See the updated Super Whooper site for movements of satellite tracked birds:
http://whooper.wwt.org.uk/whooperParticularly interesting is the "full map" link which shows all the movements so far, spanning 20 from Martin Mere, 5 Caerlaverock and 10 Welney. The map seems to stuggle to display all the lines if you zoom in but in initial view it seems the 8 birds which have left Welney have all gone roughly up the east coast - one is currently (19-03-2009) near the Faroes and the others trailing various distances behind. All the west coast birds have gone up over the Hebrides, at least 3 already in Iceland - path generally consistent with the report of large numbers from Frank over St Annes.
Seems a simple picture but I know many of the birds we've had here in E Lothian in autumn have gone S to Caerlaverock and Martin Mere so they do swap sides of the Country certainly moving south - probably depends a lot on wind conditions as they are crossing the sea.
Stephen
Hi Stephen / Clive
They also swap sides of the Country in autumn with us Stephen moving SE down Airedale. Agree Welney looks good for the origins of our spring passage birds and agree from what I have seen both on the move and on the pager that some of the birds must be crossing the Country NW thus moving up the convenient and open SE to NW valleys and gaps of Calderdale / Airedale and Wharfedale to get to the west coast and onward to Iceland. Look forward to one of the satellite tagged birds taking this route up our valleys to prove it!!
Dave
