Browse by Tags

Visitors to the BirdFair at Rutland will be aware that the theme for this year was the East Asia Australasian Flyway. This flyway includes a suite of breeding, migration and wintering sites that are particularly important for wading birds across a network of 22 countries. Unfortunately the fast rate...

Here at the RSPB we are very proud of our role in the global alliance BirdLife International . Clearly our primary mission is here in the UK but we’ve always recognised the threats to birds, indeed all of nature, aren’t limited by national boundaries. Conservation is an international issue...

In August, I wrote about the importance of the Min Jiang Estuary in China for two Globally Endangered species, Spoon-billed sandpiper and Chinese Crested Tern. I was there for meetings with local government officials and to do a training workshop for local teachers and volunteers of the Fujian Birdwatching...

I recently posted some blogs about Yangkou, Rudong in China and its importance for Spoon-billed sandpiper. The site’s importance has now been further highlighted through observations by Tong Menxui from the Shanghai Birdwatching Society. He watched the mudflats over a series of days and recorded...

I recently received news from Simon Buckell who saw 21 Spoon-billed sandpipers on 27th August. The birds (12 adults and 9 juveniles) were feeding on a part of the mudflats at Yangkou. It’s quite possible that there were other spoonies on other parts of the mudflats, therefore it’s conceivable...

The Min Ji ang estuary in Fujian is an important wintering site for Spoon-billed sandpiper in China. Numbers have varied between 15 and 25 in recent years. Islands off the coast are the main breeding site for the Critically Endangered Chinese Crested Tern. The Endangered Black-faced Spoonbill also overwinter...

The training workshops and meeting with local government officers in Yangkou have now been completed. Fifty six teachers, university students and birdwatching society volunteers were trained on education, communication and interpretation techniques relevant to work on Spoon-billed sandpiper and coastal...

On Sunday afternoon, following the end of the first workshop I returned to the mudflats to take some photos and see some migrant waders. The photos of the men and women who seek out the shellfish in the estuary mud, possibly show people who may soon be looking for a new livelihood. The introduced and...

After a lengthy meeting to discuss the fine details of tomorrow’s workshop, I had some free time to go to the mudflats in search of some feathered delights. There will be a field visit during the workshops, so it was also a reconnaissance to observe the environmental issues in the area. Walking...

After surviving a three hour car journey from Shanghai, we arrived at the Defeng Hotel in Yangkou. Yangkou is a fishing port, but since 2008 it has become an increasingly popular destination for birdwatchers. The reason is the discovery that the mudflats are a regular feeding site for migrating Spoon...

Hello, Allow me to introduce myself. I do international education work for the RSPB and for the next three weeks I am going to try to bring you some updates from an important conservation project in China. This BirdLife International project is trying to save two resting and feeding sites used by...

A decade ago the UN’s Millennium Development Goals set a framework to spur on the improvement of social and economic conditions in the poorest countries of the world. The goals are framed broadly and, goal 7 enshrines the need to ensure environmental sustainability. This includes the goal of...

You start off plump with fat built up quickly before you fly, you burn it off in a massive flight south to escape the arctic winter. You arrive exhausted to feed and rest at a wetland used by countless generations of your species. And it’s been drained/polluted/developed/over over exploited (delete...

Here is BirdLife International's reaction to the launch of International Year of Biodiversity which was the subject of the last post on this blog . Celebrate biodiversity, recognise the global failure to halt it's loss and work hard for binding future targets.