Turkish Bird Records Committee

Kerem Ali Boyla reports that Turkish birdwatchers have set up a committee to assess claims of rare bird sightings. The Turkish Bird Records Committee (TBRC) was formed in 2015. It is co-owner of the Turkish eBird Portal,...

The OSME Summer Meeting and 39th AGM

The OSME Summer Meeting and 39th AGM will be held at BTO Headquarters, Thetford, Norfolk on Saturday 1st July. Doors will open at 10.00am for members and non-members to meet old and new friends over coffee and...

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...

World Migratory Bird Day: Bar-tailed godwit

The different migration routes used by Bar-tailed Godwits (Jesse Conklin at TeamPiersa.org) With distribution and migration routes across many areas of the planet with vastly differing climates, the Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica is certainly a wading bird worth looking at...

Spring Sandgrouse vol 39-1

Receiving your copy of Sandgrouse is a sure sign of spring for OSME members! The spring issue of volume 39 is on its way to members and a Singing Bush Lark should start arriving on doormats in...

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...

The bee-eater has landed!!

This weekend sees the official launch of an updated Arabic version of the Birds of the Middle East. Richard Porter is currently in Dubai at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature where he will be giving a...

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....