Encounters with Pale Martins in Saudi Arabia
A guest blog by Gregory Askew On January 15, my daughter and I were out at Al Asfar Lake in Al Ahsa, in eastern Saudi Arabia conducting the first of a series of shorebird surveys for 2021....
Category: Guest Blogs
Raptor Conservation in Oman
A guest blog by Maïa Sarrouf Willson about Oman’s efforts to conserve raptors The Sultanate of Oman is home to 39 species of raptors that occur as passage migrants, winter visitors or resident breeders. These include 21...
Conservation is Syria is thriving
A guest blog by Nabegh Ghazal Asswad on behalf of the Syrian Society for the Conservation of Wildlife The Syrian Society for the Conservation of Wildlife (SSCW) is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), concerned with the conservation of...
A Double-MEGA-twitch in Lebanon
Guest blog by Fouad Itani Lebanon has been in the news a lot in the past few years, a refugee crisis following the war in Syria, on-going economic crises and the depreciation of the Lebanese pound, a...
Turkey’s Largest Egyptian Vulture Breeding Area
Guest blog by Şafak Arslan of Doga The Egyptian Vulture is globally threatened and among the species in most rapid decline across its range including the Eastern Europe populations. Previous studies by Doga (the BirdLife Partner in...
Finding Steppe Whimbrel in Abu Dhabi
Guest blog by Oscar Campbell – with thanks to Simon Lloyd The start of it all. It was this image that really got us thinking seriously that we might, at last, have got the cigar. The underwing...
The OSME expedition to Yemen in 1985 – personal reflections
Guest blog by Chris Bowden The opportunity to spend two months in the field in North Yemen (as it was at the time) was something that I had no hesitation in applying to join… and what an...
The Socotra Wildlife Association – conserving wildlife through awareness and capacity building
Guest blog by Ali Yahya Ali Bin Mahrous and Nasser Abdulrahman Ahmed of the Socotra Wildlife Association The Socotra Wildlife Association is a non-governmental, voluntary, environmental organization established in November 2014 and officially registered at the local branch...
Helping European Rollers in Northern Cyprus
A guest blog by Amie Wheeldon on encouraging the re-establishment of European Rollers at breeding grounds in Northern Cyprus The European Roller Coracias garrulus is a charismatic species that was once more abundant in Cyprus, where it...
Tape lures maximise the slaughter of songbirds in Cyprus
Guest blog by Matteo Sebastianelli Crossing the Mediterranean Sea represents a crucial step for migrant birds every year as they travel between Africa and Eurasia. Mediterranean islands are the first landmasses sighted after hours of uninterrupted flight...
Socotra celebrates International Vulture Awareness Day for the third year
A guest blog by Ali Yahya Ali Bin Mahrous of the Socotra Wildlife Association Socotra, for the third year, has again joined the world in celebrating International Vulture Awareness Day. Together with my colleagues in the Socotra...
Bee-eaters and beekeepers in Cyprus: a conflict with a solution
Guest blog by Tassos Shialis The problem The migration of bee-eaters in spring and autumn through Cyprus is a wonderful event for nature lovers and bird watchers. At the same time, beekeepers in Cyprus are not happy...
Common Swifts in Iran – a Conservation Project
A guest blog by Abraham Shokouhi I became very curious about the Common Swift Apus apus pekinensis in 2013 when I attended training courses for eco-tourism guides and birdwatching tour guides. It looked a very interesting and...
The Turkestan Ground-jay in Uzbekistan
Guest blog by Robert J. Burnside I have been working in the Kyzylkum desert, in Uzbekistan, since 2013 on the ecology and conservation of the Asian Houbara with the University of East Anglia, BirdLife International and the...