As the year draws to a close, we like to look back and reflect on our achievements of the year. 2020 is no exception, though of course the year we are looking back on has been no ordinary year. Nevertheless, we are proud of the work we have achieved, despite the challenges we have faced.
In very sad news this week we learned that the Secretary Bird (Sagittarius serpentarius)and Bateleur (Terathopius ecaudatus) are among the species up-listed this year on the IUCN Red List of threatened species. The two species are now categorised as Endangered, and considered to be at very high risk of extinction.
We are delighted to announce our Marion Paviour Award winner this year is Dr Georgia Jones, from Bournemouth University, and her project on Kestrel diet analysis here in the UK! The Trust is extremely pleased be part of this fascinating project working with Kestrels, especially as we work so closely with this Amber-listed species. We are extremely grateful for the generous donation from E3 Leadership Development, which made this award possible.
We caught up with Georgia to find out more about her, and this fascinating project we are very happy to be helping to support: (more…)
Every year, our team go to Dronfield Nature Reserve, near Kimberley in the Northern Cape, South Africa to take part in the annual week of fieldwork ringing and tagging African White-backed Vulture chicks. This year we sent our Africa Project Officer, André Botha, along with Angus Anthony, former manager of Dronfield Nature Reserve, who we have been working with for a number of years. Here is André’s fascinating account of his trip: (more…)
During lockdown, we were very disappointed to have to temporarily suspend some of our conservation and research activities. Fortunately, we have since been able to resume most of them. This time, however, did allow us to focus our efforts on projects we usually don’t have time to get to. For Dr Matt Stevens, our UK Conservation Biologist, this included developing a new app to aid the survey work he carries out with the help of a loyal band of volunteers. This app allows volunteers to record their research in a more streamlined way and this feeds, in real time, to Dr Matt Stevens, our UK Conservation Biologist, who manages this project. Even more exciting though is that through the app we are working on creating a new online dashboard where you will be able to access this information as well!
Saturday 5 September is International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD). At the Hawk Conservancy Trust, we love vultures, and we work every day to raise awareness and educate the public about the plight of these wonderful birds and the vital conservation and research work we do to help vulture populations in the wild. Our International Vulture Programme (IVP) has projects in southern and East Africa and south Asia, and we are extremely grateful to our IVP partners who help to fund this programme.
Earlier this year we shared with you in our Owl Message e-newsletter about the plans that we had in place for 2020 overseas conservation and research work: aerial surveys in Kruger National Park; the conclusion of the Hooded Vulture project; new work on Tawny Eagles and ramping up a new project on the Endangered Lappet-faced Vulture. As we all know, 2020 has not turned out as anyone planned and one of the outcomes of this has been the postponement of several project activities until 2021.
We are delighted to announce that the Hawk Conservancy Trust has reinstated the Marion Paviour Award for 2020, thanks to a generous donation from E3 Leadership Development. Applications are now open! (more…)
During the 1960s and 70s Buzzards were lost from many parts of the UK, mainly due to ongoing persecution, a crash in prey populations and poisonous pesticides. (more…)
The White-backed Vulture colony at Changa Manga breeding facility has fledged three new chicks this year! This brings the group size up to 25, and is the best breeding year yet. It really shows what a brilliant job facility supervisor, Abdul Ghaffar, is doing. (more…)
