Season 2008 offically over! Check the first results of the Spring Alive Project.

23.06.2008

 The Spring Alive 2008 on the 22nd of June. Since February, children from 30 European countries have watched the arrival of four popular migratory species, and entered their observations on the project website. Altogether BirdLife International has received over 50,000 observations.

The country with the most observations was Italy with over 15,000 sightings from events and school programmes organised by LIPU (BirdLife in Italy). This was closely followed by observations from children in Ireland, Poland, Russia and Belarus.

Young participants observed the arrivals of White Stork Ciconia ciconia, Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus, Common Swift Apus apus and Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica back to Europe. The first arrivals were again very early. White Storks were spotted in February in central European countries like Poland, Germany and Slovakia – locations where they normally arrive at the beginning of March.

Nevertheless, Spring Alive data showed that the average arrival date was several days later than previous years. In Ireland, Common Cuckoos arrived 5 days later and Barn Swallows 3 days later, whilst in Poland White Storks arrived 7 days later and in Russia 10 days later. The results will be available on the website by 15th of July.