The oldest living seabird ever recorded in the UK and Ireland has been found on the Scottish Isle of Canna 38 years after it was first ringed.
The guillemot was originally ringed on the Inner Hebridean island in 1978.
It was recently been re-trapped by naturalists from the National Trust for Scotland’s Canna ringing team.
The hardy old bird was found to be still alive and well.
The NTS, which owns the island, said yesterday it is a new longevity record for any British or Irish ringing scheme.
The conservation charity’s Canna Ringing Team also caught one 36 year old guillemot, a 35 year old and two 34 year old birds.
Established in 1969 to monitor changes among the island’s seabird populations, the ringing project is now one of Europe’s longest-running bird monitoring schemes.
Simon Foster, part of the ringing team, said: “It is incredible that a guillemot has survived this long.
“The birds live in a particularly challenging environment – the Cliffside colonies are especially noisy and smelly places and guillemots normally spend the entire winter at sea.
“It’s a hard life. Despite this, the old bird we were reunited with was probably in a better condition than any of the people who were out there doing ringing studies.
“I think this finding is a very good example of the value of long-term monitoring projects like this one.
“We are able to track peaks and troughs in the seabird populations and determine how much these are linked to behaviour — such as not breeding in years where the weather is challenging – or changing marine conditions.
“This year we haven’t seen extremes in terms of temperature but it’s better for seabirds when it’s nice and mild.
“We seem to be back to reasonable numbers of guillemots and in very good condition as well.
“We weigh the chicks and the adults, and the weights we’ve been getting show they are in very good condition.”
