Tracking kit installed on Calf of Man to monitor bird migration

About 8,000 birds are caught and ringed on the Calf of Man each year

A wildlife tracking system installed on the Calf of Man will allow for the in-depth study of bird migration in the area, Manx Wildlife Trust have said.

The Motus equipment, which is part of a global network, picks up radio signals from hundreds of individuals of species which have been previously tagged.

The Manx station was the first to go live on the west of the British Isles.

Warden Aron Sapsford said it would help researchers to understand some of the "many mysteries" of bird migration.

The technology, which can also record larger insects such as dragonflies and butterflies, taps into an international research network created by conservation organisation Birds Canada.

A trust spokesman said it would "facilitate research and education on the ecology and conservation of migratory animals" at the "important site for birds migrating through the Irish Sea".

'Innovative research'

Around 8,000 birds are caught and ringed every year by the wardens on the Calf of Man, which sits off the southern coast of the Isle of Man.

Mr Sapsford said having the Motus tower at the bird observatory was an "incredibly exciting development" that would allow for "innovative research".

Via the network, the technology would track wildlife "not only across the island but within the wider context of the Irish Sea and beyond" as the equipment could follow where birds and insects arrive from and go to, he said.

It would also allow for more detailed studies of local species, such as the red-billed chough, which are considered more sedentary, a trust spokesman said.

The Curraghs Wildlife Park Conservation Fund provided a grant for the station and local donors supplied the scaffolding for the station to be mounted on to and technical support to set it up.

The trust plans to create up to eight more stations across the island, and funding for two further sites has already been secured, the spokesman added.

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