Pages

Wednesday 26 November 2014

Wader Quest World Watch - show your solidarity for the world's waders/shorebirds and those that work to preserve them.

Finally we are in the run up to the World Watch weekend and we hope that we will be joined by many people across the planet in order that we can see as many waders/shorebirds as possible between us in one weekend.


By participating you will be showing your solidarity with other birders around the world who care about what is happening to our wader populations and by doing so you can;

  • let the people in China and North and South Korea know that you care about what is happening in the Yellow Sea; 
  • send your thanks to the thousands of volunteers around the world who protect breeding beaches such as those of the Piping and Snowy Plovers in America and the Hooded Plover in Australia;
  • show your appreciation for the breeding programmes that are being carried out to save species from extinction such as those of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Black Stilt and Shore Plover; 
  • stand shoulder to shoulder with people involved in a myriad other projects around the world who are fighting to save struggling wader populations.


The best thing is that you can do all of this simply by going birding wherever you happen to be in the world next weekend; show your support and concern in this uncomplicated and enjoyable way.


In its simplest form there are just two things you need to do.

1.       Go out and see waders/shorebirds wherever you are in the world.
2.       Send us an email telling us what you have seen and where.
It’s that easy; no registering required just plain good old-fashioned bird watching... oh! And an email.

If however you would like to turn this into more of an event or become more involved here are some suggestions as to how you can enhance your experience but none of these are a requirement to participate by any means; 
  •           see if you can get others who may not already be shorebird lovers, especially young birders, to join you and introduce them to the joys and challenges of wader/shorebird identification;
  •           get sponsored to raise money for Wader Quest projects;
  •           if you are a photographer, send us your best photos from the weekend and we will select some to create the Wader Quest 2016 calendar;
  •           if you film birds send us some footage and we can compile a short film about the event perhaps using your footage;
  •           if you like to make counts of the birds you see, enter your results on ebird or some other citizen science forum thus making a valuable contribution to our knowledge of these lovely and incredible birds.

Above all we want you to have fun, enjoy your waders/shorebirds and know that you are a part of a large community of people across the world who are doing the same thing, more or less at the same time, in order to bring awareness of the problems these birds face to the fore.
So why not join us? Make a note in your diary now.


For our part, on Saturday we will be fundraising at a Christmas Lights celebration in our local town, Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamsgire, UK, if you are in the region come and say hello at our stand and on Sunday we will be travelling up to RSPB Titchwell and will spend most of the day there enjoying the waders to be seen so again, if you are in the area, look out for us and come and say hello.


2 comments:

  1. Here is my count from this morning at Paktaley and Lampakbia:
    1. Spoon-billed Sandpiper -1
    2. Common Sandpiper
    3. Marsh Sandpiper
    4. Wood Sandpiper
    5. Curlew Sandpiper
    6. Broadbilled Sandpiper
    7. Asian Dowitcher - 4
    8. Whimbrel
    9. Eurasian Curlew
    10. Black-tailed Godwit
    11. Bar-tailed Godwit
    12. Grey Plover
    13. Pacific Golden Plover
    14. Grey-headed Lapwing - 6
    15. Red-wattled Lapwing
    16. Pin-tailed Snipe
    17. Little-ringed Plover
    18. Kentish Plover
    19. Greater Sand Plover
    20. Lesser Sand Plover
    21. Common Redshank
    22. Spotted Redshank
    23. Long-toed Stint
    24. Red-necked Stint
    25. Temminck's Stint
    26. Common Greenshank
    27. Nordmann's Greenshank - 9
    28. Great Knot
    29. Red Knot
    30. Sanderling
    31. Ruff
    32. Black-winged Stilt
    33. Pied Avocet

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your results Peter, great list. That part of Thailand is such a wader lovers paradise. Brilliant to get the Spoon-billed Sandpiper , Nordmann's Greenshank and Grey-headed lapwing on the list. Thank you for taking part, much appreciated.

      Delete