Crete's Lammergeir Project

OK - I know that Lammergeirs are now called Bearded Vultures, but it's not nearly such a special name and such a magnificent bird deserves to be special!

Here's a bit of history for you. "In the old days", back when my dear friend and colleague John Henshall was still alive (and it's now nearly 8 years since he died), we ran a charity called The Icarus Trust - some of you may remember that far back. Here in the UK we raised funds for conservation work in Crete and it was John, who lived on the island, who selected the projects for support. One of them was research into the Bearded Vulture undertaken by the University folk at Heraklion.

When I was back on the island in April - my first visit since John died - we were in a taverna near Plakias where we'd stopped for coffee. The fact that the owner then produced the raki at 11 o'clock in the morning and that it would have been rude to refuse had absolutely nothing to do with me! Anyway, the eagle-eyed Rich (tour leader extraordinaire) spotted a distant Lammergeier (there I go again!) and so it was that the taverna owner produced a couple of posters about a nearby Feeding Station.

To cut a long story short, I'm now in touch with the BirdLife International person associated with the project and we're hoping to be able to arrange a visit to the feeding station during our next tour in April. The Bearded Vulture is one of the rarest raptors in Europe and one of the reasons for its decline on Crete has been the change from donkeys to motorised transport - no more dead donkeys on which the birds fed. To find out more why not sign up for our Crete holiday and hopefully you'll have the chance to see this fine and endangered bird.

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