Records and photographs for Around the Region should be sent as soon as possible after the event to Around the Region, OSME, c/o The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2DL, U.K.  You can also email records to atr@osme.org

The following assisted in the compilation of this review: Alexander Abuladze, A. Alsirhan, Dr Svetlana Annenkova, Vaughan Ashley, Dawn Balmer, Andrew Bailey, Jamie Buchan, Mark Chichester, Tom Coles, Judy Dawes, Jeff Delve, Hugues Dufourny, Pekka Fagel, Peter Flint, Brian Foster, Ramezanali Ghaemi, George Gregory, Nader Hamidi, Tomas Haraldsson, Peter Kaestner, Brendan Kavanagh, Abolghasem Khaleghizadeh, Howard King, Guy Kirwan, David Murdoch, Khaled al Nasaralla, Uzi Paz, Yoav Perlman, Kalle Raino, Colin Richardson, Nir Sapir, Dave Sargeant, Michael Schulz, Marius Teeuw, David Whaley, Ingo Waschkies, Frédéric Vanhove, Frédéric Veyrunes, Laurent Veyrunes, Sidonie Veyrunes, Peter Wilson and Süreyya Ysfendiyaroglu.

A pair of Slavonian Grebes Podiceps auritus was at a possible breeding site at Sorbulak on 20 May. A flock of 45 Crested Honey Buzzards Pernis ptilorhynchus migrated over Tamgaly on 21 May with two more over Taukum Desert on 22 May. On 4 May an adult Pallas’s Fish Eagle Haliaeetus leucoryphus was seen at Sorbulak and an adult White-tailed Eagle H. albicilla was at Atyrau on the Ural River-north Caspian Sea on 5 February. A pair of Egyptian Vultures Neophron percnopterus was at Kokpek Pass May–June and a Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus was seen on 5 February at Atyrau. A Shikra Accipiter badius was in breeding habitat at Taukum desert lakes and Sorbulak during May. A female Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni was seen at Atyrau on 5 February. An amazing record concerns 73 pairs of Sociable Plovers Chettusia gregaria attempting to breed in Kurgalgin reserve during the spring. A Striated Scops Owl Otus brucei was found in a daytime roost Turanga grove on 22 May.

Three pairs of White-winged Larks Melanocorypha leucoptera were on the southern shore of Alakol Lake on 31 May and two pairs were in the Taukam Desert 21 May with 23 birds there on 5 June. Also at Alakol Lake two singing male Small Skylarks Alauda gulgula were heard on 29 May. A probable female Eye-browed Thrush Turdus obscurus was at Almaty Great Lake on14 May and will be the 1st record if accepted. Four Crimson-winged Finches Rhodopechys sanguinea were in the Surguty Valley on 23 May and four Desert Finches Rhodospiza obsoleta were at Kurlgagin on 1–2 June; a rare species at this location. Huge numbers of Mongolian Finches Bucanetes mongolicus were in the Surguty Valley during late spring with c150 on 23 May and c1000 on 7 June.