Wrong turn leads Antarctic penguin to New Zealand

21 June 2011 Last updated at 10:45 GMT Colin Miskelly, from New Zealand's national museum, said it was exceptional to find an emperor penguin so far away from its usual habitat.

A young emperor penguin, normally found in the Antarctic, has turned up on a New Zealand beach.

It is a rare event, the first confirmed sighting of an Emperor penguin in New Zealand in 44 years.

"I saw this glistening white thing standing up and I thought I was seeing things," said Christine Wilton, who found it while walking her dog.

The department of conservation is baffled by how it arrived, saying it may have taken a wrong turn.

"It's amazing to see one of these penguins on the Kapiti coast," says the department's Peter Simpson.

The visitor has attracted crowds of onlookers, who are being advised not to disturb the penguin and keep their dogs on leads.

Conservation experts say the bird is a juvenile, about 10 months old and 32in (80cm) tall.

Emperor penguins are the tallest and largest of all penguin species, growing up to 4ft (122cm) high and weighing more than 75lb (34kg).

Colin Miskelly, a penguin expert at Te Papa, New Zealand's national museum, said the bird was likely born during the last Antarctic winter.

It may have been searching for squid and krill when it took a wrong turn and arrived on New Zealand's North Island.

"Usually they stay among the pack ice," said Mr Miskelly.

"This one just kept going north and it's a very long way from its usual range."

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Goose/swan 'error' leads to fine

16 May 2011 Last updated at 16:32 GMT A man who shot a swan thinking it was goose is believed to be the first person in England prosecuted for using lead shot illegally on wildfowl.

Electrician Simon Quince, 36, from Harthills, Barnsley, was fined ?445 for shooting the swan and ?100 for using the wrong shot.

He appeared at Harrogate Magistrates' Court and admitted killing the swan near Knaresborough last December.

An investigation found he had been using the shotgun cartridges illegally.

North Yorkshire Police and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds found Quince had been using gun cartridges that contained lead shot.

'Significant difference'

Quince was on a shoot on a freezing cold, but clear day last winter.

He noticed four birds flying over and thinking they were geese, he opened fire.

One of the birds came crashing down badly injured and Quince realised he had shot a swan, which is protected by law.

The bird was later put down by a local vet.

Wildlife Officer for North Yorkshire Police Pc Gareth Jones said: "The onus is on the person to identify their quarry.

"There is a significant difference between a goose and a swan. If he wasn't sure, he shouldn't have taken the shot."

It has been against the law to use lead shot on wildfowl shoots in England since 1999.

Lead is banned because it can easily find its way into the food chain of foraging birds on wetlands and is poisonous.

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