Shag recovery

We received an email via the Manx BirdLife website the other day giving details of a dead Shag found on the tideline near the Point of Ayre (IOM).
This is nothing out of the ordinary except that for the whole of 2011 we did not have one single recovery of a dead Shag on the manx coast whereas we would normally expect at least half a dozen or so throughout the year. Was this just a case of nobody finding any dead ringed Shags or did they have a partucularly good survival rate last year?


View Shag 1406221 in a larger map

1406221 was ringed as a chick on the Calf of Man at the main colony at Kione ny Halby on 24th May 2009 and found dead on 13th Jan 2012. A distance of 49km as the crow flies and 2yrs 234 days since being ringed in the nest.
Thanks to Michael Windiate for reporting the ringed bird to us. We're always very grateful for such reports.
It's always worth checking the tideline for dead birds - you never know what you might find! We have had ringed birds such as Osprey and Chough , a Black-headed Gull from Sweden and a Guillemot from Iceland as well as the more usual seabirds such as Gannet, Manx Shearwater and Razorbill all reported to us by diligent folk out for a walk on the beaches in the past.