News of the first sighting of an Atlantic Yellow-Nosed Albatross or Molly in Britain

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News of the 1st British sighting of a
Molly or Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross

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	1st Sighting of a Molly in Britain - A Mega Event for Twitchers This page (updated 15th July) plots the emerging evidence of several Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross, endemic to the Tristan da Cunha Islands, which have slipped across the Equator and have been found in USA, UK, Sweden and Norway during the northern summer. Tristan islanders always call these birds Molly - thought to be a corruption of the term Mollymawk and applied by seafarers to small albatross years ago. Ornithologists have been very excited by these sightings, a UK-based website www.birdguides.com uses a hierarchy of terms to rank the importance of sightings ranging from common, local, scarce to rare......but Molly sightings qualify for the highest 'mega' tag. Follow the sightings as they are reported and then read on to discover more about the Tristan's very own Albatross ...... and email us on webmanager@tristandc.com if you can verify another sighting or have a picture to add to our growing collection, and if you run a wildlife website we can set up a reciprocal link.

2007 arrivals

We report sightings, probably of several birds.....

Arrival in North America

An adult Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross was picked up
exhausted in New England, USA on 28th April.

Arrival in Europe

An Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross photographed on 28th June off the Norwegian coast.

Arrival in Britain
for some
Molly Coddling
perhaps?

On Friday 29th June Somerset locals Hugh and Pauline Harris of Warren Farm were walking on Brean Beach when they saw a large bird which they thought might be a Fulmar in a distressed condition. So they wrapped it in a towel and took it to the nearby Secret World Wildlife Rescue Centre, where it was looked after and kept in a pen overnight.

On Saturday 30th June a decision was made by Administrator Simon Kinder to release what is now known as an sub-adult Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross, thought to be two years old.

Left : Simon releasing Molly from the transit box on the Brean Down ridge.

The bird was taken to Brean Down which is a limestone promontory jutting out into the Bristol Channel with steep slopes and cliffs either side, making it ideal to release a large bird.

Left: The Molly looking south out over Brent Knoll, and perhaps wondering how long it will take to fly back home nearly 10,000 kms away?

Left: Molly getting to its feet ready to take the plunge.

This is a very popular walking area between the resorts of Burnham on sea and Weston Super Mare, and close to the M5 motorway. But Molly's release was kept quiet until announced afterwards and broadcast on BBC Points West on Monday 2nd July, so there were no twitchers to record this historic bird event.

Left: Simon Kinder decides to give the bird a lift and off it goes. Mollies are effortless fliers, gliding up to 100 kph, but, like all albatross are clumsy on the ground and need a headwind or an exposed cliff-edge site to take off.

(4 photos left and above from www.burnham-on-sea.com with thanks to Cat Newman )

Keen Molly watchers can follow this link to view the Burnham on Sea website report on Molly's visit including a video clip.

http://www.burnham-on-sea.com/news/2007/albatros-released-30-06-07.shtml

Molly in Derbyshire

A sighting of what is thought to be a Yellow-nosed Albatross was made mid-afternoon on 2nd July on Carsington Water, Derbyshire Peak District, viwed from Milfields Car Park. No picture was taken.

Molly in Lincolnshire

A sub-adult Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross has been seen and photographed on Manor Farm Fishing Lakes, Manton, Lincolnshire on 3rd-4th July. A photograph has been requested and should be published soon. Is it the Brean Down bird?

Swedish Sighting
(of the Norwegian Molly or our Brean Down bird ? )

A sub-adult Yellow-nosed Albatross was seen seen moving south offshore at Landskrona, c.30km north of Malmo, Sweden at 12:20 on Sunday 8th July 2007. It was later seen in Malmo harbour during the early afternoon and was last seen disappearing inland to the east !

This photograph from Bertil Berglind was taken in Southern Sweden and we area waiting confirmation of the exact time and place, assuming it is of the sighting above.

More Norwegian sightings

An Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross has been seen near Heidrum, Norway on 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th July 2007. This is in the area of the 28th June sighting and seems to confirm that this bird has remained in the area and that there area t least two Mollies in North-West Europe this year (and possibly three or four if the Malmo bird didn't arrive from Brean Down via Derbyshire & Lincolnshire!).

Help
We invite keen-eyed twitchers, (especially those with a camera) to help track down these Tristan da Cunha Islands vagrants. In August breeding Molly adults return to their mountain nesting sites, mature birds staying loyal to their partners, and sub-adults often returning to the area of their birth (as proved by ringed chicks returning five or more years later to the Tristan da Cunha Molly Study Area described below) to seek new partners and maintain the Molly line.

Introducing Molly
otherwise known as the Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross
or Thalassarche chlororhynchus

The Atlantic Yellow-nosed albatross or Molly (Thalassarche chlororhynchus) is one of the smallest albatross with a wingspan of up to 210cm and weighing up to 2.8kg. Adults have a distinctive golden stripe along the top of their bill and are fairly agile ashore, nesting in a variety of upland habitats and eating mainly fish and squid. Eggs are laid in September, with chicks hatching by December and fledging by April. Pairs often breed every year, remain faithful, and may live for at least 30 years.

The Base on Tristan has the largest population, with an estimated 20,000 pairs in the 1970s (but probably fewer now), 5,000 on Gough, 2,000 on Nightingale and 2,000 on Inaccessible.In the past, the bird was killed by Islanders for food, with up to 2,000 eggs and 1,500 chicks taken each year in the 1950s, but recent conservation laws have offered complete protection for these birds regarded as endangered by Birdlife International which are threatened by long-line fishing.

Normally albatrosses don't stray into the North Atlantic because of the equatorial doldrums which lack the strong winds on which they rely for flight. However, in exceptional weather, some birds slip through and end up unable to return to the Southern Hemisphere - which is why another, even larger species, the black-browed albatross, has been recorded in British waters almost annually since the 1960s.

Possibly climate change is having an effect as more stormy conditions and changes in wind patterns are leading to some birds slipping across the Equator. Yellow-nosed were recorded in the Gulf of Mexico and along the USA's eastern seaboard by the 1980s, one in May 2000 reached Massachusetts, and it was even reported to have flown into the New Jersey area of New York as it was seen flying above the Garden State Parkway.

Photographs above show: top a close up of a Molly's head; bottom a sub-adult Molly. Both pictures were taken in Tristan's first Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross conservation area established on The Base in 1983 (Richard Grundy)

Tristan da Cunha Molly Matters

Mike Fraser, (pictured left next to a rare Wandering Albatross chick in a nest on the Gough Island plateau in 1992), was ornithologist on the Denstone Expedition to Inaccessible 1982/3. Mike is now RSPB Conservation Officer in the Lothian and Borders based in Selkirk. He is kindly keeping his old friend who runs tristandc.com up to date with the 2007 European Molly movements and has also kindly supplied further information and web links for this page.

Photo below shows Mike Fraser ringing a Molly chick in the Tristan Base Study area in 1983. Holding the albatross is Paul Repetto, with, behind, Mark Swain, Trevor Glass, Martin Green (assisting Mike) and Keith Green who were then members of the senior class who trekked up Hottentot Path to carry out regular monitoring of Mollies 1000 metres up on the Tristan Mountain Base.

Mike helped to establish the Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross Conservation Area on the Tristan Base in 1983. Using rings from The Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of Ornithology, Cape Town University, Mike trained adults and older schoolchildren from St Mary's School Tristan to safely capture birds to fix special rings on their legs. The study area was set up by Senior Teacher Richard Grundy , with further support and guidance from John Cooper from Cape Town University. Tristan Education Officer Jim Kerr took over monitoring the study area after Richard's departure until 1992. Monitoring was continued by Tristan islanders, especially after the foundation of the Natural Resources Department (now combined with the Agricultural Department under the leadership of former Chief Islander James Glass) and the appointment of Tristan's first full time Conservation Officer in 2006.

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This page first published July 2007