Arctic Tern logger update

A while ago we reported the finding of a mystery bird with a GPS data logger (more here), and we have just solved the mystery!

The mystery data logger

The Polish manufacturers of the device were able to download the data and identify the bird as an Estonian-ringed Arctic Tern, exactly as predicted! It was originally ringed on 26th June 2013 on Sorgu island (in red below), on the same day as the bird caught on the Ythan estuary that we mentioned in the original post.

Ringing locations of the Arctic Tern (red) and the three Common Terns (green).
View Cornish terns in a larger map.

This is the first Arctic Tern recovery in Cornwall, and we don't have many of the other tern species either! There are just seven records of British-ringed Sandwich Terns in the county and records of Common Terns ringed in Strathclyde, The Netherlands and Finland (in red above).