The landscaping and water management works that started on 10 October 2016 at Akrotiri Marsh are still in progress. These works include ditch dredging, scrape and pool creation, some reed clearing as well as the creation of footpaths which will channel visitors to the birdwatching hides. These works are expected to finish in mid-November while the works for the construction of the birdwatching facilities will be starting soon.

Over 80 raptor surveys were completed as part of the 2016 effort to monitor the autumn passage of birds of prey through the ‘bottleneck’ sites of Akrotiri, Paphos Plain and Cape Greco. A first assessment of the results gives an estimate of 5,300 birds of prey from over 20 species. The surveys took place from 27 August 2016 to 15 October 2016 by a great and dedicated team of 12 volunteers.

On Tuesday, 4 October 2016 BirdLife Cyprus was invited by the Game and Fauna Service to ring birds at the Service’s Rehabilitation Centre before releasing them back into the wild again. The Game and Fauna Service Rehabilitation centre, which has been operating since 1995, receives every year tens of injured, sick or orphaned wild birds and mammals which are brought to the centre for treatment and rehabilitation.

One of the most important conservation actions will be starting soon at Akrotiri Marsh. Ditch dredging, scrape and pool creation and reed clearing are some of the engineering works the Darwin project will start implementing around mid-October 2016.

This year’s raptor migration count is underway since 27 August 2016 and will be wrapping up on 9 October 2016. As with previous years the sites covered are Akrotiri, Cape Greco and Paphos Plain with our volunteers providing an excellent coverage of the sites that enabled us to gather a lot of data for subsequent analysis.

The raptor count is a major survey taking place every Autumn and this year is no exception with the surveys beginning on 27 August 2016 and lasting up to 9 October 2016.

The hunting season for the Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus) and Turtle Dove (Streptopelia turtur) started on Sunday 21 August 2016 and will last till the end of October.

Tracking wild bird populations is an excellent way to monitor the state of our countryside and an understanding of whether these populations are stable, increasing or decreasing is fundamental to bird conservation efforts. A recent BirdLife Cyprus report covering ten years of the Cyprus Common Birds Monitoring Scheme (CBMS) includes indices on the population trends of common breeding birds that provide the best currently available indicators of the state of the environment in Cyprus. Over 40 BirdLife Cyprus volunteers were involved in gathering this data, following a standardised methodology to systematically survey over 150 randomly selected 1 x 1 km squares across Cyprus.

The significant damage caused by the recent fires in Solea and Argaka, is undoubtedly one of the largest in recent decades and constitutes serious damage to the habitats and species. It is estimated that around 10-12 square kilometres of Natura 2000 area were burnt, with many woodland bird species affected, including Bonelli’s Eagle, the only Eagle species in Cyprus. 40 - 50 years ago, these fires would have been equally tragic, but the forest recovery prospects would have been promising as fires are a natural component of the Mediterranean ecosystem. Unfortunately, however, in 2016, due to anthropogenic climate change, which now is a reality, the prospects of forest and wooded land recovery are much more limited because of desertification. The fact that many fires are not a natural element, but incompatible human intervention, worsens the situation even further.

As the four-month spring/summer survey season (March-June) comes to a close, BirdLife Cyprus volunteers have completed over 350 surveys across the length and breadth of Cyprus.