Kestrel Wildlife Safaris supports conservation in Madagacsar through the Madagascar Fauna & Flora Group (MFG) https://www.madagascarfaunaflora.org/ , with £1 from each safari sold going to MFG along with along with any tips and carbon off-set money for our use of diesel to fuel the safari Landrover Discovery.
in the first three weeks of July went went to visit the MFG projects in Madagascar with my family. The conservation work being undertaken by MFG is awe-inspiring and far too much mention here, but highlights include work in partnership with Missouri Botanical Gardens to support the small remote community of Ampasina in their efforts to conserve a few remaining fragments of rainforest in an area dominated by slash-an-burn-agriculture, and research into the possibility of reintroducing a number of critically endangered Diademed Sifaka lemurs to Betampona Strict Nature Reserve to boost the existing small, but declining population there. There footage is of a diademed sifaka that we located using telemetry equipment.
It's been great to see so many singing male whitethroats this year. These little African migrant males sing loudly from conspicuous positions in the bushes and trees until they have attracted a mate and she has begun lining the nest or laying eggs. Then the male gets a lot quieter!
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Native greylag geese can be seen all year round on and near Loch Voil along with non-native Canada geese. There are currently 10 greylags. More than 40,000 pairs are probably resident breeders in the UK, with migrants from Iceland boosting their numbers to over 200,000.
An early start this morning to take part in a wading bird survey along the River Dochart in Auchlyne Estate, just below our Wildlife Safari route. It was a stunning morning, as we counted snipe, oystercatchers, curlews and lapwings with the mountains Ben More and Stob Binnien in the background. Here 3 oystercatchers call as they pass by along the river.
The young hind at the head of the Auchtubh Group seems to have upset some of her elders - not sure why - perhaps she shouldn't be at the front?!
The Auchtubh Group are being seen out on the River Balvaig floodplain on a daily basis at the moment.