As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Saturday 12 July 2014

Photograph of rare bird on Uist sparks plastic bags plea

RSPB Scotland has urged people to discard unwanted plastic bags carefully after a rare bird was photographed with one caught in its beak.

Red-throated diver with plastic bagThe red-throated diver was photographed by a visitor to a lochan in a remote part of North Uist.

The birds are on the RSPB's amber list after a recent decline in numbers.

Jamie Boyle, site manager of the RSPB's Uist reserves, said plastic bags can kill birds if they eat, or become entangled, in one.

He said: "We urge people to take great care in the way they dispose of plastic bags or, indeed, any other rubbish, particularly balloons and Chinese lanterns.

"They pose a direct threat to our wildlife and it is depressing to think that plastic bags are even reaching remote lochans in a place like North Uist."

Mr Boyle added: "Marine birds such as red-throated divers are particularly at risk both at sea and on their breeding grounds where they can mistake the bags for fish or mistakenly use it for nesting material."

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