The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands will be sponsoring BirdLife Malta’s scientific research work on bird migration over the Maltese islands, the conservation organisation has announced. The announcement coincided with Ambassador Jan Heidsma’s visit to the Ghadira nature reserve which is managed by BirdLife.

The funds made available to BirdLife by the Dutch Embassy will help the organisation to purchase and customise important software for local and overseas scientists to analyse past and future bird migration records.

The financial assistance will also help BirdLife’s scientific bird ringing group to modernise their current systems to a level enjoyed by other ringing groups throughout the European Union.

During his tour at the Ghadira nature reserve Mr. Jan Heidsma, the Ambassador of the Netherlands said: “I am impressed by the beautiful landscape and the excellent maintenance that had been done in the reserve. It is important, as it was important in all other European countries, that proper care is taken of nature and the environment. It could also been seen as an investment in Malta’s future as an attractive destination for local and foreign visitors. We are also happy to be able to support BirdLife Malta with its important research on the migration of birds.”

BirdLife representatives also demonstrated a bird ringing operation at one of the ringing stations at the nature reserve. To understand bird migration and the origin and destination of migrants, scientific bird ringing is a vitally important technique for ornithologists BirdLife said. Birds are caught at strategic points along their migration routes and are individually marked using numbered identification rings which are normally attached to their legs before the birds are released.

Through this agreement, a data digitalisation programme will commence, containing over 40 years of bird sightings details and more than 500,000 records of birds ringed by Maltese ornithologists.

BirdLife Malta Executive Director Tolga Temuge said, “The research we have conducted over the past 40 years indicates that over 380 different species of birds have migrated over Malta. While a few of these birds are rare visitors, many are regular, making the sheer extent of migration over the Maltese Islands an impressive phenomenon both due to the large number of birds as well as the huge variety of species. The Dutch Embassy’s financial support will help us to analyze this data electronically and give both local and European scientists important knowledge which was previously inaccessible.”