A Cory shearwater born in Malta earlier this year travelled a staggering 4,500 kilometres from its nest to a location off the coast of Senegal in the Atlantic.

The bird left Ħal Far on October 12 and the electronic tag it was fitted with last transmitted a location 138 kilometres off the Senegalese coast. The data transmitted by the satellite tag showed that the seabird spent the first few weeks feeding off the northern coast of Tunisia and the Pelagian islands. In early November it headed west, first via the southern coast of Sardinia, before journeying on towards Spain. At 11.16 a.m. on November 13 the tag sent a signal from the Straits of Gibraltar and then continued southwards, following the coast of Morocco and Mauritania towards Senegal.

Andrè Raine, BirdLife Malta's conservation manager, said: "This is the first ever record of a young Maltese seabird leaving the Mediterranean Sea for the Atlantic and this discovery was made possible thanks to the EU Life Project's scientific team."

The project is a groundbreaking conservation and research effort, which is a partnership of four governmental bodies in Malta and three conservation NGOs. It is 50 per cent sponsored by the EU Life Unit while the Malta Environment and Planning Authority and HSBC provide additional support.