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Sociable Lapwing Migration Update

OSME has received exciting news from Birdlife International on the monitoring and tagging of Sociable Lapwing – which has been financially supported by OSME’s Conservation and Research Fund for a number of years. On 28 September, a...

The 2015 OSME Region List and its underpinning taxonomy

The taxonomy in del Hoyo, J and NJ Collar. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World Volume 1: Non-passerines. (Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. 903 pages, hundreds of colour plates) employs the Tobias et al 2010 system...

Joint winter meeting 21st November 2015

This November we are teaming up with the British Ornithologists’ Club and the Natural History Museum for a joint winter meeting focussing on “Bird monitoring within the OSME region”. It will be held at the Flett Theatre,...

Kuwait becomes 169th signatory the Ramsar Convention

OSME has received news regarding the State of Kuwait becoming the 169th Contracting Party of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (on 5 September, 2015).  On the occasion of accession to the Ramsar Convention, and in fulfilment of a...

Basra Reed Warbler update

As readers of this blog will know there has been much concern over the scientific claims made in a paper published in the journal Zoology in the Middle East. The manuscript and follow up publications can be...

OSME 37th AGM, 4th July 2015

On the 4th July, as part of the OSME Summer Meeting, we also held our Annual General Meeting. OSME is a UK registered charity governed by a constitution (see here) that stipulates we hold an AGM every...

The OSME Region: birds of the deep-ocean

The OSME region has its fair share of thinly-inhabited areas where knowledge of breeding distribution and how birds use such areas is poor to non-existent, primarily because of low observer density and lack of regular observation and...

Simon Aspinall Wildlife Education Centre

Simon Aspinall was a great friend of the Middle East – and OSME, making an important contribution to the ornithology and conservation of the region, especially in the United Arab Emirates. When in the UK he lived...

Acacia clearance on Cape Pyla combats illegal bird trapping

Like a number of areas in Cyprus, particularly in the south and southeast, Dhekelia or the Eastern Sovereign Base Area (ESBA) has a very serious problem with illegal bird trapping. In their autumn 2014 report on trapping activity, BirdLife...