News: Short & sweet / archive
July to September 2022

First Cyprus Autumn Bird Protection Camp Report 2022
This year's Cyprus Autumn Bird Protection Camp organised by the Committee Against Bird Slaughter and our Foundation began on 4 September 2022. For security reasons, we will not disclose the number of participants.
 
Initial information from our camp leader in Cyprus does not bode well for our migratory birds this autumn and winter. Illegal bird poachers and hunters are already in the starting blocks for autumn bird migration, which has already started.
 
Cypriot bird poachers are still a little tardy in setting up their illegal migratory bird trapping facilities, which consist of limesticks and mist nets. Our conservationists currently find 'only' two active trapping sites per day. With the support of local police and state game wardens, the operators of four migratory bird trapping sites were reported and caught. All four bird poachers are repeat offenders, which will considerably increase their expected penalties.
 
One of the bird poachers who was successfully observed, reported, and caught red-handed is a young man who is a member of a bird poaching gang that has been active for years. The gang operates its illegal bird trapping sites in the Cape Pyla region, a British Sovereign Base Area in the Republic of Cyprus.
 
The illegal bird hunter scene. So far this autumn, we have not yet succeeded in catching red-handed and reporting a illegal bird hunter. However, an extensive bird hunting site has been discovered at Ayios Nikolaos, a British military garrison property where all hunting activities are strictly prohibited. But where there is no plaintiff, there is no judge!
 
This hunting site is littered with thousands of empty shotgun shells, heaps of bird feathers and sacks of bird seed used as lures. The attractiveness of the hunting ground for migratory birds seeking rest and food is greatly enhanced by several small artificial ponds constructed by illegal hunters. The monitoring of this hunting site will be of particular concern to us in the coming weeks!
 
Bird Protection Camp Results: 04 - 14.09.2022
 
Bird trappers

• 52 trapping sites observed
• 18 trapping sites active
• 4 trappers caught red-handed and reported
• 194 illegal limesticks destroyed
• 1 electronic bird caller dismantled 

Illegal bird hunting

• 17 hunting sites with illegal hunting activity identified
• 8 electronic bird callers dismantled
  (5 Common Quail and 3 Eurasian Blackcap callers)

Our migratory bird protection area Pantani Cuba & Longarini on the south-east coast of Sicily is already having a magnetic effect on countless waders and waterfowl species ...
As a result of the heat that has persisted in Sicily for weeks, with daily temperatures of +35°C, our Pantano Cuba and Pantano Longarini lagoons currently have very low water levels. As a result of heavy evaporation, new ecologically perfect wetland niches have been created. These offer ideal resting and feeding places for thousands of waders and waterfowl on their migration to Africa.
 
Ecological habitat niches such as mud beaches, small islands and shallow water marshes are ideal migratory steppingstones, especially for wading birds. During our weekly bird censuses, more than 90 migratory bird species have been recorded in our migratory bird sanctuary since July. These include 1,200 Greater Flamingos, 400 Little Stints and Curlew Sandpipers, some 300 Redshanks, Spotted Redshanks, Common Greenshanks and no fewer than 300 Little Ringed Plovers.
 
They all benefit from the peace and quiet and the abundance of food in the migratory bird sanctuary, protected by our bird guards. Rare species such as the Black-Tailed Godwit, Marsh Sandpiper and Broad-billed Sandpiper were also regularly observed. Our protective measures and biotope strategies, implemented in recent years to improve the quality of the wetland habitat and reduce sources of disturbance, find their positive and motivating response in the extremely positive reaction of migratory birdlife, and make our wetland Pantano Cuba & Longarini one of the most important bird migration hotspots in the Central Mediterranean.
 
This encourages and motivates us in our future land purchase talks to expand our migratory bird sanctuary and for the extensive renovation measures on and in the Pantano Longarini lagoon that are still outstanding in late summer 2022.