Greece – the other migrant crisis

Tags

birds, conservation, Europe, Greece, illegal killing, migration, nature, spring hunting, wildlife crime

Greece. What does the word conjure up? The desperate human migrant exodus from Syria?   Money – bailouts, default, IMF etc.? Both of these have dominated recent news about the country. But, beyond these, there are more enduring qualities that soon come to mind – the light, the heat, the sea, the hospitality, the ouzo. Everyone loves the time they spend in Greece, whether for the wildlife, the weather, the history or just sunbathing on the beach.

Behind many beaches, however, just a few yards inland, there’s often a very different activity going on. The silent slaughter of songbirds. Thousands of mist-nets and limesticks bring a slow death to Robins, Blackcaps, thrushes, Cuckoos – anything that’s  passing – often lured by tapes of birdsong, suggesting a safe haven. Despite being banned, illegal bird killing is taking place at quite extraordinary and unsustainable levels. While many in authority turn a blind eye, an estimated 25 million birds are being illegally massacred annually around the Mediterranean.

Sadly, it is estimated that over a million birds are killed in Greece each year.

To add to this, tens of thousands of birds – Goldfinches are especially prized – are caught and sold in markets all over the country to become cagebirds. Even more openly, wild birds are sold in pet shops in Athens.

And now, as Spring arrives, those migrants that have survived the journey to Africa and are on their way back to Europe to breed are next in line. These are the survivors, the strong birds essential to maintaining the population, but throughout the Ionian islands – Corfu, Zakynthos etc. the first bird calls of spring aren’t just uplifting they are a call to put on the camouflage and get outside with a gun. Spring hunting, because of its damaging effect on future bird numbers, has been banned since 1979. So what happens? Hundreds of hunters in camo outfits, putting a resounding two fingers up at the law, are out shooting at anything within range. It may be illegal but there’s virtually no law enforcement. Just look at what the wildlife hospitals receive – harriers, eagles, Ospreys, herons, you name it. And it’s all defended in the name of tradition – ‘We’ve always done this’, ‘It’s part of our heritage’ etc, etc.

An Osprey bites the dust

Well, tradition is thin justification. It’s the last resort for those who know something is wrong but can’t find any other way of defending it. Burning witches and sleeping in caves were traditional but we don’t do them now. So, this has to stop. In the long term, education has a large role to play but birds are being killed now, today, as you read this. Pressure has to be brought to bear in the here and now on the authorities to enforce the law.

The Champions of the Flyway campaign is a Birdlife project targeting the illegal killing of migratory birds travelling between Europe and Africa. Each year one country is the focus. This year that focus is Greece. It is our chance to help lessen the impact of the killing fields of Greece on our migrant birds.

Listen to this podcast soundcloud.com/talkingnaturally/tn-022

Read this report from Birdlife birdlife.org/illegal-killing

Please support the Champions of the Flyway campaign so that something can be done about this terrible slaughter…… champions-of-the-flyway.com

 

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Steve is a founder of Birdwing.eu who are sponsoring the Birdlife Greece Racers Team.

 

 

 

A site for sore eyes

Tags

birds, conservation, environment, Greece, Lake Kerkini, nature, photography

It’s easy to get disheartened in this world we’ve made, where wild things are of so little importance to so many people, where they are shot for fun and their habitats are trashed in the name of ‘progress’. However, there are still places where people are working hard to preserve the wild things and their habitats. Lake Kerkini, in Northern Greece, is a case in point.

This place is simply a bird wonderland. Just an hour’s drive north of Thessaloniki, nothing can quite prepare you for sheer number of birds on and around the lake. It’s nearly 20 years since my first visit and each time is as magical as the first. And so it proved once again last week. I was there to discuss habitat improvement projects with the management staff on behalf of the conservation organisation, Birdwing (www.birdwing.eu) my wife and I run out here in Greece.

The lake, created by the damming of the Strimonas River in 1932, is used primarily as a reservoir for the irrigation of the fertile Serres plain to the south. Its depth changes by several metres during the course of the year as the winter rains are gradually fed out to the farmland below. The surface area increases from about 54 square kilometres in autumn to a brimming 72 square kilometres in June. This means that, for the visitor, the scene is always changing and, of course, the same is true for the birds.

As we walked towards the lake last week the air was full of the songs of nightingales, golden orioles, purring turtle doves, the harsh chatter of the great reed warbler, the mechanical olivaceous warbler, cuckoos and the explosive Cetti’s warbler. Bee-eaters were everywhere, burrowing furiously into the sandy embankments, arrowing into the air as we approached. All this is standard fare for Kerkini and is a banquet in itself, but the quality was turned up a notch by visitors from the east. On the Sunday of our visit there weren’t any, Monday saw a few but by Tuesday there were large flocks all around the lake. Rosy starlings were everywhere! It seemed that every mulberry tree was alive with their movement and chatter.

There is an area of trees to the north of the lake that, as the water level rises in spring, becomes a ‘drowned forest’ as it stands in over a metre of water. This provides a perfect nest site for thousands of water birds, including cormorants, herons and egrets.

A grey heron, wrestling with a very alive, very large snake, reluctantly took to the air as we reached the embankment. At this time of year, along the shore, there are lots of dead branches protruding from the water and almost every one had a heron of some sort on it, often a night heron or a gorgeous squacco.

In the wet meadows opposite, numerous little egrets, a single purple heron, a couple of great white egrets together with glossy ibises probed for food. There were spoonbills with their scything feeding action and several cattle egrets scampering between the plodding feet of the water buffaloes. A lone spur-winged plover waited hopefully for a partner.

Hundreds of great crested grebes were busy on family business, many with nests and some with their stripy young riding on their backs. In the distance black-necked grebes were busy arranging nests out of floating vegetation in amongst the whiskered terns. In the distance we could clearly see the three pelican platforms, each packed full of Dalmatian pelicans.

This bird, one of the largest in Europe, is globally endangered, with a world population estimated at fewer than 14 000. It has undergone massive global declines over the past couple of centuries, a result of wetland drainage, persecution and disturbance during the breeding season. Here at Kerkini, through conservation efforts, artificial nesting sites have allowed over 200 young to fledge this year alone.

Suddenly there was a movement of spawning fish in the shallows in front of us. Within seconds thousands of cormorants and pelicans were thrashing their way across the lake to join the feast. The lake surface was boiling with splashing, diving and gulping birds. Egrets gobbled up fish that had jumped out of the frying pan onto the shore. Within seconds there was quiet as the fish sank deeper. The birds sat, watchful, waiting, knowing that within minutes another shoal would be spotted and the thrashing, squawking and feasting would begin again.

A masked shrike leapt up from the track. A hoopoe flew over with its ‘butterfly’ flight. A lesser spotted eagle rose from a field of poppies. Penduline tits called their mournful ‘siuu’. A tortoise ambled past and a black kite scooped a fish from the lake surface.

 

Kerkini had once again worked its magic – on such a day it’s difficult to think of a better place to be.

 

 

If you’re interested in learning more about Kerkini and other wetlands of Greece, seeing more photos of the birds there and finding out ways you can help preserve and protect them, go to birdwing.eu

Let’s do what we can to keep these places special.