New target and donations received for the Hoodies.

Due to a communication problem between ourselves and PayPal we have just discovered two donations for the Hooded Plovers that we had missed, one from Vincent Cavalieri on the 14th of February and the other from our old friend and contstant supporter at Wader Quest South Africa Peter Sharland.

We are very grateful for this support and thank both for their generosity in donating to help us to help BirdLife Australia to help the Hooded Plovers.

We can also announce here that we have more or less doubled our target for the Hoodies. We have removed the 350AUD already donated and changed the 1,000 AUD to £1,000 which is worth around 1,850 AUD in today's market. This is rather ambitious, but with your help once again we are sure we can do it and when we reach it we will have been able to donate over 2,000 AUD to BirdLife Australia.

Hooded Plovers Thinornis rubricollis; Point Roadknight, Victoria, Australia. September 2013.

Hooded Plovers face many problems on their breeding beaches one of which is that they use the same beaches that people like to use. It is clearly not possible to close beaches when they are at their most popular during spring and summer, so an army of volunteers patrol nesting beaches to help protect the birds and educate the beach going public as well. It is sometimes an up-hill battle and some do not take kindly to being asked not to let their dog roam off the leash for example, but the volunteers have had great success and made a huge difference.

Responsible dog walkers keep their animals on a leash and keep close to the water's edge.

In addition to the volunteers there are of course materials for cordoning off parts of the beach, producing signs and the tent like chick shelters, all of which cost money.

Hooded Plover chick in a shelter protecting it from the elements and predators alike.
Photo supplied by BirdLife Australia.

The project has had its funds from the Australian Government cut completely, so, you may not think your donation will make much of a difference, but we can assure you, that whatever you give will make a big difference to these birds. BirdLife Australia have increased the success rate of nestlings to fledging from 5% to 50%, with your help they can go further and make life even safer and more secure for these beautiful creatures.

Hooded Plover chicks, worth a few quid to save them we think!
Photo supplied by BirdLife Australia.