Spoon-billed sandpiper health screening
Nicky writes: I’ve just returned from handling all the sandpipers, something we do fortnightly to assess their physical condition and general well-being. The good news – we were happy with today’s health check. Nigel, Rebecca, Michelle – our resident vet – and I rounded up the birds using a soft sided corral and handled them … Read more
Spoon-billed Sandpipers Enjoying Their New Facility
By Nicky Hiscock, Conservation Breeding Assistant The sandpipers have been in their new home now for just over a month and they’re making good use of the surroundings we’ve carefully designed for them. The facility was built just in time for their arrival in 2011 and consists of two indoor enclosures where they can be … Read more
Slimbridge spoon-billed sandpiper event a success
Many thanks to everyone who made it to Slimbridge yesterday. It was fantastic to see so many people turn up in person on a cold winter day. Martin McGill, Roland Digby and Nige Jarrett spoke to a packed room about the ups and downs of the birds’ incredible journey. Look at the Flickr photo gallery. … Read more
Join Kate Humble for a very special event on 19 December
Please join us and our Vice-President Kate Humble for a very special event on Monday 19 December, which will include the first chance to glimpse the spoon-billed sandpipers in the UK. Kate will unveil a live CCTV link up with the specially-constructed Slimbridge aviary, which is now the focus of the spoon-billed sandpiper breeding programme. … Read more
The birds’ daily routine
Nicky Hiscock, WWT’s conservation breeding assistant has been caring for the spoon-billed sandpipers since they arrived in the UK. We’ve posted some more footage from the CCTV cameras that monitor the birds below and you can see Nicky going in with the birds. She’s described for us the daily routine in the quarantine station. You’ll … Read more
The spoon-billed sandpipers are halfway through quarantine
Nige reports: At this half-way stage of their quarantine period, we’re really pleased with how the birds are doing. They are feeding, drinking, bathing and loafing just as they should be. When the birds arrived they were understandably a little unsettled. In the first few days whenever one of us went in to change their … Read more
They’re here!
Baz Hughes, WWT’s Head of Species Conservation writes: Wow. What a day we had on Friday! I couldn’t sleep the night before. I woke up at 5.30am thinking how would 13 tiny little Spoon-billed Sandpipers cope with being boxed up for 17 hours and flown from Moscow to Heathrow and then driven to Slimbridge. The … Read more
Birds checked over by the Moscow Zoo vet
Since the birds’ stay in Moscow has been prolonged, Nige and Roland have been taking it in turns to oversee their care in Moscow. Nige returned to Moscow at the weekend and reports that yesterday the birds were checked over by the Moscow Zoo vet. She listened to their breathing with a stethoscope, assessed their … Read more
“do I detect a faint whiff of speciesism here?”
Commenting on spoon-billed sandpiper story in The Guardian and picked up in the Readers’ Room, reader mjback makes the comment: Am I being cynical or do I detect a faint whiff of speciesism here? Would the same effort have been made if the bird didn’t have an interestingly shaped beak? Birds of paradise have no … Read more
Please support our spoon-billed sandpiper appeal
See the spoon-billed sandpipers live via CCTV
By Nicky Hiscock, Conservation Breeding Assistant This is our 38th day of showing live footage of the spoon-billed sandpipers to the public via a CCTV link at the conservation breeding facility. Each day at 2.30pm, when the birds are fed, visitors to WWT Slimbridge can watch live video shown on large screen in a 90-seat … Read more
Filed under aviculture, Birds, Conservation, Featured, Spoon-billed sandpiper · Tagged with aviculture, CCTV, cinema, commentated feed, conservation breeding, live footage, slimbridge, Spoon-billed sandpiper