Thanks to the marvellous free-to-download application, Google Earth, EcologyMatters is able to share with you the detailed information on the migration routes of two Welsh Honey Buzzards so that you can join them on their epic travels to and from sub-Saharan Africa from the comfort of your own home.

For obvious security reasons all locational information gathered in and around their nesting areas after they were tagged has been withheld and any future information will be stopped should they successfully return to Wales in 2009.

To follow Mel & Kim’s travels simply download Google Earth for free from the Google website: http://www.google.com/earth

Register with EcologyMatters here. After registration you will be sent a password that will enable you to download two Google Earth .kml files for Mel and Kim. Copy them to your desktop and then simply drag and drop them on to your Google Earth icon.

Once the Honey Buzzard information is in your list of Places you can follow their full journey using the time bar or tour functions within Google Earth or you can zoom right in to see where exactly they have got to.

Updates will be posted at weekly intervals, but more frequently when the birds are on active migration.

This Project was only made possible with the assistance of Steve Roberts and Adrienne Stratford. We are also grateful to Forestry Commission Cymru for access to nesting sites and to Nuon Renewables for part funding the project.

Satellite tracking gives us a remarkable insight into the lives and movements of birds and other animals but is very expensive. Donations to help us fund future work would be most gratefully received and can be made through our charitable arm, The Ecology Matters Trust.

Kim has now reached Ivory Coast after spending a few days recuperating in SW Mali. She has completed over 400km in the past 3 days and is now further south than our male bird Mel (as far as we know!)

Mel’s last confirmed position was nearly 3 weeks ago in Southern Guinea. After getting increasingly concerned that we had heard nothing at all there was a slight ‘blip’ from Mel’s satellite tag on 8th October. It was not enough of a signal to give us any location detail but it does suggest he is still alive and moving. I suspect he is still hold-up in the rainforests of tropical Guinea and his satellite tag is not getting enough direct sunlight to send us a position.

One of Ecology Matters’ directors, Tony Cross, has been monitoring and ringing Dippers in Shropshire and the borders for many years. Recently there has been an increase in the monitoring effort on the back of funding by various bodies and the listing of the Dipper as a Biodiversity Action Plan species for Shropshire.

A recent report, produced in conjunction with Leo Smith and John Swift makes interesting, if disturbing, reading. Dipper populations on the lower reaches of the main study rivers have all declined markedly and the body mass of adult and juvenile dippers, of both sexes, has dropped significantly.

Click this link to download Adobe PDF of the report.

shrops-dipper-report