Category: Guest Blogs

Migrations: A field study of adversity

Guest blog by Derek­ Robertson  I am privileged to spend my days in wild and beautiful places painting birds. I am fascinated by them: by their abstract shapes, their song, their behaviour, their migrations. I have sketched...

When a place is part of us, and we are part of it

Guest blog by Mervat Batarseh of RSCN Not too long ago, children used to spend most of their time in the nature playing and relaxing. Their connection to the place was solid, and it meant for them to preserve it. We...

Finding Steppe Whimbrels in the Middle East

Guest blog by Gary Allport A Steppe Whimbrel in Maputo in February 2016 was thought to be a female as she was large and very long-winged. Note the wing tip (primaries) extending well beyond the tail tip.  This...

How to make Urungoch Lake cleaner? Decision found!

A guest blog from the UzSPB/OSME/Van Tienhoven Project Team Do you know why nature conservation in Uzbekistan is so much challenging and exciting at the same time? Apart from diverse wildlife, unique ecosystems, extensive wilderness there are responsive...

How students of Thrace help the Egyptian Vulture

Guest blog by Christy Sotiriou on behalf of the WWF Greece Dadia Programme Five years ago, in 2013, WWF Greece and its team located in Dadia village in the northwestern part of the Evros regional unit, begun...

The illegal bird killing in Lebanon

Guest blog by Assad Serhal I am sure that many of you are aware of the huge problems of illegal poaching, trapping and trade of migatory and resident species in the OSME region. The 2015 report by...

A City Nature Reserve in Astana?

Guest blog by Stephanie Ward City Nature Reserve in Astana Back in the spring, the RSPB was invited by the UK Embassy in Kazakhstan to work with the UK Department of Trade and Industry on a temporary...

Fifa Nature Reserve: the lowest Ramsar Site on Earth

Guest Blog by Yehya Khaled & Nashat Hamidan of RSCN  On the 4th of December 2016, Fifa Nature Reserve in Jordan was declared a Wetland of International Importance. The Site’s lowest point stands at 420 meters below...

Sustainable Hunting Conference in Lebanon

Guest blog by James Hogg I am sure anyone reading this knows that the hunting of birds in Lebanon as with elsewhere in the Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa is a serious problem. Birdlife International in their report “The...

Where did Slender-billed Curlews breed?

Guest blog by Graeme Buchanan The number of fully documented slender-billed curlew nests ever found could be counted on one hand. And they all come from the turn of last century from near Omsk in Siberian Russia....