I first heardabout this on Radio 4 yesterday.
An Artic Tern ringed on the Farne Islands on 28 June, 1980 has been found alive and well on the Farnes.
It was first ringed by John Walton when he was a seasonal warden for the National Trust, he is now property manageer.
The Artic Tern typically lives 13 years so this is one old bird but the record is held by a bird rung in the USA which clocked up 34 years.
The Artic Tern has a 44,000 mile pole-to-pole migration, it is believed that detours mean they actually fly much more than this on migration. This bird would have flown well over a million miles!
2 comments:
It never fails to amaze me what the wildlife kingdom is capable of!! I wonder if the human equivalent would stand up to these tremendous migratory miles so well!!
I read about this Pete. Amazing to think it has survived all those years, on its perilous journeys.
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