News from the field: White MA is back!
03 Jun 2016
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As mentioned in the last blog, we were really hoping to see the Spoon-billed Sandpiper marked White MA (white leg-flag engraved with the letters MA) this year. He was headstarted by Roland and the team in 2013, has been seen and photographed in the flyway, and returned to successfully
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The fifth headstarting expedition is underway and love is in the air at Slimbridge (possibly…)
02 Jun 2016
We have just heard that Roland (WWT) has arrived safely in Meinypil’gyno, Chukotka, along with colleagues from BirdsRussia, to begin the 2016 expedition to monitor and ‘headstart’ Spoon-billed Sandpipers at this important breeding site. It’s a long journey from Slimbridge, via London
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The 2015 headstarted birds move to their wintering grounds
04 Dec 2015
A fourth bird from our 2015 cohort of headstarted birds was resighted n 16 November, this time in the Gulf of Thailand. Although the image is a little grainy the bird was identified as: P7 (pink left), a bird that was last seen in Chukotka on 3 August, aged 27 days old. The observer M
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Headstarting continued: more great news from further along the flyway
23 Oct 2015
The physical component of headstarting for me finished on 2 August, but the reality is that work never stops with any aspect of this project. There is always planning and preparation for the next year and, most excitingly for me, there are the reports from further along the flyway. On
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Hitting the ground running
21 Sep 2015
Together with ‘SBS in China’ I am leading a group of international wader experts (Guy Anderson from RSPB, Richard Hearn from WWT, Ewan Weston from Highland Ringing Group and David Melvile from New Zealand) who have come to China to help Professor Chang Qin of Nanjing Normal University
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Countdown to Spoonievision Live
17 Aug 2015
In our world, this is going to be as big as the Super Bowl! Spoonievision Live is the first ever chance to see behind the scenes of the Saving the Spoon-billed Sandpiper conservation breeding programme. Going out in two days time, Spoonievision Live will be hosted by long time support
Continue Reading →A Stirring of Spoonies
30 Jul 2015
Today is one of the most important days in the calendar of the 2015 Headstarting expedition and a very important one in the recovery of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Today is the day the WWT and Birds Russia team release the birds they have known from the newly-laid egg stage…. t
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The one and only photo from Meina!
02 Jul 2015
Sorry for the silence everyone. It’s been all hands to the pumps, both here at Slimbridge and in Meina. What’s more the team in Meina are struggling with one of the dodgiest internet connections they’ve had in recent years, but we can now reveal the one photo and only photo they’ve ma
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A little help from a British rarity
15 May 2015
Final preparations are underway to head from the UK to Russia for the 2015 spoon-billed sandpiper breeding season. But before I go, it’s time to check in for a little help from the UK’s largest amphibian collection at WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre. Including this lovely female natterj
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Saving the Spoon-billed Sandpiper
© Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust 2012