Nature Exchange

Poland:  EUCC Poland

The group will be collected from the airport by their host, Kazimierz Rabski. They will drive to The Warta Mouth National Park which is one of the most valuable areas in all of Poland as far as ornithology is concerned. Unique wetlands, widespread meadows and pasture lands are the most important mainstays for water and shore birds.

Day 2 – Owczary Meadow Museum and more of the Warta Mouth National Park
As well as visiting both of these sites, the group will go to the ‘Naturalist Club Protection and Education Site’ and visit Mr. Pawel Pawlaczyk to dicuss Polish NGO’s.

Day 3 – The Kostrzyneckie Wetlands and the Lower Odra Landscape Park
In the course of the day the group will also visit the Cedynski Landscape Park.

Day 4 – The Podgrodzie EUCC-PL Education Station and the Swidwie RAMSAR Site

Day 5 – Szczecin City Surroundings and the ‘Police Chemical Industry’.
Police is a complex of reservoirs with savage water separated by dikes. With no doubt it is not a romantic place for dating with girl who wants to learn ornithology.
On the one hand, chemical plant, on the other, heaps of fosfogypsum and if we add terrible stink, you just can't stand it. Of course it's well-known fact that spots like this attract the attention of birds. The area is very easy to access. A walk around whole ground takes you less then two hours.
Among breeding birds the most characteristic is the Shelduck. Its count, during the best years reached from ten to twenty. At the moment the Shelduck's count is lower and does not exceed several pairs. Among other breeding birds that prove interesting, is the presence of the Little Bittern, Black-necked Grebe, Shoveler, Spotted Crake, Black-tailed Godwit and Bluethroat. On a national scale, here are important numbers of Gadwall, Common Moorhen and Bearded Tit. In the past, people bred Avocets very regularly, but at the moment according to biotope changes, presence of any Waders is very rare. A huge number of water birds, mainly Ducks, can be obsercved migrating here. Concentrations are very numerous and meaningful for the whole country. From the rare species we have an opportunity to see: Black-throated Diver, Red-throated Diver, Bewick's Swan, Canada Goose, Ruddy Shelduck, Ferruginous Duck, Great Egret, Caspian Tern, and White-winged Black Tern.

Day 6 – The Odra Delta National Park and the Goleniowska Forest
The group will take a rowing boat out in Czarnocin, which falls within the Odra Delta National Park.  This park is interesting because it is the first Polish NP to be managed by an NGO. At the Goleniowska Forest, State Forest Management in Poland will be discussed.

Day 7 – The Wolinski National Park and Karsiborska Kepa OTOP Site
Karsiborska Kępa Island is situated in Świna's Mouth.  The island is an official sanctuary of Polish society for the Protection of Birds. There is a tower with watch box adjusted to observe and make photos from hiding. Important thing to keep this area in good conditions are regular pasturages of cattle and reeds mowing. Reserve was created because of nesting birds, in danger of being exterminated. Heraldic bird of Island is Aquatic Warbler witch numbers at the presence moment not exceed 50 pairs in whole Świna's Mouth
 

Day 8 –Return flights

 

Norway Itinerary

Nature Exchange 

The topics to be covered are:

1. Deer and moose management. How are they managed?
Who does the hunting? How are communities involved? What is hunting/ meat
How is the size of culls decided? How is damage prevented/
How is moose hunting integrated with other land uses

2. Beavers. The impacts they have and how any conflicts are
managed.
How do beavers and fishing interests co- exist? Are there any problems?

3. Salmon, trout and grayling fisheries. What is fishing worth?
How
are rivers managed for fish? Gyrodactilus and other fish disease
issues.

4. Bears, wolves, lynx and wolverine. What benefits do they bring?
What conflicts arise and how are they managed? How do people feel about the different species.

5. Capercaillie and black grouse. Hunting and habitat management.

6. Management of smaller animals eg foxes, martens, hares.

7. Musk ox re-introduction. The history of this re-introduction
and how successful it has been. Does it raise any conservation/
wildlife management issues?

8. Raptors. What raptor conflicts exist in Norway?
Are they satisfactorily resolved?
The emphasis will be on site visits to see animals, to take part in management activities and to speak to practitioners. Lectures will be at a minimum but there might be some.

Programme for Hylates, Cyprus.
Day 1: Arrival, transfer from the airport and accommodation arrangements. Briefing on the programme.
Day 2: Visit to Oroklini salt marshes, to discuss the management of this potential Natura 2000 site, and its importance as regards the migratory and breeding birds. Visit to Larnaka Development Company Central Offices, and meeting with the Director. Discussion about their projects with    more »

16-23 May 2010 Day 1 – Sunday, 16.05.2010 Arrival in Sofia – 1 night in a hotel, sharing in twin rooms. Depending on the time of the flight - dinner. Day 2 – Monday,17.05.2010Breakfast in the hotel; In the morning – meeting in Sofia with experts from Bulgarian Biodiversity foundation (discussions on state    more »

State Forest Service. Latvia. Itinerary 23rd-29th May 2010 Monday: Arrive Riga airport. We will be met by Janis Ozoliņš from the State Forest Service. Accommodation in Riga. Evening in Riga City    more »

Nature Exchange 7 August – September 2010 Day 1 Arrival at Budapest airport. Trip to Ipeľský Sokolec, a small village on the Slovak-Hungarian border. Accommodation at the Honey Farm B&B in Ipeľský Sokolec.    more »

Cashel Open Day

Igor Maher, who talked to the group about the 1001 ponds project and gave a presentation about the Pliskovica community programme, sent these pictures via Bojan.  Click on the attachments link to look at these pictures in pdf format.

In September 2006, a group of 20 Slovenians visted Scotland as part of the ‘SKIS’ project. The project examined how Scottish municipalities developed their infrastructure and environmental management in Scotland. Participants came from the IZRAZ Institute in Ljubljana; a college for adults already in employment, whose aim was to further improve its students’ employment prospects. The participants were studying a wide range of subjects, including plumbing, urban waste management, environmental protection and public lighting. The group’s programme reflected its eclectic skill-base - with trips to a Perth land-fill site, the wind farm at Braes of Dune, mushroom hunting and a Celtic football match all forming part of the visit.

 

Following on from this extremely successful exchange, participants have written detailed reports on their Scottish experiences, and a book of their feedback has been published in Slovenia. In fact, participants and exchange leaders have made it on to Slovenian television to talk about their time here.

 

Unfortunately, a lot of this material is in Slovenian, but here are a few extracts, and some super pictures, which give something of an idea of the Slovenians’ trip:   more »

During our preparations for SKIS, we could not help drawing parallels with the theatre or cinema; the dilemmas, the questions and all those vague answers. To what extent could we influence future events? Is there a director, or are we the ones directing? Are we the actors or the spectators? How will we be able to perform (let alone accept and understand) the individual roles that we have been allocated, that we have chosen or have only adapted to? Do we understand the main roles and the main actors correctly, will we participate in the creation of the story, will we direct or be directed?...    more »

SKIS focused on the development of skills and training within the public sector. The variety of partner organisations in Scotland was chosen to encourage a ‘cross-pollenation’ of skills, techniques, information and ideas between Scottish practioners and their Slovenian counterparts. The organisation of the project divided the programme between formal meetings and discussions, and site visits with practical experiences and ‘hands-on’ opportunities. This created chances for the free transfer of ideas, generated a dialogue between participants and hosts and between the participants themselves. The training delivered throughout the SKIS programme was designed to improve the skills and competencies of the participants by giving them opportunities to interface with those actually involved in day to day work within the public sector...   more »

We learn throughout our lives – in the schools of life and in real, formal schools where we usually spend our youth as students. Many people, however, decide to take part in formal studies later, as adults, when they are already employed, or cannot find a job that suits their skills and education. I admire the people who decide to take that step, as I am aware that it is hard to return to school after several years, especially after a hard job and many other obligations...   more »