Whenever I receive an invitation to speak at a school, it’s almost impossible for me to refuse. It’s so important to engage with students on the nature agenda. Not only because they are the decision-makers of the future but also because they often have incredible ideas and a fresh perspective.
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New takes by the UWC Changshu Bird Club on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the cover of the Abbey Road album by The Beatles
Yesterday, I was honoured to visit UWC (United World College) in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, a remarkable school with over 600 students from an incredible 94 countries. With an established bird society that has implemented many bird-friendly measures on its island campus, including tackling the risk of bird collisions, habitat provision, and monitoring, it’s already a good example of how a school, led by students, can make a real difference for nature by making some small changes.
Representatives of the bird club introducing my lecture at the general assembly.
The UWC Changshu’s work on tackling bird collisions on campus.
Progress of the UWC Changshu bird club.
In the post-lecture discussions, I enjoyed wonderful conversations with a range of students from Asia, Africa, Europe and Australasia, including a young lady from Kazakhstan who wants to raise awareness about animal welfare in agriculture, the enthusiastic young Chinese man who started the school bird society in 2021, and another impressive young lady from Morocco who is committed to working on how economics can better integrate the value of nature.
It’s conversations like those that give me optimism for the future. As we all agreed, what happens next is up to each and every one of us!
This year has seen a significant campaign, involving many governmental organisations, to crack down on illegal hunting, especially with nets. An article published this week (in Chinese) detailed several cases where the authorities have uncovered large-scale illegal hunting activities and apprehended criminals.
The first example given in this article is startling. The English translation of the text is as follows:
“Dalian Public Security Bureau in Liaoning Province cracks a series of cases involving the endangerment of precious and endangered wild animals.
Recently, the Dalian Public Security Bureau in Liaoning Province cracked a series of cases involving the endangerment of precious and endangered wild animals, arresting 13 suspects and seizing more than 12,000 Yellow-breasted Buntings, a Class I protected wild bird species, with a total value exceeding 39 million yuan. Investigation revealed that in May 2025, suspect Zhang Moubao repeatedly and illegally hunted nationally protected wild birds, then purchased these birds from others and resold them to suspect Jiang Mou, who then fattened and sold the birds.”
I understand that there will be a visit to Liaoning Province – a hotspot of illegal trapping, especially in autumn – by the central government prosecutors to investigate the organised criminal gangs behind this illegal activity. This is a hugely welcome step and builds on the recent efforts to tackle the illegal use of mist nets by Chinese authorities.
Most birders will know that the Yellow-breasted Bunting (Emberiza aureola 黄胸鹀 Huáng xiōng wú) is classified as critically endangered by BirdLife/IUCN after a catastrophic population crash – estimated at 84.3-94.7% between 1980 and 2013, as documented by Kamp et al. Illegal trapping in China is cited as the likely major cause of the decline. Following the publication of that paper, there was a big public awareness campaign led by the Hong Kong Birdwatching Society and, although it is far too early to say for sure, recent records suggest that the decline of this species may have slowed.
If the current efforts to tackle illegal trapping are successful in turning around the fortunes of one of the most threatened species in China, it will provide a huge shot in the arm and demonstrate that a combination of science, public awareness, conservation, and engagement with law enforcement, really can work!
I am feeling energised! I have just returned from representing The Paulson Institute at the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership’s 12th Meeting of the Parties in Cebu, Philippines.
This informal process, spawned from the UN Wetlands Convention (Ramsar Convention) is remarkable. Is there any other forum – on any issue – where you can find representatives from Russia, China and U.S. alongside participants from all 22 flyway countries stretching from Siberia and Alaska to Australia and New Zealand, with their discussions free of geopolitics? Instead these remarkable people are bound by a single shared objective – to protect migratory birds and the places they need.
It was inspiring to hear about how the work of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Task Force has slowed the rate of decline of this critically endangered species from 26% per annum in the early 2000s (with a prediction that it would be extinct by 2020 without decisive action) to just 5% today.. with agreement on a new action plan involving Russia, China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam with support from UK NGOs and the Paulson Institute, designed to reverse that decline.
Dr Christoph Zöckler, Chair of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Task Force, presented the new Action Plan for 2025-2035 which was adopted by the Partnership.
It was inspiring, too, to hear about the incredible efforts on the ground, from NGOs in Thailand and Philippines to indigenous communities in Alaska and New Zealand, to support migratory birds. Did you know that, for the Maori, the Bar-tailed Godwit (known as the ‘kuaka’) has a special place in their culture due to the fact the original settlers left the Pacific Islands in the direction of what is now New Zealand following the Bar-tailed Godwit’s migration? They realised the godwit was not a seabird and understood that these birds must be heading towards land, so set off to follow them.
The Cebu meeting also saw the launch of the Youth Task Force, a group of enthusiastic and passionate young people from across the Flyway, led by local student Matthew Vincent Tabilog. Their activities to engage and enthuse youth groups in countries along the Flyway are inspirational, and vital.
I was grateful to have the opportunity to speak about the recent work of China’s prosecutors to tackle the illegal use of mist-nets to trap wild birds and saw how that example is already encouraging others.
There are far too many highlights to mention, not least catching up with so many incredible people from along the Flyway who are dedicating their lives to supporting nature, and meeting more conservation heroes.
These meetings are held every two years and, since the last meeting in 2023, the Flyway has lost one of its flock – Richard Hearn of WWT. Rich not only dedicated much of his time to coordinating waterbird counts in the Yangtze River basin with local NGOs, but was also the Coordinator for the Baer’s Pochard Task Force. He was the driving force behind the creation of the group and its early work, during which time I was fortunate to work closely with him, particularly around the Task Force meeting in Hengshui Lake in Hebei Province. Professor Ding Changqing of Beijing Forestry University, Chair of the Baer’s Pochard Task Force, delivered a heartfelt and moving tribute. I am sure Rich will be looking down and smiling at the progress that has been made to conserve this special duck since that work began.
Professor Ding Changqing delivering his moving tribute to Rich Hearn of the UK’s Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.
The EAAFP MoP was a wonderful reminder that birds unite us – they unite countries, regions, cities, communities and, most of all, people.
With all that is going on in the world today, it is easy to lose hope but I came away from Cebu with renewed energy and a firm belief that, with all these people working tirelessly all along the Flyway, many in difficult circumstances, we can – and must be – optimistic.
And in the words of the late Tom Lovejoy, “if we take care of birds, we take care of most of the environmental problems in the world”.
Huge thanks to the people of Cebu for their unparalleled hospitality and to the EAAFP secretariat for their incredible hard work and dedication to put together a tremendously uplifting meeting. Now the task is to channel that energy to redouble efforts to protect, restore and, importantly, to celebrate the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.
This autumn I was fortunate to document a decent passage of the critically endangered Yellow-breasted Bunting (Emberiza aureola 黄胸鹀 Huáng xiōng wú) on a small patch of wild land close to my apartment in Beijing. This species breeds in Russia, Mongolia, N Japan and NE China, wintering in S China and SE Asia. In Beijing it is a passage migrant in spring and autumn. It is the earliest migratory bunting through Beijing in autumn, with passage sometimes noted as early as late July through to the first week of October. This autumn they were present on a small patch of land near my apartment from at least 28th August (and likely before) until 29th September, with the maximum count reaching 26 on 3rd September. It was a great opportunity to see a variety of plumages, relating to sex and age.
Yellow-breasted Bunting, Shunyi District, 23 September 2025 (Terry Townshend). This individual is relatively richly coloured and strongly marked, so presumably a male.
This species is thought to have suffered a drastic population decline of 84.3–94.7% between 1980 and 2013 (Kamp et al.) due to a combination of habitat loss and illegal hunting (it has historically been a particular target in South China for exotic food) but since an impressive public awareness campaign, led by the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society 香港觀鳥會 and others, and greater law enforcement, there are signs that the population decline may have been stemmed.
One issue in Beijing at least is that the habitat that Yellow-breasted Buntings prefer is scrub and/or wet grassland/lightly managed agricultural land. However, much of this habitat has been ‘restored’ into neat and tidy parks or used for development. It is notable that I have hardly ever seen a Yellow-breasted Bunting in a city park. So the healthy numbers I documented this autumn may be partly as a result of concentration into ever-smaller areas of suitable habitat.
Of course, it’s much too early to say whether this species is on the road to recovery but the numbers on a tiny patch of land in one of the world’s major capital cities do give me hope for the future. The world would be a poorer place without Yellow-breasted Buntings!
It is estimated that collisions with glass kill around a billion birds in the US alone (see here and here). The issue is particularly acute where major migratory routes overlap with urban centres. Light pollution causes migratory birds to become disoriented and, often exhausted, they drop down into urban green spaces. It is here that they are exposed to a raft of anthropogenic threats, including the risk of collision with glass. Most collisions happen in daytime during foraging, and at lower levels (particularly the first five floors). The main issue is the reflection of habitats that causes birds to see potential shelter and foraging sites and, flying at full speed, impact can often be fatal.
There are few data from China on the scale of bird collisions but, given that many of China’s major cities are located on a major flyway, it is reasonable to assume that the scale could be similar to North America.
A few months ago, at a meeting of Ambassadors for Nature, Bruno Angelet, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to China, told me that his Embassy had experienced a few bird strikes (bird collisions with glass). Although sad to hear, it was not surprising given the new Embassy building is glass-intensive with large glass windows adjacent to the embassy garden, in which can be seen reflections of trees, shrubs and sky.
The embassy’s new buildings are glass-intensive, increasing the risk of bird collisions. Photo courtesy of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium.Tell-tale sign of a bird collision on one of the windows at the embassy. Photo courtesy of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium.A Spotted Dove (Spilopelia chinensis 珠颈斑鸠 Zhū jǐng bān jiū), one of the victims of collisions with glass at the Belgian Embassy in Beijing. Photo courtesy of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium.
I mentioned the work that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) had implemented earlier this year, in partnership with local NGO – ShanShui Conservation Center – and TenCent Foundation, following the discovery of bird collisions around their headquarters in central Beijing. The AIIB bird collision project was inspired by the nocturnal migration project, that was conducted from the roof of its HQ near the Olympic Park. That project raised awareness about the extent of nocturnal migration over the AIIB’s HQ and led to staff taking more notice of migratory birds in the vicinity of their workplace, finding victims that had collided with glass, and wanting to do something about it.
Bruno was keen to draw on that experience to reduce the risk of bird collisions at his Embassy.
Volunteers fitting patterned film to glass at the headquarters of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in central Beijing following the discovery of victims of collisions with glass. Photo courtesy of ShanShui Conservation Center.Fitting patterned glass to AIIB’s headquarters. Photo courtesy of ShanShui Conservation Center
A few short weeks later, thanks to the Embassy staff in cooperation with ShanShui Conservation Center, work has just been completed to retrofit patterned film to the highest risk windows at the Belgian Embassy. The film is essentially a pattern of dots that helps to break up the reflection, reducing the risk of birds mistaking the reflection for suitable habitat.
Patterned film is effective at breaking up the reflection sufficiently to significantly reduce the risk of bird collisions.The building after the retrofit. It’s clear that the pattern does not affect the aesthetics whilst reducing the risk to wild birds.
The Belgian Embassy’s work to tackle the risk of bird collisions is the latest in a string of high-profile projects in China.
In 2023, tech giant TenCent retrofitted its flagship HQ in Shenzhen with patterned film following the discovery by concerned staff of dead birds around glass windows.
This year, TenCent went a step further and retrofitted glass around its Beijing office in a similar way.
The glass wall around TenCent’s Beijing HQ was fitted with patterned film and gorgeous bird images to reduce the risk of bird collisions. Photo courtesy of TenCent.
And, in addition to AIIB’s efforts on their HQ, Beijing Forestry University found a creative solution to addressing the risk of bird collisions on their campus following a campaign by students.
A high-risk building at Beijing Forestry University adorned with a beautiful natural scene, as well as patterned film, following a campaign by students. Photo courtesy of Beijing Forestry University.
These are just a few of the recent examples in China, many of which have been inspired by the work of the China Anti-Bird Collision Alliance, a group of volunteers, NGOs and academics coordinated by Duke Kunshan University.
Addressing bird collision risk is one of the elements of the Pledge for `Nature adopted by the Ambassadors for Nature initiative. Together with the New Zealand Embassy’s piloting of ultraviolet patterns to mitigate bird collision risk, the Belgian Embassy’s work sets a great example for others to follow and we expect that other Embassies with significant areas of glass will follow suit.
Thanks again to Bruno Angelet and his team and to ShanShui Conservation Center for supporting this work!
On Monday 29 September 2025 I was honoured to be invited to witness the signature of a bilateral cooperation agreement between China (Li Yunqing, Vice Administrator of the National Forest and Grassland Administration) and New Zealand (Ambassador Jonathan Austin) on migratory birds. Specifically, the agreement covers cooperation between Yalu Jiang in Liaoning Province and Pukorokoro Miranda in the Firth of Thames, North Island. These two sites share thousands of Bar-tailed Godwits (Limosa lapponica, 斑尾塍鹬 Bānwěi chéng yù, Kuaka) that migrate from non-breeding grounds in New Zealand to breeding grounds in Alaska. For many, Yalu Jiang is their only stop. Incredibly, in autumn, these birds migrate non-stop from Alaska to New Zealand, completing a triangular migration that spans hemispheres. To protect migratory birds, it’s not enough to protect the breeding grounds.. it’s also vital to protect the non-breeding grounds and the important stopover sites in between. Congratulations to China and New Zealand for their leadership in elevating the importance of migratory birds and committing to collaborate to protect shared natural heritage. I very much hope this is an example that will be followed by other countries.
Beijing is blessed with a surprising amount of biodiversity. More than 500 species of bird have been recorded, around 70 species of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) and more than 1,500 native plants. This also holds true for reptiles and amphibians, with 25 reptiles (including 17 snake species) and eight species of amphibian. These totals compare favourably with the six species of reptile and seven species of amphibian that can be found in all of the UK.
English language resources about Beijing’s wildlife are still scarce, so it is wonderful to see the publication of the terrific “A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Beijing” by W. Scott Lupien, a Beijing-based herpetologist.
This book is a comprehensive guide to identifying all 33 species of reptile and amphibian to be found in Beijing Municipality. For each species there are stunning photographs, detailed descriptions, including how to distinguish from similar species, and maps with range information. Videos are available by scanning QR codes.
An example plate from the book, in this case Black-spotted Frog (Pelophylax nigromaculatus ⿊斑侧褶蛙 Hēi bān cè zhě wā)
The book is a very reasonable CNY 288 and can be purchased directly from the author via the website beijingherps.com. Payment via PayPal is accepted.
Scott is to be congratulated on a book of the highest quality that will serve as THE reference for anyone with an interest in these magnificent creatures. And all the more appropriate that is has been published in the Year of the Snake!
The French Embassy in China has officially opened its Biodiversity Garden, a 3,600m² urban green space created to enhance ecological resilience and environmental awareness within the city. Launched under France’s Green Embassy initiative — a program driven by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs to reduce the environmental footprint of French diplomatic missions — the project transforms a former unused land lot into a biodiversity sanctuary for over 100 plant species, many of them native or endangered.
The project, developed in partnership with the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, not only fosters biodiversity in an urban setting but also provides a model for nature-based solutions to climate challenges, including urban cooling, improved air quality, and water retention. It also highlights the importance of international scientific cooperation – in this case between France and China – to tackle global challenges such as climate change and the protection of biodiversity.
The initiative also forms an integral part of the Ambassadors for Nature pledge, reaffirming the Embassy’s commitment to biodiversity protection and sustainable urban living. Through this garden, France further seeks to carry forward the commitments successfully achieved in 2015 with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, whose tenth anniversary is being marked this year as well as the upcoming COP 30 taking place in Belem. By joining this collective diplomatic effort in Beijing, the French Embassy underscores the importance of international cooperation in addressing environmental challenges.
Together, these initiatives reflect a shared ambition to accelerate the ecological transition, promote science-driven solutions, and contribute meaningfully to the protection of our planet’s biodiversity.
H.E. Bertrand Lortholary, French Ambassador to China, inspects the new biodiversity garden.
Big congratulations to the French Embassy and, in particular H.E. Ambassador Bertrand Lortholary, for the leadership. The project demonstrates how we can all do something to support nature in our own communities, and I am certain it will inspire others to act!
The Beijing Swift (Apus apus pekinensis) is a special bird. I remember Australian evolutionary biologist, Tim Flannery, saying that the swift is at the vanguard of evolution, the species that is closest to conquering the air. There are species that have their whole life cycle in the ocean and on land but no species, yet, has its whole life cycle in the air. The swift, landing only to lay its eggs and feed its young, is pushing the boundaries and it is possible to envisage a world in which, eventually, the swift will evolve to give birth to live young on the wing that can immediately fly and support themselves.
On 7 June, appropriately World Swift Day, international cooperation on the Beijing Swift formally resumed, with the fitting of 41 new, state of the art, loggers to birds at the Summer Palace involving a team from China and Belgium. These loggers will provide rich data about the migration and foraging patterns of these unique birds that spend only three months on the breeding grounds in Beijing, before heading on a c30,000km round trip to southern Africa. Some of the new loggers include accelerometers that will tell us whether these birds – that eat, drink and sleep in the air – make that journey to Africa and back without landing, as many suspect.
The KuoRu Pavilian at the Summer Palace at 2am, as preparations began for the day’s banding.
The catch at the Summer Palace, coordinated by the China Birdwatching Society, the Beijing Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center and the Beijing Municipal Academy of Forestry and Landscaping, was joined by UK-Belgian swift expert and veteran bird bander, Lyndon Kearsley.
Lyndon retrieving a swift from the special net, assisted by one of the young volunteers.
The banding at the Summer Palace was the culmination of a week-long programme of engagement by a visiting Belgian delegation involving Lyndon and Martine Wauters, founder of Swifts Without Frontiers and creator of World Swift Day. The project, spearheaded by the Belgian Ambassador to China (and lifelong swift fan), Bruno Angelet, will run for three years with the aim of discovering more about the ecology of the Beijing Swift, including both during the breeding season in Beijing and during the non-breeding season in Africa. After the initial fitting of the loggers at the Summer Palace, the plan is to return next year to retrieve the data and, at the same time, involve African scientists from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa (the core wintering range). The scientific knowledge gained from the new loggers will not only help to inform actions to support swift conservation across its range but will also create the foundation for greater people to people connections, including schools and conservation organisations, in Beijing and southwest Africa.
Belgian Swift fanatic and founder of World Swift Day, Martine Wauters, with Jane Goodall.
Lyndon and Martine began their week in Beijing with a visit to the Beijing Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center (the bird banding authority), after which a day-long symposium on the Beijing Swift was held, involving senior government officials, scientists and civil society organisations.
The International Symposium on the Beijing Swift, involving government, schools, NGOs and scientists, heard a dedicated message from Jane Goodall about the Beijing Swift project.
Field visits to Yeyahu and Miyun Reservoir were followed by a training session for volunteers from the China Birdwatching Society, hosted by the Belgian Embassy, on how to fit the loggers.
Lyndon Kearsley explaining to volunteers how to fit the loggers, using a life size model of a Beijing Swift, at a special training session at the Belgian Embassy. Photo by Zhao Xinru.
The Belgium-China cooperation on this project is being implemented under the auspices of the Ambassadors for Nature initiative. It is a wonderful example of how countries can work together to support biodiversity conservation. It recognises that to conserve migratory species, there is a need to understand the ecology and to protect habitats not only on the breeding grounds, but also at the non-breeding grounds and important stopover habitats along the way. And, at the same time, involve more people to raise awareness of the incredible wildlife we have all around us, even in major cities, thus building support for policies and measures to protect it.
This project builds on the international cooperation on the Beijing Swift that took place from 2014-2017 which, thanks to new technology, discovered for the first time the incredible migration route from Beijing to southern Africa.
Huge kudos to H.E. Bruno Angelet, the Belgian Ambassador to China, for his enthusiasm, determination and leadership to make this happen. It is exceptional for a senior diplomat to put such energy into a project about nature, and I am sure that it will inspire others to follow. He was supported by a wonderful team at the embassy that crossed political, communications and logistics teams.
H.E. Bruno Angelet, Belgian Ambassador to China, with Professor Zhao Xinru at the Summer Palace. Photo by Gao Jingxin.
Huge thanks also to the Beijing Forest and Parks Bureau, the Beijing Municipal Academy for Forestry and Landscape, the Beijing Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center and, of course, the China Birdwatching Society, including the legendary Professor Zhao Xinru and his team of volunteers.
You can hear Jane Goodall’s special message for the Beijing Swift Project below:
One of the scarcest native amphibians in Beijing is the Mongolian Toad (Strauchbufo raddei 花背蟾蜍 Huā bèi chán chú). In other parts of the range, it is sometimes known as the Piebald Toad or the Siberian Sand Toad. It is found in North China, Mongolia, Far Eastern Russia and North Korea. The scientific name raddei, is in honour of German naturalist Gustav Radde.
As far as I am aware, in Beijing it has been recorded only in the far northwest, around Guanting Reservoir. I saw my first a couple of years ago at the Kangxi Grassland, adjacent to the reservoir. During my visits this spring to ShaCheng Wetlands, on the western side of Guanting Reservoir and over the border in Hebei Province, it was a species that I had hoped to encounter. I have been lucky to see several and have heard a few calling amongst the ubiquitous Dark-spotted Frogs (Pelophylax nigromaculatus ⿊斑侧褶蛙 Hēi bān cè zhě wā). Last weekend, I heard a few calling as I drove along a track at dusk in perfectly still conditions, providing a fabulous opportunity to record the voice.
The ‘call’ of the Mongolian Toad, May 2025
The northernmost known population is found on Olkhon Island in Lake Baikal. Apparently it hibernates in burrows, often communally. If you ever find yourself in an area with sandy soil and some wet grass or puddles/dykes and hear the croaking of a toad, it could be this guy!
Title image: a Mongolian Toad photographed at night with assistance from the car headlights, May 2025 (Terry Townshend)
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