Headstarting is a collaborative effort between WWT, BirdsRussia and the RSPB, and occurs as part of the International Arctic Expedition mounted each year by BirdsRussia under the leadership of Dr. Evgeny Syroechkovskiy.
Spoon-billed sandpiper feeding on worms (c) Baz Scampion

Observing SbS with a warm bottom

Baz Scampion writes: I had one of my best days of birding and bird photography in a long time today. Everywhere I looked the birds kept popping up in front of me. There were a couple of obliging SbS feeding in the river, and loads of good waders like stunning summer plumage Grey Plove
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spoon-billed sandpiper (c) Richard Smith

Earliest Record Ever

The morning is bright with a strong and cold south-west migration-friendly wind. The first of the Terns have arrived, Arctic Terns flying along the coast on their elaborate wing beats. Christoph took the WWT group out on to the tundra in search of a good site to build the rearing avia
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Sandhill crane eggs (c) Karin Eberhardt

Let Sleeping Bears Lie

Phil Palmer writes: It’s spring on the tundra, and as the snow melts it reveals the autumn crowberry crop, still available as food for the first migrant birds. The Moss Campion is opening in pink domes, willow catkins are furring up and the dwarf rhododendron budding. Notable sighting
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Hmmmmmm Lemon cake! – 31 May 2011

31 May 2011 A misty and foggy start to the day. All three of us at Base camp continued with cleaning after breakfast, I copped the toilet and Simon the kitchen areas behind the cupboards and floor. We had to disinfect everything as we want nothing nasty to be anywhere in the base. The
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How much for the tomatoes? – 21 May 2011

21 May 2011 I headed out across the Tundra during the morning with Nige and Jochen, a close Willow Grouse walked ahead of us. A Short-eared Owl and Arctic Skua were dominating the area, Long-billed Dowitchers, c200 in total were flying over calling and displaying. Otherwise it was a s
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The cancelled flight, time to prepare with vodka – 18 May 2011

18 May 2011 Flight cancelled for today so no equipment to sort, I headed out with Simon to count birds locally and explore. The snow in the air and bright light made it extremely difficult to watch birds, we needed to keep sunglasses on and found it hard to see them clearly. I had sto
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Our first meal – 17 May 2011

17 May 2011 Both of us tried to stay awake until 2100 but as soon as we led down at 1800 we slept, I awoke at 0100 and got back to sleep at 0330, we both got up at 0530, hungry and thirsty, we went to see if we could get a drink from the airport but it was closed, we had been advised
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