Newsletter / Blog
2012-02-10 Around 12.5 million waterbirds spend the winter months in the UK.
According to the
latest Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS)
report — compiled by the British Trust for
Ornithology (BTO) on behalf of RSPB, JNCC and in association with WWT —around 12.5 million waterbirds spend the
winter months in the UK.
Some of the birds
that come to the UK's
wetlands for a winter holiday have been doing so for many years. A Eurasian Oystercatcher – Haematopus ostralegus- trapped and
fitted with a ring on the shores of The Wash was recaught in almost exactly the
same place 40 years, 1 month and 2 days later. A Greenshank – Tringa nebularia
- ringed at Farlington Marshes (Hampshire) was recaught at the same site 16
years and 3 days after it was first released.
According
to Chas Holt, WeBS Core Count Organiser at the BTO, about 3,000 volunteers take
part in monthly counts at wetlands across Britain,
providing the numbers that prove just how important the UK is for
wintering waterbirds. |