Partnership with HeidelbergCement - Spring Alive

Spring Alive has five flagship migratory bird species, (Barn Swallow, White Stork, Common Cuckoo, Common Swift, European Bee-eater)  which form the focus of their migratory monitoring. The arrival of these species in Europe having travelled from Africa confirms that spring is here and the European winter is over. HeidelbergCement’s involvement in Spring Alive has introduced a sixth migratory bird to the project: The Sand martin, a quarry flagship species and frequent visitor in many of the sites, will be included as one of the “birds to look out for”.

With 54 countries, hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren participating, and millions receiving the message though digital media, the Spring Alive project has a wide audience, and fits in perfectly with HeidelbergCement’s sustainability strategy to create awareness about biodiversity. During the 2019 season, some of HeidelbergCement’s quarry sites across parts of Africa and Europe will be participating in the project in collaboration with the local BirdLife Partners.

Sand martins are the smallest European hirundines (martins and swallows), with dark brown upper parts and dark under wings contrasting with otherwise pale under parts divided by a distinctive dark chest bar. Agile fliers, feeding mainly over water, they will perch on overhead wires or branches. They are gregarious in the breeding season and winter. During the past 50 years the European population has crashed on two occasions as a result of drought in the birds’ African wintering grounds. There are eight subspecies within this species.