a Great Tit; Credit: Roland Felten

The annual Winter Bird Count, conducted in many of the countries of Europe, will soon be upon us – on the weekend of 27-28 January 2018.

As in past years, the English-speaking section of natur&ëmwelt is counting on plenty of members and supporters to take part. All the forms and instructions are available in English (from www.naturemwelt.lu) and will be sent directly and in good time to paid-up members of natur&ëmwelt.

Members of the public are asked to do your bit by taking an hour on either day to count the birds in your garden or on your balcony. Note the different species and the number of each. The same bird should not be counted more than once. Note only the highest number of each bird species observed at any one time. For example: If you see 2 sparrows, and 10 minutes later another 3 sparrows, the maximum number is 3, not 5.

Remember: This is real citizen science! Your data will help natur&emwelt to monitor the populations of common bird species from year to year.

Last year’s count was particularly important, following one of the worst breeding seasons on record (due to the disastrous effects of the relentless spring rainstorms), restulting in many people in Luxembourg reporting greatly reduced numbers of birds visiting their garden feeding stations. This may be related to the breeding failure in 2016, but it may also have something to do with the beechmast glut in Luxembourg’s forests that year. 

For further details, email: ne.english.section@gmail.com or see www.naturemwelt.lu

Scientific research

The Centrale ornithologique is also responsible for an annual publication entitled ‘Regulus Scientific Reports’ (after the natur&ëmwelt membership magazine ‘Regulus’), and it brings together articles which are based on the detailed research done by Luxembourg’s surprisingly active team of amateur ornithologists. And the nice thing, from the point of view of English-speaking birders, is that the articles are either in English or come with an English summary. If you are not yet on the mailing list for this publication, just drop an email to email: col@naturemwelt.lu or tel: 290404–309. The 2016 edition includes a report on the first sighting in Luxembourg of the spectacular Black-winged Kite.​