Previously, we have brought you details of the Egyptian vulture work ongoing in Bulgaria and surrounding countries, and the latest news it that one of the chicks has hatched and you can see more details and photos here.

There is also an on-line game launched last month – find it here.

Last year we brought you news on the massive-scale rat-eradication programme going on in South Georgia as part of the Habitat Restoration project (see here).

A second year of baiting the cliff and valleys of this amazing island has just completed, and there is an excellent project update available on the project website.  It's well worth a read, and has some incredible photos of the islands and ongoing work.  Just to tempt you to read on, here are a couple to get you started...

Helicopters dropping bait in difficult conditions (South Georgia Habitat Restoration Project)

Camping under the stars (South Georgia Habitat Restoration Project)

[Neha Sinha is Advocacy and Policy Officer for the Bombay Natural History Society (BirdLife's Partner in India). She works on threatened bird species and safeguarding Important Bird Areas]

"Look...those are bustards", I remember a guide saying to me, in Rajasthan’s shimmering, arid desert in Jaisalmer this spring. In the far distance, I saw two birds...and they were demoiselle cranes. "Those are not bustards", I explained. "But they have caps on their heads and I hear bustards have caps", my guide protested. He wouldn’t really know, because fewer than 200 great Indian bustards remain in India.

The great Indian bustard, or GIB, is a big bird, with a black cap, who seems to pose with its head turned up towards the sky. It's been described as a giant bird, as the discerning citizen's choice for India's National Bird, and is locally known as Godawan.

A solitary GIB in characteristic, head-turned-upwards pose (Ramki Sreenivasan)

But already in my lifetime of 28 years, it has become something of a myth. 

The GIB, one of the world's heaviest and also rarest, flying birds, derives its name from my country. Dr Asad Rahmani, Director of Bombay Natural History Society, and a GIB researcher for more than 30 years, describes it as a species which is 'semi-endemic' to India. The GIB is also found in Pakistan, but we are no longer sure about their abundance. The onus to save this bird is therefore squarely on the shoulders of India and the Supreme Court of India has recently directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests to start a Species Recovery Programmes for the GIB immediately (see here for more details). 

BNHS has been heavily involved in creating a Species Recovery Plan for three bustards that need immediate help: the great Indian bustard, the lesser florican and the Bengal florican (all of which are high priority species for the RSPB). While Project Bustard has been approved in-principle by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, it is yet to get started in earnest.

Thar Desert, one of the last strongholds of the GIB (Neha Sinha)

In Nepal and India, the RSPB has just started a project to help save the Bengal florican through research that will lead to sustainable conservation measures. We need similar traction for the GIB in India. BirdLife International has organised some funding through their Preventing Extinctions Programme that is being augmented by the RSPB so that work can begin on implementing the GIB Species Recovery Plan, but more action is needed. This is why we are supporting an appeal to the state of Rajasthan to start Project Bustard right away.  More than 900 people have written to the Chief Minister of Rajasthan state, one of the last strongholds of the GIB. You too can add your voice.

Just visit the Conservation India website and add your name to the prototype letter that will then be sent to the Chief Minister.

BNHS and its partners have recently started conservation work on GIB in Andhra Pradesh state. With a programme in other states like Rajasthan and Gujarat, we hope to fill in the pieces in the GIB jigsaw.

Help the great Indian bustard, a bird that belongs to India, and to the world!

GIB in cotton field (Ramki Sreenivasan)

Today, 10 wildlife organisations have come together to answer questions on wildlife!

The #naturesintrouble tweet-a-thon will take place today between 9am and 7pm. To ask a question, simply tweet the organisation you want ask the question to and use the hashtag #naturesintrouble.

Here's the schedule of who's taking part and what they'll be answering questions on:

9-10am: BTO (@_BTO)
BTO will be answering questions on the state of birds

10-11am: Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (@ARC_Bytes)
Jim Foster (Conservation Director) will be answering questions on frogs, toads and newts

11am-12noon: BugLife (@Buzz_dont_tweet)
Buglife will be answering questions on how inverts are faring

12noon-1pm: Kew (@kewgardens)
Kew will be answering questions on UK's trees and shrubs

1-2pm: Butterfly Conservation (@savebutterflies)   
Dr Martin Warren (Chief Executive) will be answering questions on butterflies

2-3pm: People's Trust for Endangered Species (@PTES)                 
David Wembridge (Mammal Surveys Coordinator) will be answering questions on British mammals

3-4pm: Bumblebee Conservation (@BumblebeeTrust)
Anthony McCluskey (Outreach Officer) and Elaine O’Mahony (Surveys Officer) will be answering questions on bumblebee identification

4-5pm: Wildlife Trusts (@wildlifetrusts)
Paul Wilkinson (Head of Living Landscape) will be answering questions on hopes for the future - future and positive actions they are taking to address issues locally                                   

5-6pm: RSPB (@natures_voice)
Mark Eaton (Principal Conservation Scientist) will be answering questions on birds & wildlife

6-7pm: Pond Conservation (@PondRiverStream)
Pond Conservation will be answering questions on ponds

For the latest updates on the tweet-a-thon, follow #naturesintrouble & find out more here on the State of Nature report.  

Many of you have been getting in touch to share your shock at the news that Natural England had issued the first ever license for the destruction of a buzzard nest and asking what you can do to help.

The one thing which would knock this nonsense on the head once and for all is for the Secretary of State, Owen Paterson, to issue a clear statement that licenses will not be issued to kill a native bird of prey to protect commercial gamebirds.

In addition, we feel it is vital that any licenses which set an important precedent, as these did, be subject to proper public scrutiny.

For those of you who would like to take action, I would therefore suggest you get in touch with Mr Paterson to express your concern and ask him to take this step. Contact him on Twitter at @DefraGovUK.

Thank you all for your support and your passion.