When you see one of These....

....You Know its Spring, lol, Had to upload this photo I took whilst walking back from the patch this evening.A cold, windy and quiet evening on the Point. Ringed Plover peaked at 31, Grey Plover peaked at over 200+ and more surprisingly a Flock of over 120+ Sanderling all in winter plumage dropped in for a matter of seconds before continuing to fly out of the Thames.

Some of the Ringed Plover were nice and settled today and so I managed to get close enough to get these shots...The only other sign of Spring today was a single Swallow that flew in off the Sea at 16:53hrs.

Spoon-billed Sandpiper 2010(Is there Still Time?)

This is very interesting also the article below from surfbirds.. Is there still time ??? I have spent many many hours over 7 consecutive winters at both Khok Kham and Ban Pak Thale, Inner Gulf, Thailand. I hope that this species can survive the onset of what seems an almost certain extinction..I have taken the text from the RSPB article on Surfbirds but added my own photos...I must admit that I felt very pleased, proud and even a wave of emotion's passed over me when I read that Khok Kham could get Ramsar recognition...."Khok Kham an attachment to me"

Thai local group urges Ramsar designation for Spoon-billed Sandpiper site

One of the most important non-breeding sites for Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper Eurynorhynchus pygmeus in the Inner Gulf of Thailand, Khok Kham, has taken a major step towards Ramsar designation, thanks to an appeal by Local Conservation Groups.

"It is rather surprising that good sites still exist there, as it lies just at the outskirts of the mega-city of Bangkok", said Simba Chan, Senior Conservation Officer at BirdLife's Asia Division.

Between 1979 and 1996, up to 90% of the mangroves were converted to shrimp ponds. But after ten years, the shrimp industry crashed. "The decline in catch made many fishermen understand the importance of mangroves, and that a balanced ecosystem is vital to their fishery", Simba Chan added.

As a result, a local grassroots environmental movement started in the late 1990s. Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (BCST, BirdLife Partner) supported this movement from the beginning. To date, there are four Local Conservation Groups (LCGs), working in coordination with BCST on the conservation of the Inner Gulf.

On World Wetlands Day 2010, local people sent a petition to Mr Suvit Khunkitti, Thailand's Minister of the Nature Resources and Environment, requesting that Khok Kham be designated a Ramsar Site. Their petition was welcomed by the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP), the Ramsar Administrative Authority in Thailand.

Ramsar Site designation in Thailand is a bottom-up process. "Only when local communities see the benefits and commit themselves to safeguarding their local wetland, can it be successfully designated a Ramsar Site", said Gawin Chutima, Chairman of the BCST. Local people have said they seen Ramsar designation as a defence against unsustainable development.

Many Inner Gulf sites are still unprotected and under threat. BCST's efforts to conserve and protect this huge area have been supported over the past three years by the Darwin Initiative through a project entitled 'Strengthening partnerships for Ramsar implementation in South-East Asia', and will continue into the future.

"With cooperation and support from the Local Conservation Groups as well as other BirdLife Partners along the East Asian-Australian Flyway, we are certainly not alone", Gawin Chutima concluded.