The Ministry of Defence has released its latest statistics on search and rescue operations by British teams in the UK and overseas.

Military search and rescue responded to 1,921 callouts in 2011, down from 2,050 the previous year and almost 500 less than 2009, which was a record busy year.

The busiest MoD unit was the Royal Navy's HMS Gannet, who performed 298 search and rescue operations (moving 240 people) last year in and around Scotland. The quietest UK-based team was RAF Wattisham, which covers the south east of England. They moved 96 people during 157 callouts.

RAF Valley, Prince William's base on Anglesey, moved the most people in 2011: 246, during 276 callouts. The prince will be much less busy with the British team on the Falkland Islands, where he will be based for the next six weeks; they responded to only 41 callouts last year, and moved 44 people.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency operates four search and rescue units, which responded to a total of 695 incidents in 2011. The team based in Lee on Solent dealt with almost a third of incidents (209), the Shetland unit the least (120). The summer months were busiest, with a peak of 89 incidents in June.

The Ministry of Defence have also given us a geotagged spreadsheet of every callout in the UK for the year - although it excludes Maritime and Coastguard Agency figures, it shows exactly how busy RAF and naval units are. It also includes the biggest incident of last year, on 4 February, when an RAF Sea King had to rescue 44 people from a pitching oil rig support ship in the North Sea, the MV Gryphon.

The data also reinforces the idea of casual sailors and walkers getting into trouble in the summer - there's a definite peak in August and July.

What can you do with the data?

Data summary

Callouts by unit, 2007-2011 Click heading to sort Unit 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 RAF Boulmer 170 211 214 193 181 RAF Lossiemouth 188 275 236 175 207 RAF Leconfield 222 232 204 174 168 RAF Valley 234 222 322 268 276 RAF Chivenor 256 262 340 339 267 RAF Wattisham 183 174 162 133 157 RNAS Culdrose 231 204 311 260 244 HMS Gannet 359 382 447 379 298 Cyprus 53 30 36 29 24 Falklands 39 66 45 38 41 UK closed stations 0 0 0 0 0 UK other helicopters 7 1 1 0 1 TOTAL 1942 2059 2318 1988 1864

Persons moved by unit, 2007-2011 Click heading to sort Unit 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 RAF Boulmer 136 185 149 169 121 RAF Lossiemouth 160 199 171 156 239 RAF Leconfield 315 163 132 120 125 RAF Valley 236 217 296 263 246 RAF Chivenor 224 211 304 256 203 RAF Wattisham 122 87 82 83 96 RNAS Culdrose 220 169 278 215 219 HMS Gannet 286 347 378 324 240 Cyprus 11 5 9 5 15 Falklands 39 151 54 37 44 UK closed stations 0 0 0 0 0 UK other helicopters 27 0 1 0 0 TOTAL 1776 1734 1854 1628 1548

• DATA: Search and rescue operations in the UK and overseas

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