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News flash archive - 2004
January 2004
A Rocha South Africa
A Rocha South Africa has been formally accepted as the 14th national
organisation. They have already launched an innovative community tree
planting project for greening the Sobantu township in Pietermaritzburg
and have started a bird ringing group in the Western Cape. The photo
shows some national committee members and their families.
Calling birdwatchers!  White Storks
The A Rocha Lebanon team will be counting soaring birds - storks and raptors - from 20 March - 3 April in order to identify Important Bird
Areas in the Chouf and Metn Mountains of Lebanon. If you are competent
at identifying birds in flight and would like to help, please contact
lebanon@arocha.org for more information as soon as possible.
* * * February 2004
Fire and rain
 Burnt trees on the Serra de Monchique Birdwatchers needed:
A Rocha Czech need qualified ringers and birdwatchers from 27 May - 6 June and 24 June - 3 July. Plans include mist-netting at a known flyway in a valley near the Polish border; recording all species seen and heard along transect routes; and monitoring, mapping and ringing Corn Crakes Crex crex, working with Czech ornithologists. Contact czech@arocha.org for more details.
 Counting birds at sunrise A Rocha Lebanon will be counting soaring birds from 20 March - 3 April in order to identify Important Bird Areas in the Chouf and Metn Mountains. If you are competent at identifying birds in flight and would like to help, please contact lebanon@arocha.org as soon as possible.
* * * March 2004
A Rocha in Asia
Preparations have begun for A Rocha International to be represented at the IUCN World Conservation Congress at Bangkok in November 2004. An A Rocha stand will be manned by a group of supporters from Singapore. Please let us know if you plan to be there. E-mail international@arocha.org
USA Conference
A conference on "Faith, Community and Conservation" is being planned by A Rocha USA for 24 - 26 September 2004 in Maryland. The programme will include talks, workshops and field trips.
Volunteers wanted!
A Rocha France is seeking long-term volunteers: a housekeeper, a research assistant, an administrative assistant and two child-minders (all able to raise their own financial support) to work at the field study centre in Provence.
A Rocha Kenya needs a handyman and an electrician to volunteer for a few weeks at their field study centre on the coast at Watamu.
For many short-term volunteering opportunities, http://en.arocha.org/you/index4.html.
* * * April 2004
 Common Cranes migrating over the Aammiq Wetland Migration in Lebanon
Despite the sudden rise of tension in the region, the A Rocha survey of spring migration has made a good start. So much remains to be understood about migration through this beautiful country.
 Oscar (centre) and Renan (right), with Chris Naylor, at the Leaders’ Conference in Ferragudo A Rocha Peru!
A Rocha Peru has just joined our family of national organisations. Renan Sánchez and Oscar Gonzalez attended the A Rocha Leaders' Conference in Portugal last July, to explain their ideas and learn more of A Rocha. They are now forming a group who will work towards establishing a centre in the Province of Lima.
Fundraising Coordinator wanted!
A Rocha International is looking for someone in Europe to establish and manage the day-to-day fundraising programme, working with the Director, Peter Harris. Pay negotiable. http://en.arocha.org/you/index6.html
* * * May 2004
Otters return
 European Otter (c) Stephen Street, http://www.wildsight.co.uk/ Environment Sunday pack now ready
A Rocha UK have produced a pack full of ideas for Environment Sunday on 6 June. It can be downloaded from our web site or ordered from the UK Office: http://en.arocha.org/ukconsunday/index2.html
World Environment Day is on 5 June and the EU Green Week is 1-4 June, so if you are a church member, why not encourage your church to take part? The theme this year is "Jesus and the Earth" to link with the book of the same name by James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool.
Discovering Spring!
Many hundreds of children will have new and exciting experiences watching wildlife with A Rocha team members this month, especially in Canada, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Lebanon and the UK where spring is now well underway. Some children will be up early to hear their first dawn chorus; others will be taking part in after-school clubs, or will visit an A Rocha study site with their class for curriculum-based activities.
* * * June 2004
Want to volunteer?
 Birdwatchers from Belgium and the UK who volunteered with A Rocha Lebanon this spring, helping to count soaring birds at key migration sites in the mountains. Particular needs:
- Bird ringers/ banders in Portugal and Czech
- A carpenter for Canada
- Entomologists in Lebanon
- A handyman in Kenya
Green Week in Brussels
The EU Green Week is 1-4 June. Two members of the A Rocha International team will be helping to man the IUCN/ A Rocha stand at the exhibition (in the Conference Centre Charlemagne) in Brussels. If you'll be there, please call by and meet us. The Green Week website is at http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/greenweek/index_en.htm
6 June is Environment Sunday
Many churches in the UK will be celebrating Environment Sunday. A Rocha UK has produced a resource pack "Jesus and the Earth" which can be used on 6 June or at any other time. It can also be used in many other countries! To see it, visit http://en.arocha.org/ukconsunday/index2.html
* * * July 2004
A Rocha talks
A number of great A Rocha talks and lectures are now available on the website at the Bible Resources section http://en.arocha.org/bible/index2.html. They include the talk "Keeping earth on our hands", given by Peter Harris, A Rocha's Director, in Canada last month. Other speakers include Miranda Harris, Dave Bookless and Prof Sir Ghillean Prance (right), an A Rocha International Trustee and expert on the Amazon rainforests.
Do you live near London?
 The Minet Country Park A surprise in the night!
Photo by Steve Bird, Birdseekers Tours - http://www.birdtours.co.uk/birdseekers/
Members of the A Rocha France team had a surprise on 14 June when they heard a Red-necked Nightjar Caprimulgus ruficollis calling in the Vallée des Baux. If confirmed, this will be only the second record for France in 150 years! The other record was of a bird found dead in the same area in 1997. Could a few Red-necked Nightjars be breeding there? The valley is particularly rich in large insects, so the team will be out looking and listening this summer.
* * * August 2004
Will you be at the fair?
Every year, birdwatchers from all over the world gather at Rutland Water in England for the British Birdwatching Fair. If you'll be there this year (20-22 August) please call by the A Rocha stand in Marquee 2. You'll also be welcome to join us at the Sunday Christian Service in the Events Marquee from 9.45 - 10.20am. The speaker will be Dominic Couzens (author of The Secret Lives of Garden Birds) and the service will be led by Dave Bookless, Director of A Rocha UK. http://www.birdfair.org.uk/
USA Conference
The first A Rocha USA National Conference will be held in Annapolis, Maryland, 24-26 September 2004. Join us and taste a bit of A Rocha's blend of community, faith and practical conservation. There will be interactive workshops, field trips, good food and inspiring speakers. For more information, see http://en.arocha.org/usa/index16.html
Living differently
Last month the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, warned that damage being inflicted on the planet was "making the human future more and more precarious" and could ultimately put "our viability as a species at risk." He called on Christians to live differently and afterwards, Dave Bookless, the Director of A Rocha UK, commented, "I listened to Archbishop Rowan's speech with delight. His challenge to Christians to subvert society's values concerning the environment provides a foundation that A Rocha UK and its supporters build on." http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/sermons_speeches/2004/040705.html
Land Rover Discovery for sale - all proceeds to A Rocha Czech
An A Rocha member in the UK has donated his Land Rover to A Rocha Czech. For months Pavel and Radka Svetlik have been praying for a 4 x 4 vehicle, but they cannot use a right hand drive in Czech Republic. We are therefore looking for a private sale. The Discovery 2.5 TDS XS 5 door station wagon is in excellent condition, 40,000 miles 1999 fully serviced, bronze, twin airbags, CD, sunroof, ABS, alloy wheels, one owner. £13,700 or nearest offer. Contact: Tel 01892 784235 or e-mail international@arocha.org
* * * September 2004
Research at Sabaki River Mouth, Kenya
The Sabaki River (Kenya's second-longest river) reaches the sea 5 km north of Malindi. The sandbanks, mudbanks, dunes, freshwater pools and marshes are of vital importance to roosting and feeding gulls, terns and waders, particularly Sooty Gull, Saunders' Tern, Lesser Crested Tern and Madagascar Pratincole. The estuary is also a fish nursery. At present the area is unprotected and threatened by human disturbance and over-fishing, though designated as an Important Bird Area. A Rocha Kenya has just received funding for a research programme aimed at highlighting the importance of the river mouth and hopefully leading to its conservation. Another research ornithologist is needed to join the programme.
Day of prayer: 10 September
If you pray, please join A Rocha supporters around the world in praying for the protection of the wildlife and habitats at our study sites; for benefit to the local communities; for our teams and all their projects. You may want to focus on just one country: if so, all the information you need can be found at Countries where we work http://en.arocha.org/world/index.html or for the broader picture, you could use our current international newsletter http://en.arocha.org/news/index.html.
Photo: Pools on the Quinta da Rocha, Portugal, near the field study centre. The shallow pools here are important for waders and for dragonflies.
USA Conference: 24-26 September
The first A Rocha USA National Conference will be held this month in Annapolis, Maryland. It's not too late to book your place - join us and taste a bit of A Rocha's blend of community, faith and practical conservation. There will be interactive workshops, field trips, good food and inspiring speakers. For more information, http://en.arocha.org/usaevents/index2.html
* * * October 2004
A Rocha in Finnish
The A Rocha website has now been translated into Finnish, as well as French, Portuguese and Dutch. So, if "kristityt luonnon puolesta" means something to you, please go to the "Languages" area and choose Suomea. Kiitos!
 Brian Jenner, a volunteer who helped paint A Rocha's centre in France. Volunteers wanted!
Do you want to live the A Rocha experience? A Rocha France are looking for 5 long-term volunteers to join the team in January: 2 Assistant Wardens, a Conservation Assistant, a Scientific Assistant and a Cook. Contact france@arocha.org
A Rocha UK would welcome a volunteer (until summer 2005) to help with environmental education with 5-11 year olds and practical conservation tasks. Contact uk@arocha.org
For other opportunities, see our Volunteering leaflet: http://en.arocha.org/you/index4.html
Peru conference
A Rocha Peru's founding conference will be in Lima from 6-8 October, a joint venture with Grupo Aves del Perú and the Instituto Cristiano para la Ecología y el Desarrollo Nueva Creación. Peter and Miranda Harris, Directors of A Rocha International, will be taking part. Want to be there? Contact peru@arocha.org
Many-colored Rush-Tyrant Tachuris rubrigastra at Puerto Viejo, Lima.  The Vallée de Baux at dawn 3 million Swallows?
During the week of 9-16 September A Rocha France's Scientific Officer, François Tron, monitored a Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica roost at L'Ilon, the local study site, in the early mornings. The roost held up to 450,000 birds: 1-3 million Swallows are estimated to pass through the Vallée de Baux in autumn.
* * * November 2004
Africa's first waterbird ringing training course
 Mangrove Kingfisher Halcyon senegaloides  Putting up the mist nets at Mida Creek Photo credits: Mangrove Kingfisher D. Harebottle; Mist nets H.D. Oschadleus.
A Rocha Canada in Manitoba
 Fall colors in the Pembina Valley A Rocha Peru is launched!
 Black-necked Stilts Himantopus mexicanus and Puna Ibis Plegadis ridgwayi at Pantanos de Villa, Lima. * * * December 2004
Protecting Kenya's coastal forest
 A view from the new canopy platform. It is just one of several major tourist attractions initiated by A Rocha Kenya as part of their ASSETS programme - an innovative project which discourages illegal logging by impoverished local communities by providing them with real, long-term benefits from the forest's survival. Income generated by eco-tourism enables their children to attend secondary school. Want to know more? See the ASSETS website: http://www.assets-kenya.org
A Rocha in Bangkok
 A temple in Bangkok |
