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
Birds delayed in quarantine in Moscow
We’re very sorry to say that, having expected the birds back in the UK on 13 October, they have been delayed in Moscow. Our apologies to anyone reading The Guardian yesterday, who will have read that they did arrive. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to get the message to the editorial team in time. The reasons … Read more
Back in Moscow to resume care of the spoon-billed sandpipers
Nigel reports: I flew to Moscow on 1 October to relieve Roland, who’s been looking after the birds pretty much on his own while they’ve been in quarantine at Moscow zoo. I arrived just before 4pm. I collected my luggage, in which were dismantled crates we’re going to use to transport the birds to the … Read more
Back to Moscow this weekend
Nigel writes: It’s been a tense and stressful couple of weeks, preparing for the arrival of the birds to the UK – so, apologies that we’ve been a bit quieter than usual on the blog with the latest developments. The young spoon-billed sandpiper chicks are now half way through their quarantine period in Moscow and … Read more
Birds move to quarantine at Moscow Zoo
Nigel: A couple of weeks after leaving the spoon-billed sandpiper chicks in the capable hands of Liz and Roland and heading home, I was getting on a plane again – this time to Moscow. Before we can take the birds back to the UK they need to spend time in quarantine – 30 days in … Read more
We take advantage of a break in the weather – 15 August 2011
Roland writes: Finally, we had had a day when it hasn’t rained all day and we’ve been able to weigh the birds and give them a general health check Although we had originally planned to move them into two groups forty-eight hours before the move to Moscow zoo, given the state of the weather here … Read more
Sad news 11 August 2011
On Tuesday morning one of the birds from the third brood was found dead in the corner of its rearing cage. The birds appears to have been in good physical condition and thankfully none of the other birds showing any signs of illness. At this stage we can’t 100% confirm what caused its death. These … Read more
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