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GREENTOURS BECOMES OSME CORPORATE SPONSOR
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GREENTOURS SPONSOR |
OSME is delighted to announce that
Greentours has joined as a Corporate Sponsor.
Founded in 1994, Greentours is a wildlife tour
operator which arranges holidays to many
destinations including a dozen or so tours in
the OSME region to various parts of Turkey,
Iran and Kazakhstan. The company aims to
provide tours that are all about great wildlife
(not just birds), great scenery and not too
much strenuous exercise. Greentours takes
initiatives such as using recycled paper,
through to donating binoculars, telescopes,
tripods and field guides to local guides in
areas where these are scarce. In 1996
Greentours found a new breeding bird for
Turkey (Corncrake!) and in 2004 they
discovered Turkey's first Plain Leaf Warblers.
In 1999, a marsh in the Turkish Lake District
held a surprise - an umbellifer new to science,
and since then they have added a number of
new species to Turkey's already exceptional
flora. For more information about Greentours
look at www.greentours.co.uk
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2007 SUMMER MEETING
| SUMMER MEETING | The 2007 OSME Summer Meeting will be held on Saturday 7 July in central London. Once again it will be held in the head office of the Association of British Travel Agents, 68-71 Newman Street, London WIT 3AH. A full programme of speakers will be published on the OSME website in the spring. |
CAN YOU HELP OSME WITH SALES?
| HELP OSME SALES | We are always looking to involve more people in our work. In particular we want to hear from those who can spare a few hours each week to assist with straightforward administrative tasks. In particular we are looking for a volunteer to organise our sales goods. This will involve dealing with requests for journals and other items that we offer and arranging for them to be despatched. You would need some storage space for the journals and ready access to a post office. Although we need to be kept up to date on progress you do not have to attend any meetings! |
CAN YOU HELP US TRANSLATE OUR WEBSITE?
| TRANSLATE WEBSITE |
We are keen to translate the main information pages of our website into several languages – including Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish and Farsi. We may also look to translate summaries of a number of important papers that are on the site. This is not something that we can allocate funds to achieve, but with the help of Members we hope to dramatically improve access to OSME for people for whom English is not a familiar language. If you can help in any way please contact Keith Betton by emailing chairman AT osme.org |
OSME CONSERVATION AND RESEARCH FUND
| OSME CONSERVATION AND RESEARCH FUND | The Society has awarded grants to a number
of projects in the region over recent months.
The grants come from the Conservation and
Research Fund, which is used to support a
wide range of conservation, survey and
educational projects. Recent awards include:
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NEW ARABIC FIELD GUIDE NOW AVAILABLE
ARABIC FIELD GUIDE
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Following a short delay the new Arabic version of Birds of the Middle East was launched in Beirut in January. Speaking at the launch, main author and former OSME Chairman, Richard Porter congratulated the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon for their work in overseeing the project. He described it as a great boost for bird conservation in the region. Identical in design to the English version of the title, free copies this softback book are being distributed to schools, clubs and wildlife departments throughout the region. OSME will have copies for sale in the spring. Watch the OSME website for details. Members who are visiting the region and think that they might have the opportunity to distribute a small number of copies to worthy recipients are invited to contact OSME with their plans. |
BIRDS OF IRAQ IS PUBLISHED
BIRDS OF IRAQ
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OSME is proud to have been associated with the creation of this new Arabic book which it is hoped will be widely received by universities, schools and government departments in Iraq. Published by Nature Iraq with BirdLife International, this softback book is a cut-down version of Birds of the Middle East - itself now launched in Arabic with OSME's support. Illustrating around 375 species found within Iraq's borders the book was funded by a range of international agencies and trusts, with Swedish tour operator Avifauna channelling its financial support through OSME's Conservation and Research Fund. OSME will have copies for sale in the spring. Watch the OSME website for details. |
MASIRAH EXPEDITION
| MASIRAH EXPEDITION | A summary of Henning Kunze's preliminary findings is most interesting. "From 14 Sep to 28 Nov 2006, we caught nearly 700 birds of a good variety of species including (Oman's first) Taiga Flycatcher, 4 Forest Wagtails (3rd+ record for Oman), 2 Koel, 1 Green Warbler, 1 Plain Leaf Warbler, 9 Blyth`s Reed Warbler (3rd+ record for Oman). Although the last-named species had very seldom been seen before, the numbers indicate that it might be a regular migrant through Oman. Additionally, the data we obtained on the Chiffchaff and Lesser Whitethroat complexes are very interesting and I attach great importance to their analysis. Furthermore, we had many retraps, which I hope will enable me to evaluate stopover ecology in some detail, especially about Tree Pipits. I am glad to say that the project was not limited because of a shortage of birds but rather to lack of manpower". |
APPLICATIONS FOR PROJECT SUPPORT ARE INVITED
| PROJECT APPLICATIONS | We welcome applications for grants from our
Conservation and Research Fund, to support
research projects in the region. Projects should
be directed to one or more of the following
subject areas:
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GIFT AID HELP TO OSME
| GIFT AID | Many UK members have enabled OSME to reclaim 28% of the value of their membership subscription in taxes from the UK government. It costs these members nothing more than a signature on a simple form declaring that UK tax has been paid and authorising OSME to claim it back. There are still quite a lot of UK members who have not signed a Gift Aid form. These are readily available and declarations may also be made by telephone by calling the Treasurer, John Warr, on 01442 822108 or by e-mailing treasurer AT osme.org |
BRITISH BIRDWATCHING FAIR 17-19 AUGUST 2007
| BIRDFAIR 2007 | Once again OSME will be exhibiting at the British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water in the UK. There are several ways members might help. We would welcome any items for the tombola (books, CDs and other birding items). These can be brought to our AGM on 7 July or to the OSME stand at the Fair. We would also welcome any assistance on the stand during the Fair. Please make any offers to Keith Betton on 01252 724068 or chairman AT osme.org. OSME will hold an informal get-together for members and supporters on the Friday night at 1900 hrs at the Falcon Hotel at Uppingham. An optional dinner will also be held there costing about £25 per head. Anyone wishing to attend that should inform Keith Betton. Once again we would like to recognise the generous support of Carl Zeiss for their assistance in subsidising our stand rental costs which enables the majority of our takings to be used for conservation purposes. For more information about the Fair look at http://www.birdfair.org.uk/ |
GIFT AID HELP TO OSME
| GIFT AID | Many UK members have enabled OSME to reclaim 28% of the value of their membership subscription in taxes from the UK government. It costs these members nothing more than a signature on a simple form declaring that UK tax has been paid and authorising OSME to claim it back. There are still quite a lot of UK members who have not signed a Gift Aid form. These are readily available and declarations may also be made by telephone by calling the Treasurer, John Warr, on 01442 822108 or by e-mailing treasurer AT osme.org |
WATERBIRD POPULATION ESTIMATES - 4TH EDITION
| WATERBIRD ESTIMATES | Given that the West Asian Flyways cut through the OSME Region, this book is of particular interest to OSME. In the 4th edition, Wetlands International provides worldwide estimates of the numbers and trends of waterbird populations in a comprehensive update of the 3rd edition of 2002, covering 878 waterbird species. Details are: Waterbird population estimates, 4th edn. 2006. 239pp. ISBN (10 digit) 90-5882-031-9; (13 digit) 978-90-5882-031-0. Available from Natural History Book Service, 2-3 Wills Road, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5XN, United Kingdom, customer.services AT nhbs.co.uk, www.nhbs.co.uk. |
OSME COUNTRY CONTACTS
| COUNTRY CONTACTS | The following people are birders resident in
the countries listed and are able to offer
advice to anyone visiting their area. A number
of details have changed since we last
published the list a year ago. If you do not
have access to e-mail, please contact John
Bartley on +44 (0) 1636 703512 in order to
obtain a postal address. ARMENIA Vasil Ananian vananian72 AT yahoo.com AZERBAIJAN Elchin Sultanov sultanov AT azdata.net BAHRAIN Howard King howardk AT batelco.com.bh CYPRUS Colin Richardson richar AT cytanet.com.cy EGYPT Steve Moldovan idegenvezeto AT yahoo.com GEORGIA Ramaz Gokhelashvili ramaz.gokhelashvili AT iucn.org IRAN Sadegh Sadeghi-Zadegan sadeghizadegan AT abedi.net IRAQ Mudhafar Salim mudhafarsalim AT yahoo.com> ISRAEL Reuven Yosef ryosef AT eilatcity.co.il JORDAN Fares Khoury avijordan2000 AT yahoo.com KAZAKHSTAN Sergei Sklyarenko sergey.sklyarenko AT acbk.kz KUWAIT Brian Foster brian_foster AT yahoo.co.uk LEBANON Chris Naylor lebanon AT arocha.org OMAN Ian Harrison ianmair AT omantel.net.om PALESTINE Imad Atrash pwls AT wildlife-pal.org QATAR Jamie Buchan jamie_buchan AT yahoo.com SAUDI ARABIA Abdullah Alsuhaibany abdullah AT reefchief.org TAJIKISTAN Raffaël Ayé raffael.aye AT birding.ch TURKEY Bahtiyar Kurt bahtiyar AT kustr.org UAE Simon Aspinall hudhud10 AT emirates.net.ae UZBEKISTAN To be notified YEMEN Omar Al-Saghier omarbio AT y.net.ye |
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