C T Hanashiro The Okinawa Rail Gallirallus okinawae (Endangered) is confined to Yambaru, Japan, where it is declining because of habitat loss. Zoom In | Hi-Res

November's Newsbites: warblers return, rallies for rails and a wetland scheme making waves…

30-11-2007

The RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) is to harness rising sea levels to create one of Europe’s largest coastal wetlands and help wildlife adapt to climate change. Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project will restore the island’s wetlands, creating the largest ‘tidalexchange’ scheme in the UK. The £12 million scheme will be the RSPB’s most ambitious and costly in the UK and could lure back species, like Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia, which have not nested successfully in the country for more than 400 years. Find out more: www.rspb.org.uk  

Nature Iraq is to make a photographic record of the nation’s Key Biodiversity Areas, thanks to a bursary from The Eric Hosking Charitable Trust. The records will assist with Nature Iraq’s ongoing survey work in the Mesopotamian Marshes and Kurdistan.  

Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka (FOGSL, BirdLife in Sri Lanka), staged the 12th annual bird education exhibition at the University of Colombo, together with the seventh amateur bird photography competition. The event commemorates Mr P.B. Karunatathna, a founder member of FOGSL. Thousands of people participated in the event, which has achieved wider public awareness of bird conservation.

OTOP (BirdLife in Poland) has announced that after a three year absence Aquatic Warblers Acrocephalus paludicola have returned to breed on one of the project sites of their Aquatic Warbler LIFE Project, implemented with support from the RSPB. The return of two singing males to Zajecze Legi is a direct result of management actions implemented by the local landowner in cooperation with the project.  

Japan’s Ministry of Environment has announced that it will undertake a breeding project for the Okinawa Rail Gallirallus okinawae, categorised as Critically Endangered on the Ministry’s bird Red List. The Ministry has set a target of 200 birds for captive breeding by the end of 2017. www.japanfs.org/db/1875-e