Third year begins for schools twinned through Black-tailed Godwits

At the start of a new school year the Operation Godwit team will share the latest news with schools in Ireland and Iceland. 

Siglufjordur's school children worked with an international team to count and ring their summer visitors in mid July.  Because they are colour ringed, bird watchers everywhere are able to feed in data to track their progress. One of the birds pupils ringed was seen thirteen days after leaving Iceland on the Humber estuary.

As autumn approaches, the birds are now arriving on the mudflats of Cork harbour.

Godwit expert Jim Wilson introduces the project to a new year group at Scoil Iosaef Naofa School each year. 

"We want to cover as many pupils as we can," he explains.  "Each child has their own colour-ringed bird to follow and when they have a sighting our friends in Iceland send them the life history of that individual bird."

Jim says that the godwit is like the swallow for Icelanders: "We use the godwits to expand the pupils' horizons.  If we don't look after them on our mudflats here, then up in Iceland they don't get their swallows.  It's a simple way to understand that things we do here affect things elsewhere."

How did they do that?

The two schools were put in touch with each other through local contacts and Operation Godwit.  Follow their latest news on the Scoil Iosaef School website. 

Photos of godwits by Astrid Kant and Peter Potts.

Check out World Class World on the Move to order your copy of the World on the Move Schools pack, twin your school on migration paths, and explore the Radio 4 World on the Move portal. 

Read our first World Class story "On the trail of the Godwit".

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