Thursday 26 February 2015

Champions Of The Flyway 2015: Team NGB

In March 2015 a team of young birders will be racing around Southern Israel trying to see as many species as possible in 24 hours and all to raise money for Birdlife Cyprus, read on for more.

Our team comprises four young UK birders that each come from different backgrounds and lifestyles but who all share one common passion…. BIRDS. Next Generation Birders will be represented at the Champions of the Flyway event in Eilat 2015 by James Shergold, Andrew Kinghorn, Matthew Bruce and Tim Jones.


The Next Generation Birders team are proud to be involved with Champions of the Flyway in 2015. We want to see the next generation take up the fight to save species and habitats before it is too late and hope that our participation will help draw other young peoples’ attention to the plight of our migratory species and what can be done to save them.

On the 25th March 2015 the team will attempt to record as many species as possible across Southern Israel in 24 hours. We will be aiming to get upwards of 150+ species on the day, so if you would like to sponsor us per species that’d give us an extra incentive to see as many as possible!

Competing against an international array of other teams we are hoping to raise as much money as possible for Birdlife Cyprus, to help them in the fight to prevent the illegal trapping of migrant birds across the island.

‘’Champions of the Flyway is an international bird race that challenges the norm. Its primary purpose is to celebrate the extraordinary miracle of bird migration.’’

Every year it is estimated that millions of migrant passerines are illegally caught and killed in Cyprus. The birds are caught using either the traditional method of lime sticks where the birds become stuck to the stick or mist nets.

Once caught they are killed, plucked and boiled and served as a traditional dish called Ambelopoulia. This dish is in such demand by the Cypriot community and certain tourists that each bird is worth up €5 per bird and the illegal trade in these birds is worth up to €15,000,000 a year! Due to the dish being such a deep rooted tradition Birdlife Cyprus need all the help and money they can get, so please help them by sponsoring our team!


More details can be found here http://www.champions-of-the-flyway.com/cause/

This documentary shows the situation in Cyprus and what the money raised from the event will be going towards stopping.


Last year $60,000 was raised from the Champions of the Flyway event for the Batumi Raptor Camp which was used to protect the raptors passing through Georgia and this year we’re hoping to raise more for Birdlife Cyprus, more details here.

http://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/news/champions-flyway-2014-race-helps-mobilise-falconers-save-migratory


A video showing what Champions of the Flyway is and the race in 2014.

So were asking you to get behind the Next Generation Birders and sponsor our team. Every penny that is donated to us will go to Birdlife Cyprus to help them protect migrant birds passing through the island in Spring and Autumn.

Please dig deep and help this great cause, our just giving page is linked below.
https://www.justgiving.com/COTF2015NGB/


If you could share this with your followers on Twitter or friends on Facebook we would really appreciate it.


-The NGB COTF Team

No comments:

Post a Comment