Pete, got mine too yesterday, amazing article really and amazing photo of the bird next to a greylag in Lincs, worrying how the birdwatchers at Carsington didnt even know it was an Albatross, it still hurts.
I received the latest edition Birding World yesterday which includes the very thorough and well illustrated article...
Gantlett, S. & Pym, A. 2007. The Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross from Somerset to Lincolnshire - a new British bird. Birding World 20 (7): 279-295.
It makes for interesting reading detailing the occurences during June and July in Somerset, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Norway, Sweden and the Faroe Islands and also covering taxonomy and distribution etc.
-- Edited by Pete Hines at 11:36, 2007-08-17
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more torture it seems, i wonder where the next belated report will come from. Just shows you what can turn up anywhere at anytime, at least we had a gannet although not much consolation, never know we may get a skua in GM if these conditions carry through August.
Arggghhhh.......probable Yellow-nosed Albatross at Carsington Water (deepest, darkest Derbyshire) on the 2nd of July (info thanks to Birdnet Pagers), which would fit in nicely with the previous sighting in Somerset and the most recent one in Lincolnshire if it's true. Imagine that at Audenshaw, ringing a friend "I think I've just had an Albatross briefly on number 2"..."yeah right!" would laugh the reply, but then this just goes to show , even better, ringing a friend "I'm sure I've just had an Albatross over the garden"...now come on, what you you reply?
Apparently on the 3/4th of July an immature Yellow-nosed Albatross was photographed by a fisherman in Lincolnshire on a lake near Messingham, go to the Lincs website at www.lincsbirdclub.co.uk an click on the photo album to see the two images of the bird, although be warned...it could make you really sick
Here are the 4 records, you decide how many birds are involved!
Norway (Grip): 28th June 3pm (initial date of 29th was apparently wrong) Somerset (Brean): 29th June (released 30th) Norway (Heidrun): 4th-8th July (presumed same as 28th June) Sweden (Landskrona & Malmo): 8th July
Opinion seems to favour 2 birds (atleast) currently at large in Western Palearctic waters with the one knocking about Sweden recently and our bird which may still be making it's way around British waters, not surprising really given their long distance flying capabilities and the size of the bloody oceans
A bit of a "fall" really - the other bird involved is still leading the Scandanavian birders a merry dance: from Birdgides today:
13:54 08/07/07 European News: A sub-adult Yellow-nosed Albatross was seen seen moving south offshore at Landskrona, c.30km north of Malmo, Sweden at 12:20 this afternoon.
14:33 08/07/07 European News: the sub-adult Yellow-nosed Albatross was in Malmo harbour, Sweden early afternoon and was last seen disappearing inland to the east !
Its a real easy country to do yourself,and incredibly cheap as the rand has crashed in recent years.I spent 3 weeks there,less hassle than you get in Manchester town centre,good hotel for a tenner,3 course meal plus wine for a fiver,empty roads,lots of good birding,can't beat it.
yeah Pete ive been drooling over this trip for quite some time, ive looked at the 2-3 week bird tours but its alot of money, the pelagic looks incredible. One day.
Get yourselves down to South Africa and do a pelagic off the Cape,you'll get strokable views of both species of Yellow Nosed(Atlantic and Indian) as well as several other species of Albatross sat side by side on the water,much better than watching someone launching one like a kite off a beach.
Well we have all heard the stories now watched the video and made up our minds, ian was correct in the fact that suppression is a horrible word, it just that I have been carrying around a picture of the Albatross found in Staveley august 1952 by a RSPCA inspector, for the past 16 years I,ve been an inspector first and foremost for animal welfare but hey if you can pick up the odd bird as well..... in fact many a birder has ticked off manx shearwater from the back of my van and a primary school in salford did a cracking project on swifts after I collected one from the school, releasing it the day after.
so hey if one has turned up now theres always another day, and i.ll gladly discuss the rights and wrongs of it with anyone over a pint in the TURKS HEAD ST AGNES in october.
It says on the Burnham on sea website that the rarity status was realised so the secret world wildlife rescue charity gave it a checkover! Well any local charity or good cause could have made thousands from this.
Perhaps this is a result of some of the bad press twitching has had over the years - tresspassing etc. They might have decided it just wasnt worth the aggro that they percieved might have resulted from mass hordes of scope weilding birders. Personally I've never seen any dodgy goings on at twitches, but from whats been reported before it does happen. The end result - once bitten, twice shy? Dunno. Bet somebody asks them though.
I wouldnt of twitched it, but its a shame others couldnt.
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No one on their death bed ever said they wished they'd spent more time at work. http://bitsnbirds.blogspot.co.uk
Yeah indeed its good the bird was OK and released safely, which is the main thing in view of the rapid decline of these birds.
It says on the Burnham on sea website that the rarity status was realised so the secret world wildlife rescue charity gave it a checkover! Well any local charity or good cause could have made thousands from this.
From all the info it doesnt sound like they had any idea about how rare the bird was. Lets face it, how many non birders would know an albatross if it walked up and slapped em across the chops. Most people just see "seagulls". At least they did right by the bird though, but a shame they didnt(couldnt) earn a bit of cash from it.
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No one on their death bed ever said they wished they'd spent more time at work. http://bitsnbirds.blogspot.co.uk
There was one off Norway several years ago I think and I'm sure there was one reported off another of the Scandinavian countries only afew weeks ago, but I don't know what age it was?
Suppression, what a horrible word Trouble is, often there is a perfectly understandable reason for suppression and of course the reverse is all too often true also! I wouldn't be perfectly happy myself watching it lumbering out of a cardboard box and off into the distance but then that isn't my cup 'o' tea but it would seem like a perfect opportunity for those who would and what harm would hundreds of birders, watching from a good distance away, have on the bird? None! I'm sure the finders had thier reasons though, perhaps they'll come out in the wash
Yep abit gutted about this myself - check www.burnham-on-sea.com.. theres a bloody video, has there ever been one in Europe before i havent checked, certainly never in the UK. surely people could have watched it being released from a safe distance???
Just found out a YELLOW-NOSED ALBATROSS was taken into care in Someret and kept overnight before been released at 4pm the following day, what a twitch that would have been, how much could they have raised for a local charity and how many birder would have gone to see it, what would you have done, kept it quite or shouted it from the rooftops you had just found an albatross.....
, even better, ringing a friend "I'm sure I've just had an Albatross over the garden"...now come on, what you you reply? 
This cant be real, please tell me its not real.
Trouble is, often there is a perfectly understandable reason for suppression and of course the reverse is all too often true also! I wouldn't be perfectly happy myself watching it lumbering out of a cardboard box and off into the distance but then that isn't my cup 'o' tea but it would seem like a perfect opportunity for those who would and what harm would hundreds of birders, watching from a good distance away, have on the bird? None! I'm sure the finders had thier reasons though, perhaps they'll come out in the wash