Monday 9 January 2017

SPOON-BILLED SANDPIPER

Two friends of mine are in Thailand watching and studying birds.   Today they found the very, very rare species - Spoon-billed Sandpiper - which winters there.  There are less than 200 pairs in the world and a big study is being conducted by a co-operative world team of Ornithologists and Ecologists to try and discover where they breed, feed and winter so they can conserve the habitat where they are found.   I saw my first at Mai Po marshes in Hong Kong many years ago when I was birdwatching there.   They breed in North Eastern Russia and winter in South East Asia.  This year three birds have been caught, ringed and satellite tracking devices attached to them and it is already telling us a lot about there habits and the places where they prefer to feed and rest outside the breeding season.   Peter Scott's Wildlife Trust at Slimbridge are involved and have set up a small breeding programme to try and breed these Sandpipers in captivity with a view to increasing the population in NE Russia.   For more information about this project click on this link. 

Thursday 5 January 2017

Gailey HUB - proposed NEW and ENLARGED plans

New and enlarged plans for the Gailey New Strategic Rail Hub have been released and can be viewed by CLICKING HERE