Kestrel female with brood in an old crow’s nest.
© Gordon Riddle

I am happy to announce a new interview, this time with Gordon Riddle about the Eurasian or Common in the United Kingdom.

Interview with Gordon Riddle about the Eurasian Kestrel the UK

The Eurasian or Common Kestrel is a widespread raptor and popular not only among bird watchers and ornithologists. He can be found in most European countries, often in agricultural areas or even in big cities but also in remote locations like the alps where it sometimes has to fight much bigger raptors like Golden Eagles who come to close to it’s nest.

Sadly, in many countries researches and bird watchers have seen a decline in Kestrel numbers, at least in part due to intensification of agriculture and loss of habitat and prey species.

In this new interview, Gordon Riddle, who has been studying the little falcon for almost 40 years, talks about the biology and conservation of the Kestrel in the UK and beyond and explains what must be done to make sure that future generations will see as many or more Kestrels then we do today.

Gordon is also the author of the soon to be published book Kestrels for company. See the interview for more information about the book.

Hobby chicks in nest, © Klaus-Dietrich Fiuczynski

A new interview is available, this time about the Eurasian Hobby in Germany:

Interview with Klaus-Dietrich Fiuczynski about the Eurasian Hobby in Germany

The Eurasian Hobby is a beautiful and elegant little falcon. A long distance migrant, it only spends a few months in Europe.
In this interview, Klaus-Dietrich Fiuczynski talks about the biology and conservation of the Eurasian Hobby in Germany.

Klaus talks about threats to the Hobby, what can be done to protect the species in the future, what gaps in our knowledge of the Hobby still exists and much more.

Klaus has been studying the Hobby for many years and has just published (together with Paul Sömmer) the 5th edition of a German monograph about the species.

See the interview and the links at the bottom for more information about the book.

http://www.mefrg.org/images/falco/falco36.pdf

Is has information on vultures and diclofenac, raptor trade in Yemen, lot’s of information on Saker Falcons and much more.
It also has an article about the Peregrine Fund, an US-based NGO working for raptor conservation (I highly recommend joining them as a member to support their work!).

Golden Eagle
Osprey
Egyptian Vulture
Griffon Vulture
Peregrine Falcon

The reports are very detailed, for example the one on the Golden Eagle has 189 pages.

Other results from earlier censuses can be found here (incl. Bonelli’s Eagle, Cinereous Vulture, several harrier species, Eleonora’s Falcon and many other birds):
http://www.seo.org/programa_seccion_ficha.cfm?idPrograma=3&idArticulo=225

The new results are very interesting. For example, for the Golden Eagle, the census found 1,553 definite pairs and 216 likely pairs which gives a Spanish population of 1,769 pairs. This makes Spain very important for the conservation of the Golden Eagle in Europe.

Green Balkans works on a reintroduction project for the Lesser Kestrel in Bulgaria as part of the project “Conservation measures for target species of the EU Birds Directive – Lesser Kestrel, Black Vulture, and Imperial Eagle in their main habitats in Bulgaria”. See this interview with Simeon Marin from Green Balkans for more information.

More information:
Five colonies of Lesser Kestrels found in European Turkey

Click here to go to the latest edition of this newsletter:
http://www.euronatur.org/Ausgabe-16-April-2010.1007.0.html

Eastern Imperial Eagle family breakfast.
© Picture: Dobromir Dobrinov/Green Balkans

A new interview is available:

Interview with Simeon Marin from Green Balkans about the conservation of Eastern Imperial Eagles, Lesser Kestrels and Cinereous Vultures in Bulgaria.

The interview covers the work of Green Balkans for a project called “Conservation measures for target species of the EU Birds Directive – Lesser Kestrel, Black Vulture, and Imperial Eagle in their main habitats in Bulgaria”

All three species are threatened across Europe and in Bulgaria, currently only the Eastern Imperial Eagle is a regular, but rare, breeding species.
Green Balkans works to increase the number of the Eastern Imperial Eagle and hopes that both the Lesser Kestrel and the Cinereous Vulture will come back as a regular breeding species to Bulgaria.

Reed the interview to learn more about this important project and what Green Balkans is doing to protect those three amazing raptor species.

http://cherrug.org

From the website:
Southeast European Saker falcon Network
is a group of organizations located in the Saker Falcon western breeding range. The network includes scientific and nature-conservation, non-governmental and academic institutions working on the field of raptor research and conservation.

Former Saker nesting cliff in Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park (West Bulgaria).
© Dimitar Ragyov

I am happy to announce another interview, this time about the situation of the Saker Falcon in Bulgaria and a possible reintroduction effort to bring back the species to it’s former range.

Interview with Dimitar Ragyov about the reintroduction of Saker Falcons into Bulgaria

Dimitar Ragyov and others recently published Saker Falcon Reintroduction in Bulgaria Feasibility Study which explains in detail the current and past situation of the species in Bulgaria and what needs to be done to reintroduce the species and make sure it will be a success.

Make sure to read this new and very interesting interview about Europe’s second largest falcon!

The following news have been submitted by Dimitar Ragyov.

Proposals for conservation and research on Saker Falcon Falco cherrug will be considered, but preference will be given to studies that generate data to increase our understanding of the ecology and conservation of the species.

Eligible countries are Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Proposals should be in a region of £2000, but we will consider applications up to a maximum of £5000.

Applications will be accepted until 19th February 2010.

More details regarding this opportunity can be found at SESN Funding Application Form

If you need further information please don’t hesitate to contact me at dimitar.ragyov@gmail.com

Southeast European Saker falcon Network is a group of organizations located in westernmost Saker falcon breeding range. The network include scientific and conservation, nongovernmental and academic institutions, working on raptors research and conservation.

It was spontaneously created in 2006 after an International Saker Falcon Workshop held in Sofia (Bulgaria), organized by Central Laboratory of General Ecology – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and financially supported by International Wildlife Consultants (UK) Ltd on behalf of Environmental Agency of Abu Dhabi.

SESN objectives:

• To bring together researchers and wildlife protectionists working on the field of Saker falcon research and conservation in SE Europe in order to coordinate the work on the species, thus increasing the efficiency of the efforts toward improving its population and conservation status.
• To implement surveys for better understanding of Saker falcon ecology and population status.
• To identify casual factors for species decline.
• To implement adequate conservation measures to stop the negative trends of the populations and assure measures for maintaining favorable status of the species.

SESN_Funding_Application_Form.doc