02/04/12 - A flying visit!

Yesterday we received a call from Jean Thorpe in which she told us of her latest new arrival....a Common Scoter!

Common Scoter

 

The RSPCA had been contacted after it had been found inland in a garden in Hull, which in fact was a bit of a coincidence as only yesterday Craig had been saying that at this time of year one usually turns up in the valley on spring passage. The RSPCA quickly brought it over to Jean so that she could give it the once over, she could find nothing wrong with it & so it was promptly returned to its habitat - the coast. Jean took the opportunity to bring her daughter and granddaughter over for a day at the seaside, Bella enjoyed seeing the Scoter before heading for the donkeys!  

Craig, Jean & Bella admiring the Scoter

 

According to the BTO website during the last ten years only one Common Scoter has been ringed in Britain, and overall (between 1909 - 2011) just 64 birds have been ringed. This is due to them having a rather small and declining breeding population in the UK, and the adults stay out at sea making them rather uncatchable! So it’s really good to be able to add data to the few that have been ringed. Un-surprisingly it’s also a new bird for the Filey Brigg Ornithological Group (due to it being a coastal bird the decision was taken to use rings from the East Yorkshire Ringing Group). Normally birds that have been in care for more than 24 hours are usually excluded from the national ringing totals, however this bird was with Jean for less than 12 hours.

Recently several Scoters (Common & Velvet) have been seen off Filey Brigg and so the decision was made to release it into the bay. Craig explained that Scoters need to get abit of a run-up before they fly and so it was placed in very shallow water. Almost immediately it sped through the water and moments later it was seen ducking and diving over and under the waves! Fab! It was great to see the bird back in its natural environment and looking so well.

Saying Goodbye!

Off....

& away!