Birds and wildlife in Greece

Issue 28 Winter 19/20

Birdwing News – 1

Our heartfelt thanks…

We’ve been overwhelmed with your generous donations and messages of support since

our last newsletter. The appeal to raise money for anti-poison dogs has been very

successful and we are very grateful to be able to help their valuable work to continue. We

hope you enjoy reading our news below.

Hilary and Steve

.

Appeal target exceeded!

Over €5,200 has been donated to our

appeal, well over our £4000 target) to help

fund the anti-poison dog units in Greece!

We are very grateful to those who

contributed, with particular thanks going to

several organisations and individuals:

Greenwings Wildlife Holidays

Centre d’Etudes et de Protection des

Oiseaux de Bienne et environs

(CEPOB) in Switzerland

Birding in Greece (Lefteris

Stavrakas)

Tolka Branch BirdWatch Ireland

Hotel Limnaio and Itavros

Peter and Ans Goedhart

Holger Kretzschmann

Claudia Wolkerstorfer

Meriel Wilmot-Wright

Rosena McShane

Michel Gigon

Chris Driver

David Parker

Andy Broadhurst

Obviously we can’t mention everyone’s name but we are very grateful to you all for your support! Read more on page 3 about the stories of some of the groups who contributed.

€5219

More nest-boxes at the Evros Delta

Following the success of our existing nest-boxes at

Evros, Birdwing have recently paid for a local

carpenter to construct new boxes for Rollers and

Kestrels to be sited at the Delta and further afield.

Thanks to Eleni and the Management Body Staff for

assisting in this action.

During the autumn we erected new boxes and

relocated others in more suitable sites across

Northern Greece on trees and on telegraph poles (for

which permission had been granted by local

electricity companies). We have also erected smaller

boxes for flycatchers and tits, including this one

which, although only put up in October, it seems was

discovered by a woodpecker who found the hole-size

too small for its liking!

Anti-poison dogs

Steve had the opportunity to promote the work of the anti-poison dogs in Greece and other Birdwing projects as part of a local Whitby Naturalists group event in Yorkshire, UK.

Good numbers attended his talk at the Whitby Pavilion and money was also raised for Birdwing projects through sales of playing cards and other materials.

Birdwing News – 2

Our 20-20 vision!

“It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing

because you can only do little.

Do what you can.”

Sydney Smith

At the start of a new decade, and at a time when our planet is facing ecological disaster, we would like to involve you in the development of our vision for 2020 and beyond, for helping birds and wildlife in Greece. We would welcome suggestions for projects we could undertake and will consider funding any actions that meet with Birdwing’s aims of: 1) Raising awareness

to provide people with information and education about birds, wildlife and wider environmental issues and to nurture a love of wildlife in children and young people

2) Raising money

for direct habitat improvement projects to help birds, wildlife and the environment

3) Speaking out to publicise issues impacting birds and wildlife in

Greece and build a membership base for a collective voice on conservation issues

If you have an idea for a project or action in Greece that would directly help the natural world or provide education about birds and wildlife that requires funding and meets our aims we would be interested in hearing from you. In this time of ecological destruction, we believe that it is vital and urgent that children and young people are encouraged to engage with the natural world and to develop a love of wildlife. We are in discussions with Birdlife Greece about collaborating on a project for children aged 8-14 which we plan to tell you more about in our spring newsletter. In the meantime, however, we would particularly like to hear from you if you have any suggestions for actions Birdwing could undertake with this aim. Please contact us at info@birdwing.eu We would love to hear your ideas.

Birdwing News – 3

Contributors’ stories

Birdwing’s anti-poison dogs appeal received donations from a number of bird groups and organisations.

Centre d’Etudes et de Protection des Oiseaux de Bienne et environs (CEPOB) This lively and active club in Switzerland has been running for 40 years, with about 140 members. They publish a review twice a year and their activities include: - building nestboxes for swallows, swifts, and owls

- working to maintain biodiversity, like cutting shrubs in

swamps, pruning hedges, etc...

- participating in waterbirds censuses,

- working on a study about Tengmalm owls in the Jura

mountains

- encouraging interest in birds through talks, shows, trips...

Find out more at www.CEPOB.ch.

Birding in Greece

This Greek organization offers birdwatching and photography tours tailored to your own requirements. They are dedicated exclusively to the organization of activities related to nature and wildlife in Greece. Their fundamental objective is to highlight the unique nature of the country, to people at home and abroad, while offering unforgettable moments and the experience of a lifetime. Find out more at www.birdingingreece.gr

BirdWatchIreland is the equivalent of RSPB and is Ireland's

largest independent conservation group. The Tolka Branch is one of three in the Dublin area, arranging talks and outings during the year. All activities are open to the public, not just to BirdWatch members. The Chair of the group, Dermot McCabe says, “For the past fifteen years, we have had an annual springtime trip (two to eight people) to Northern Greece and have availed of your most useful guide ‘Birdwatching in Northern Greece’. One of our groups was happy to meet you both at the Eagle Owl site near Lithotopos a couple of years ago. We organised a talk on the Raptors of the Northern Balkans last October with some of our pictures taken over the years, and as it coincided with the appeal, we decided on a collection.” Find out more at www.dublinbirding.com

Greenwings

The wildlife holiday company Greenwings donated £750 towards our anti-poison dogs appeal. Their strong focus on conservation separates them from other holiday companies and we are very grateful to them for their long-standing and continued support. The offer a number of excellent birdwatching and nature holidays to Greece, including one in May 2020 which we (Steve Mills and Hilary Koll) will be involved in running. Find out more at www.greenwings.co

Birdwing News – 4

Birdwing News – 5

Vultures in the Kompsatos valley

During 2019, as part of the “Conservation of black

and griffon vultures in Rhodope mountains”

project, WWF Greece established five small-sized

feeding sites in the Kompsatos valley in the

Greek part of the Rhodope Mountains, to support

vultures in the region, with regular feeding that

began in March. The five sites are fenced to keep

mammals out and twenty stock breeders

expressed their interest in supporting this action

and signed the relevant papers with the Vet

Service. So far, nine breeders have placed dead

livestock in the sites. Meanwhile, WWF Greece

also obtained permission to place food at the

feeding sites aiming to assess the response of

vultures to the new constructions. Trail cameras

were also placed for recording the vultures and

reading wing tags/plastic rings.

After 9 months of operation, a maximum of 10 Griffon vultures and 5 Black vultures have been

recorded. Among them were marked Griffon vultures from Bulgaria and Serbia, Black vultures marked

in the National Park of Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli forest and a Black vulture released in Bulgaria under the

LIFE “Тhe Bright Future for Black Vulture” (LIFE14 NAT/BG/649). Moreover, as soon as the unique

Egyptian vulture pair of the valley arrived from Africa in early spring, the birds directly located the

feeding sites and soon became the most frequent users!

It is worth mentioning that one member of the pair was tagged with a satellite

transmitter under the LIFE “The Return of the Neophron” (LIFE10

NAT/BG/000152) as a chick in Bulgaria in 2012 and this year successfully

bred in Kompsatos valley.

In December, WWF Greece organized a demonstration visit of livestock breeders from Kompsatos

valley to the Dadia National Park where they had the chance to observe vultures and learn about the

importance of this area for raptors and vultures. Moreover, they realized the distance that vultures

cover in a day from Dadia to Kompsatos searching for food; they also learned about the long term

protection efforts of Dadia forest and the importance of common synergies throughout Rhodope

Mountain for the survival of the species.

The operation of the feeding sites will be maintained by WWF Greece until the end of the project

expecting more breeders to actively support this initiative and as result to see more flying and breeding

vultures in the Thracian Meteora in the future.

For more see: rewilding-rhodopes.com/life-vultures-news/29648/

lifeneophron.eu/#a-the-great-meeting-of-egyptian-vultures-godparents

lifeneophron.eu/#a-are-the-egyptian-vultures-under-threat-from-nsaids-in-their-greek-territories

Thanks to Dora Skartsi and WWF Greece.

Birdwing thanks

Thanks as always to the management bodies of the National Parks for their collaboration in undertaking projects to help birds, including monitoring, maintaining and constructing rafts, platforms and nest-boxes. Thanks again to all who have donated to our appeal and to the Hellenic Ornithological Society (Birdlife Greece) for there collaboration. If you have any queries contact us at info@birdwing.eu or go to www.birdwing.eu.

Birdwing News – 6

Bird news round-up

There have been some unusual birds over-wintering or returning early to Greece this year. Reports of over-wintering Black and White Storks have increased, a Hoopoe has been seen in Thrace and the arrival of 6 Spur-winged Plover at Axios this month was a rather early sign of spring. Dalmatian Pelicans are already wearing their breeding finery at Lake Kerkini, where a Pallas’ Gull was a visitor this month. The majority of the European population of Lesser White-fronted Geese have been in residence at the lake since their early arrival in September, with 96 individuals and it may be that once again they will remain here through the winter rather than moving on to the Evros Delta. At Evros the flock of Greater White-fronts have been joined by five Red-breasted Geese. Several White-tailed Eagles are also on the delta along with plenty of Greater Spotted Eagles and a single Eastern Imperial. Four Little Bustards are also present. Other sightings of note include 3 White-tailed Eagles and 6 Slavonian Grebes at Ismarida, 1244 White-headed Duck on Vistonida, reports of a Scaup and 6 Ruddy Shelduck at Volvi, 3 Eider at Amvrakikos and two Velvet Scoter at Alykes Kitrous.

New and repaired tern rafts

Birdwing are in discussions about funding new tern rafts and repairing existing ones across Northern Greece. In addition to the new raft built and successfully used at the Evros Delta last year Birdwing are hoping to fund a second raft at Lake Kerkini.