Rutland Water Nature Reserve has joined a global network tracking birds and other small flying animals around the world.

A Motus Wildlife Tracking System was installed at the nature reserve this January, and will enable the dedicated team to tag animals and track migration patterns. Through tracking these patterns as a part of the global network, the volunteer team will be helping protect animals and areas that need it most.

Motus is Latin for 'movement', so this system really does what it says on the tin, and now Rutland is playing an integral part of a global scheme.

The Motus Wildlife Tracking System (Motus) is an international collaborative research network that uses coordinated automated radio telemetry to facilitate research and education on the ecology and conservation of migratory animals.

Rutland Water is the largest man made body of water in England. Image credit: Nub News.

The team shared the exciting news on Facebook after a small launch earlier this month: "This is part of a global initiative to track the movements of birds and small flying animals using radio telemetry. Tiny MOTUS tags are attached to the flying animals by specially trained volunteers. Which allows us to track migration stories from across the world and globally share the data to help protect areas and Wildlife that need it the most."

The team shared a video to social media of the official opening:

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The team are also looking for funding to help expand this project, and potentially more volunteers to help, and they have urged locals to get in contact if they would like more information.

You can contact the team on Facebook, or via the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust website.