Dog welfare charity will be at Global Birdfair 2026 - but BTO again expected to snub Rutland event

A DOG welfare charity is this year set to take stand space at this year's Global Birdfair, the foremost social event in the UK birding calendar.

The Dogs Trust is a national organisation which, among its activities, helps to find new homes for unwanted dogs.

For it to be represented at Birdfair is a surprise development - though perhaps not as surprising as it would be if the Cats' Protection League were to book a stand.

By contrast, the BTO is again expected to snub the event because its staff are said to disapprove of the presence of overseas holiday tours companies whose activities, they insist, do more harm than good, particularly to the environment.

Given their own similar ideologies, it is not known yet if either the RSPB or the Wildlife Trusts might follow the BTO's lead.

In the run-up to Global Birdfair at Lyndon Top, Oakham, Rutland between July 10-12 ,  the organisers have released a list of the  individuals and organisations that have so far booked to take stand space:

They include some old favourites such as the African Bird Club and Naturetrek, plus some new names such as the Crossbill Guides Foundation and House Martin Conservation UK & Ireland

The list is below:

* 2by2 Holidays

* Albatross Birding and Wildlife Photography in Chile

* Abelmosaics - Raising Awareness for Critically Endangered Species

* African Bird Club

* All4birding

* Alpine Birding

* Aqua-Firma Worldwide

* Ark Expeditions

* Ashanti African Tours Limited

* Asian Adventures

* Association Biom (Birdlife Croatia)

* Atropos

* Barefoot Eco Surveys

* Bellavista Cloud Forest Lodge

* Bellbird Tours

* Bespoke India Travel

* Biebrza Wildlife Trust

* Biotropica Expeditions

* Bird Observatories Council

* Birder Travel trading as Sicklebill Safaris

* Birdfinders

* Birdfy by Netvue

* Birding Haapsalu

* BirdLife Cyprus

* BirdLife International

* Birding Direct

* Birding Ethiopia Tour

* Birds Chile

* Bird's Wildlife & Nature Tours

* Birds & Nature Tours Portugal

* Birdtour Asia Limited

* Birdwatching Magazine

* Bluetail Birding

* Brazil Birding Experts

* Briggate Travel

* British Decoy & Wildfowl Carvers Association

* British Dragonfly Society

* Buseu Wild Pyrenees Nature Photography

* Butterfly Conservation East Midlands

* Button and Squirt

* Cactus Tours Madagascar

* Cairngorms National Park Authority

* Canopy Family, Panama

* Castilla y León Tourism Board

* China Bird Tour

* Clinton Banbury Illustration

* Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS)

* Cornell Lab - eBird and Merlin Bird ID

* Costa Rica Birding Board

* Crossbill Guides Foundation

* Crowartist

* Curlew Action

* D Smith Glasscraft

* Darren Woodhead

* David Tipling Wildlife Photographer 

* Discover Rutland

* Dogs Trust

* El Septimo Paraiso (Lodge & Cloud Forest Reserve)

* Embratur Brasil

* Enchanted India

* Falklands Conservation

* Falkland Island Holidays

* Falkland Islands Tourist Board

*Fauna and Flora

* Ferne Creative

* French Parcs

* Fujifilm UK

* Ganders Travel

* Gareth Watling British Bird Paintings

* Garrick Books

* Geckoman

* Global Birdfair 2026 Mural

* Global Wildlife Fair (Asian Adventures)

* Grant Arms Hotel / BWWC

* Greenpeace

* HADCO Experiences

* Hayley Jones Wire Sculptures

* Heatherlea Birdwatching Ltd

* Hebridean Adventures

* Heights Hotel

* Helen Whittle, Artist

* House Martin Conservation UK & Ireland

* Humane Wildlife Solutions

* Irene Brierton SWA - Wildlife Artist

* Jaguarundi Travel Colombia

* Jetwing Eco Holidays Pvt Ltd

* John Cox Wildlife Artist

* Jonathan Pomroy Wildlife and Landscape Artist

* Kate Cree Artist

* KS Nature Photography

* Langur Eco Travels - Bhutan

* Lawson's Birding, Wildlife & Custom Safaris

* Leicestershire and Rutland Mammal Group

* Leicestershire and Rutland Ornithological Society (LROS)

*Letaka Safaris

* Limosa Holidays

* Livingstone African Safaris Ltd

* Lynx Nature Books (Alada Books, S.L.)

* Manakin Nature Tours

* Mark Andrews Artist

* Mongolia Quest LLC

* Nature Experience

* Naturetrek

* Nepal Nature Treks and Tours PVT

* Neophron Tours

* NHBS

* Nicky Heard Artist

* Nicola Jane Art

* Nungunungu Expeditions

* Operation Seabird

* Opticron

* Oriental Bird Club

*Oriole Birding Limited

* Ornithological Society of the Middle East, The Caucasus and Central Asia (OSME)

* Panama's Bird Team - Promtur Panama

* Park Cameras

* Partnership for International Birding

* Peak Boxes

* Planet Birdsong Foundation

* Plantlife

* Princeton Nature

* Reef and Rainforest Tours Ltd

* Richard Lewington, Wildlife Illustrator

* Rockjumper Birding Tours

* Ruth's Portraits

* Sara Budzik Studio

* SEO/BirdLife

* Secret Atlas

* Serra dos Tucanos Eco-turismo Ltda

* SpeediGimbal

* Stephen Message Art

* Swarovski Optik

* SWLA Printmaking Area

* Tasmanian Odyssey, South Australia Tourism Commission & Australian Wildlife Journeys

* The Birdway

* The Feather Lady

* The Royal Society for Wildlife Trusts

* The Society of Wildlife Artists - SWLA

* The Species Recovery Trust

* The Woodland Trust

* Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge

* Tropical Birding

* Uganda High Commission

* Uttar Pradesh Tourism

* Viking Optical Limited

* Warbler Tours

* Warwickshire Clothing

* Wild Discovery

* Wild Herz Ltd

* Wild Nature Quest

* Wild Poland

* WildArt Bird Photography Awards

* Wildbird Tours Costa Rica

* Wildlife Poland

* Wildlife Worldwide & The Travelling Naturalist

* WildSpaceGroup

* Wildwings Travel

* Woolley Wildlife

* World Pheasant Association

* WWF

* Yorkshire Coast Nature

The list will be updated as more prospective exhibitors confirm their bookings.

                                 

Ongoing Middle East conflict certain to take its toll on nature - including birds of many species

                                                

Birdlife in jeopardy - the zone of conflict (image: Wikimedia Commons)

THE spring conflict in the Middle East has brought needless of life for many entirely innocent humans.

And once the hostilities are over, ornithologists will doubtless seek to assess the impact on nature and birdlife.

At this time of year, thousands of northerly-heading migrants are settling - to feed and roost - in the area around Strait of Hormuz which links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman.

Kharg  Island - which President Trump has in his sights - is a particular hotspot because it provides not just vegetation habitat but also fresh water.

It is feared that hundreds of  birds will already have lost their lives to ballistic missile explosions or as a result of plumage contamination from tankers leaking oil into waterways having been damaged by explosives.

The most conspicuous bird on Kharg Island is the House Crow, but other birds to be seen in and around this part of the region include Dunlin, Oystercatcher, Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit and Black-tailed Godwit which may be familiar in many parts of Britain but were already regarded as "near threatened" in this part of Arabia even before the current troubles.

Another wader, the Curlew-sandpiper, is deemed vulnerable.

Meanwhile, hereabouts the  Wilson's Petrel, Persian Shearwater and Lesser Frigatebird are classified as rare/accidental.

Normally more conspicuous, at least on migration, are likely to be the following: 

Gray Francolin

Collared-Dove

Laughing Dove

Crowned Sandgrouse

Alpine Swift

Common Swift

Pallid Swift

Little Swift

Eurasian Thick-knee

Black-winged Stilt

Black-bellied Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Red-wattled Lapwing

Tibetan Sand-Plover

Greater Sand-Plover

Kentish Plover

Terek Sandpiper

Whimbrel

Common Sandpiper

Green Sandpiper

Marsh Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Greenshank

Sanderling

Slender-billed Gull

Pallas's Gull

Bridled Tern

Little Tern

Saunders's Tern

Whiskered Tern

Lesser Crested Tern

Greater Flamingo

Glossy Ibis

Little Heron

Squacco Heron

Dalmatian Pelican

Osprey

Egyptian Vulture

Pallid Harrier

Spotted Owlet

Common Hoopoe

Asian Green Bee-eater

European Bee-eater

White-throated Kingfisher

Red-tailed Shrike

Isabelline Shrike

Woodchat Shrike

 Brown-necked Raven

Desert Lark

Crested Lark

White-eared Bulbul

Asian Desert Warbler

Spotted Flycatcher

Rufous-tailed Scrub-Robin

Bluethroat

Black Redstart

Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush

Isabelline Wheatear

Hooded Wheatear

Desert Wheatear

Purple Sunbird

Citrine Wagtail

Tawny Pipit

Common Chaffinch

Mongolian Finch

Striolated Bunting

To a lesser or greater extent, all birdlife in around the Gulf regionwill inevitably be affected if the conflict continues.

Whimbrel - one of the wader species to be seen in the Gulf

Likely to be lively interest when Whitaker's "sumptuous" two-volume The Birds of Tunisia goes under the hammer

                                                 

Black-eared Wheatear - an illustration from one of the volumes

ONLY 250 copies of J.L.S. Whitaker's pioneering The Birds of Tunisia were printed when it was published in two volumes in 1905.

There should, therefore, be lively interest when a set goes up for auction at the Cirencester  (Gloucestershire) saleroom of Dominic Winter next Wednesday April 8. 

This is how the work was reviewed in The Ibis journal at the time:

"This sumptuous work in two royal octavo volumes, with numerous coloured plates, is a beautiful example of bookmaking, and the contents are worthy of the setting. 

"The number of species treated is about 365 of which 150 are permanently resident, 90 are summer migrants, 90 are winter migrants and 35 are of occasional or accidental occurrence.

"Most of the information is first-hand, and the result of personal observation during the various journeys Whitaker made made in the regency, but in some cases he has had to rely on the information  supplied me by others, foremost among whom were Mr. O. V. Aplin of Bloxham, Oxfordshire , between the months of January and June, 1895, and M. Blanc of Tunis.

"The author’s expeditions in Tunisia extended over a period of about ten years, and he speaks of the country as unrivalled in climate during a large part of the year, and as delightful to visit for sport and natural history investigations.

"The scenery and climatic conditions are varied, richly wooded mountains and valleys, with fertile plains relieved by lakes and rivers, characterising the northern districts, while the central

region consists of undulating park-like country, broken by lower hills, giving place further south to vast semi-desert prairie-like plains. 

"The author has evidently pre pared this work because he felt that he had something useful to say and for this reason it will meet with a hearty welcome."

The pre-sale estimate is that the hammer will fall at somewhere between £200 and £300.  

Handsomely produced - the two-volume set

Desert Eagle-owl

                                             

Audouin's Gull

One of the maps in the first volume

Running out of puff! Is much-loved seabird doomed to breeding extinction on mainland Britain's south coast?

                                                

Puffins - once 'thick as grass' on Dorset coast but now in rapid decline

DOUBTS are growing over whether Puffins will remain as a breeding species on the south coast of mainland Britain.

In recent years, no more than three  pairs have been present at Purbeck in Dorset  - none of which has raised any chicks.

It is a far cry from the 1930s when the species was  described as "thick as grass" on the Dorset coast. In 1958, 85 birds were recorded in Purbeck.

The Puffins are monitored by the National Trust whose coast project officer, Ben Cooke, says:

"We fear that even if just one of the Purbeck birds were to have been  lost to the storms of winter, it would be another step closer to the loss of the whole group. 

"We are waiting with some trepidation to see if all six birds reappear this spring."

In 2024 and 2025, birds were seen nest‑building, but no fish deliveries to sites where there might have been chicks.

It was thought they may have  succumbed to predators such as rats or Carrion Crows, but a study of no fewer than 70,000 photographs taken by cameras installed on the breeding ledge revealed no predators.

It is now thought that any eggs laid may not have hatched for reasons that are unclear.

Human disturbance is not thought to be factor because this is minimal between 5am and 8am when the birds are most active.

Bird tours company "not too heavily impacted" by ongoing conflict in Middle East

                                             

They like to get out and about - one of the company's brochures from a previous year

AS the conflict rages on in the Middle East, global bird tours  operator Naturetrek has issued an update.

It states: "Fortunately, our business operations have not been impacted too heavily overall by the ongoing travel disruption in the Middle East. 

"Naturetrek customers who were on holiday in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Oman at the outbreak of the conflict in Iran are now safely home.

"Those about to travel to India and Sri Lanka have been placed on alternative routes and airlines." 

It tells customers: "If you are booked on a Naturetrek tour and are due to travel with Emirates Airlines through Dubai or with Qatar Airways through Doha in the coming months, please be assured that we are monitoring the situation closely. 

"As your tour operator, it is our responsibility to ensure that any cancelled flights are rebooked, and we always operate our tours in line with Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office advice for your destination (which includes any country that you might transit through en route). 

"If the FCDO advises against travel to your destination, or if we cannot offer a suitable alternative flight to get you to your destination, then in line with our terms and conditions we will offer you the option to rebook your tour or receive a full refund.

"Currently, Emirates and Qatar are allowing flights up to mid-April to be rebooked. 

"For future departures, we are waiting to see how the situation progresses and will get in touch with you with an update as we approach the balance due date for your tour."