Artificial nests a hit with owls
A Cyprus Scops owl has made herself comfortable in an artificial nest, one of about 1,000 owl nesting boxes that have been put up in various locations across the island as ...
Primary school children involved in protecting under-threat vultures
Spanish experts were on the island this week to share expertise on protecting wildlife from poison baits as part of a wider campaign to bolster the island’s embattled Griffon ...
Experts from Spain to help Cypriot officials deal with bird poisonings
Bird experts from the Spanish region of Andalusia will be in Cyprus this week to hold a seminar explaining how to identify poisoned baits, BirdLife Cyprus said on Monday.
The ...
BirdLife calls for urgent negative assessment report on Akamas
Local NGO BirdLife Cyprus in an open letter to environment department director, Costas Hadjipanayiotou, said there was a need to urgently issue a negative assessment report on the latest proposed ...
The dogs helping us live with vultures
Two sniffer dogs trained to find poison are already proving their worth
Sofie and Dixie, two border collies specially trained to detect poison baits as part of an EU-funded programme ...
Griffon Vultures: A battle lost, a war to be won
The poisoning of at least three Griffon Vultures was devastating for those of us determined to save these majestic, oh-so-near-to-extinction birds
It often feels like conservation work has more bad ...
BirdLife: ‘Bring back tough penalties for bird trapping’
BirdLife Cyprus has called on the government to reinstate stiff penalties for illegal bird trapping, stressing that the European Commission is likely to start fining Cyprus for failing to tackle ...
Saving vultures: dogs to the rescue
Two border collies will help save rare Griffon vultures from being poisoned
Griffon vulture
Two dog handlers are in Greece training with border collies Dixie and Sofie ahead of the ...
BirdLife Cyprus sees worrying increase in bird trapping
Fieldwork by BirdLife Cyprus shows worrying signs of a big increase in trapping levels, the NGO has said as it called on the state to restore higher fines.
“Our latest ...
Bird trapping: A wildlife crime which simply has no place in a civilised society
Over the last two years, parliament has approved relaxations that mean the penalty for limesticking has been slashed to just €200 for up to 50 birds
It is coming back, creeping into ...
Stop the rot: environment lessons Cyprus has to learn
This month, guest columnist Martin Harper, regional director for BirdLife Europe and Central Asia, writes about key nature conservation challenges in Cyprus after his recent visit to our island
There ...
BirdLife protests relaxing of fines to House president
BirdLife Cyprus presented House president Annita Demetriou with 13,700 signatures on Tuesday it gathered to protest the relaxing of fines imposed on the illegal trapping of songbirds.
MPs passed a bill ...
First batch of vultures arrive ‘safe and sound’ (pics)
The first 10 Griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) arrived on Friday evening at Larnaca airport from Spain, of the 30 that will reinforce the rapidly dwindling local population of the species.
According to ...
Arrivals from Spain to boost Griffon vulture population
Twenty-five Griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) will arrive in Cyprus from Spain this coming Friday as part of the ‘Life with Vultures’ programme’s efforts to avert their extinction and strengthen ...
Several different species observed at bird sanctuary
Several bird species were observed at a sanctuary installed by BirdLife Cyprus two weeks ago in the village of Frenaros, in the Famagusta district, the conservationist organisation announced on Facebook ...
BirdLife launches campaign to protest Akamas development projects
Environmental NGO BirdLife Cyprus has launched an email campaign to protest development projects threatening the Akamas peninsula.
By following this link, participants can co-sign a letter posing a number of ...
Paphos farmers want action on wood pigeons
The Paphos branch of the Cyprus Union of Farmers (Eka) has reported an increase in damaged crops in the last few weeks.
It said the problem was particularly acute in ...
BirdLife calls for strict monitoring in hunting of turtle doves this autumn
BirdLife Cyprus is asking for assurances from the Game Service that an EU-mandated programme to limit hunting of the threatened turtle dove this autumn will be effectively monitored.
It fears ...
State failing to follow own rules for big projects say conservationists
Conservationists censured the government on Wednesday over its failure to protect the environment or even ensure its own provisions in impact studies were adhered to when it comes to largescale ...
Lake Soros at risk from lead contamination due to hunting
A BirdLife Cyprus study made available on Thursday revealed that Lake Soros, located in the southwestern part of the salt lake near Meneou, is at risk of lead contamination due ...
The unknown facts behind vulture value
New study shows how vultures reduce carbon footprint and promote tourism
Helping the island’s Griffon vulture population to recover not only cleans up nature from dead carrion and saves ...
Political parties lied over bird-trapping policies
Last week the Cyprus Mail quizzed the major political parties on a variety of environmental issues including illegal bird-trapping, ahead of last Sunday’s parliamentary elections. BirdLife Cyprus explains why ...
‘Rare’ nesting of ravens sighted after 16 years
For the first time in over 16 years, a pair of ravens has successfully nested in the government-controlled areas and specifically in the Akamas area, BirdLife Cyprus said on its Facebook ...
BirdLife concerned over spike in shooting of protected birds
Though encouraged by a significant drop in illegal bird trapping, BirdLife Cyprus has said is concerned about a spike in incidents of illegal shooting of protected species at different blackspots, ...