Stormies to Ireland and the Faroes

We only caught two storm petrels in 2017, both on the same night  - 12th/13th August.

We've heard from the BTO that both of them been cauught again this summer - 100% return!

The first one we heard about was caught 328 days later at Copeland Bird Observatory, off the coast of Northern Ireland on 7th July - a direct distance of 260km.

The second control was a bit more exciting, our first from outside the UK. The first bird we caught last August was ringed by Sasha, a trainee ringer and it was caught again 363 days later on 10th August at Fleygarheyggjarnir, Dalur, on the island of Sandoy, one of the Faroe Island - 780km away


You can read about the night we ringed them here 

Much of the science behind bird ringing lies in the ring being found again, whether read by another ringer who has caught the bird, read in the field (for bigger birds) or found on a dead bird. Only a small percentage of the birds we ring are cuaght or found again, most of them are caught again by us in the same place, some are 'controlled' away from our site.

By precentage (of birds ringed) we've have had more revoveries of storm petrel than any other species we catch. This means they are good species to target for study as they generate valuable data.