dead in Italy in June 1984! The finding locations are shown in blue below.
View Slavonian Grebes in a larger map
The only movement 'the other way' is a bird ringed in Russia in July 1962 (on the wonderfully-named Lake Molotovskoye) and found oiled at Hinderwell, North Yorkshire in April 1963. It was cleabned and succesfully released (shown in red above).
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