Illegal Killing of Birds in Arabia - a serious regional threat

Guest blog by Majd Abu Zaghlan

In a joint effort to collect information on the scale of illegal bird killing and trapping, BirdLife International and OSME are doubling their efforts across the Arabian Peninsula, Iran and Iraq to help governments, decision-makers, and NGOs set priorities to combat this serious threat to our region’s wildlife.

European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: an appeal for help

Guest blog from Mark Eaton

Good, appropriate conservation action relies upon knowledge. Knowledge of what species and habitats most need our help, knowledge of where these are, and knowledge of what needs to be done to help them and how best to deliver this help. In the UK, and some other western countries, we have a long-established culture of biological recording which is often at its strongest when it comes to birds. This has blossomed into formal recording schemes such as the BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey, and means that we have relatively robust

OSME Region List (ORL) version 3.3α

The ORL version 3.3 was published in early July 2016 in a β-version to meet the planned schedule of two updates per year. Several important papers were at that time unobtainable, as were a number of older documents that we sought to review for relevant information, but we expected them to become accessible in the near future. That proved to be the case, and so the α-version could be compiled in short order. Below is the summary of changes since version 3.2 – it also appears on the ORL homepage at . .

Conservation on Socotra

Guest blog by Abdalgamil Mohammed

Socotra Archipelago is one of the biodiversity-rich islands in the world thus gaining wide international recognitions. It is UNESCO-Man and Biosphere Reserve in 2003, UNESCO-Natural World Heritage Site in 2008, and one of the world’s 221 globally important Endemic Bird Areas.

Minutes of the 38th Annual General Meeting

Minutes of the 38th Annual General Meeting held on Saturday 2nd July at the premises of the British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford, Norfolk, UK

Members Present, Nabegh Ghazal Asswad, Dawn Balmer, Mike Blair, Colin Butler, Chris Clarke, Elaine Cowan, Peter Cowan, Andrew Grieve, Tomas Haraldsson, Ian Harrison, Phil Heath, Mike Jennings, Brian Meadows, Stephen Menzie, Nick Moran, John Mortemore, Yoav Perlman, Bernard Pleasance, Julia Porter, Richard Porter, Richard Price, Beverley Randall, Geoff Randall, Judith Ross, Irene Sabiniarz, Rob Sheldon, Robin Snape, Paul Stancliffe, Cliff Waller . .

Can you help with surveys of the Indian Ocean coast?

According to the 6th edition of the AEWA Conservation Status Report, nearly 75% of the population size estimates of the waterbird populations in the West Asian/East African flyway are based on ‘best guess’, the highest of all flyways. This is largely due to the fact that waterbird monitoring activities across that flyway are sporadic.