Until the recent discovery of large numbers of Sociable Lapwings using the staging site on the Uzbekistan/Turkmenistan border, it was assumed that the western migratory route was used by a significant proportion of the global population. On the western route, Sociable Lapwings head from the steppes of Kazakhstan across the north of the Caspian [...]
India is the final destination for some of the Sociable Lapwings that take the southerly migration route. They will have departed the breeding grounds of Kazakhstan in late August and early September, before staging on the Uzbekistan/Turkmenistan border. The final journey would see them either stay in Pakistan or continue south to the north-western [...]
Pakistan is a key range state for Sociable Lapwings that take the southerly migration route from the breeding grounds of Kazakhstan. The birds that stage at Talimarzhan on the Turkmenistan/Uzbekistan border continue to Pakistan where an unknown proportion will winter, whilst others will continue to northern India. Given that we now know that an [...]
Arguably one of the most staggering discoveries in 15 years of Sociable Lapwing research and monitoring was the record number of birds counted near the Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan border in autumn 2015. Counts of 4225 in Uzbekistan and 3675 in Turkmenistan were the largest congregations of Sociable Lapwings documented since the 19th Century. These [...]
The steppes of Kazakhstan was where the current research and conservation effort for the Critically Endangered Sociable Lapwing began. A pilot study in 2004 suggested that the main driver behind the population decline was low breeding success due to nest trampling. However, subsequent work by ACBK (Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity in Kazakhstan), [...]
The Global Bird Weekend is the brainchild of Birdfair co-founder, Tim Appleton. The idea is simple, go out birding over the weekend of the 17th and 18th October and record your sightings on eBird. Partly inspired by the Covid -19 lockdown and restrictions around the world, the event aims to bring together a global [...]
Rather like buses, you wait for a research paper on the effects of toxic lead ammunition on raptors to be published and then two turn up at once. Or in this case, four! First, a systematic review and meta-analysis of lead contamination in European raptors. Not surprisingly they found a high level of lead [...]
The use of lead ammunition in wetlands is on the verge of being prohibited in Europe, see here and here. This still needs to be approved by the European Parliament and Council. It has been a long battle to get to this point with the shooting industry in most countries, including (especially) the UK, [...]
Vultures, and specifically those considered as Old World Vultures (Asian, African and European), are amongst the most threatened groups of birds in the world. There are 16 species of Old World Vultures of which 11 are at a high risk of extinction (8 are categorised as Critically Endangered and 3 are Endangered). Without urgent [...]
I was delighted to be asked to write a short article for Birdwatch that highlights some of the project’s costs to the natural world. The route-wide impacts on valuable wildlife habitats will be profound. Numerous ‘protected sites,’ nature reserves and irreplaceable ancient woodlands will be destroyed or heavily impacted. A report by The Wildlife [...]
