As we head into a new year, it’s traditionally a good time to reflect on the previous 12 months. After three difficult years of pandemic restrictions, 2023 was a welcome return to at least some kind of normality in China, with the borders opening up and physical meetings again being possible. I have been incredibly fortunate to be involved in some exciting and innovative projects and to work with some of the best people I’ve ever met. I haven’t been very efficient at updating the blog part of the website this year, so here are a few selected highlights from 2023.
First, the nocturnal bird migration study in partnership with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and Peking University. Spring 2023 was the fourth consecutive season of recording nocturnal bird sounds from the rooftop of AIIB’s headquarters in Beijing. In total, we recorded more than 83,000 calls from at least 111 species, all from just one building.
Spectograms of the some of the species recorded at night from the roof of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
A draft scientific paper, led by Peking University, has been submitted to a journal for consideration and, in late November, Liu Shuangqi presented the results to the British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) conference. This is the first study of its kind in East Asia and, as well as helping to raise public awareness of the ‘invisible miracle’ that happens over our heads as Beijing’s residents sleep at night (thanks to media articles in China and even in The Economist), it has demonstrated the diversity of birds passing over the capital and, importantly, the diversity of their habitat requirements. It was instructive that the top three species recorded by volume were Olive-backed Pipit Anthus hodgsoni 树鹨 Shù liù (woodland species), Eurasian Skylark Alauda arvensis 云雀 Yúnquè (grassland species) and Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax 夜鹭 Yè lù (wetland species). This illustrates that if Beijing is to fulfil its role in the flyway – to secure safe passage of migratory birds – it must provide a balance of natural habitats to help these extraordinary travellers to cross what is, to them, a hostile urban environment. Encouragingly, at the summer 2022 workshop in AIIB to present the initial results, the Beijing municipal government recognised the value of scrub and grassland habitats (until recently classified as ‘waste land’) and committed to integrate the findings of the nocturnal migration project into the way they manage green spaces in Beijing. Given that the Beijing Municipal Forest and Parks Bureau manages 71% of Beijing’s land, that is a big step. The last few decades have seen a heavy emphasis on tree-planting in the capital, often at the expense of scrub and grassland, driven by the use of ‘tree-cover’ as the overriding measure of the quality of the environment. In most cases, when trees are planted, it has usually involved single species monocultures, all the same age and in straight lines, with undergrowth and fallen leaves removed to keep the trees ‘tidy’, resulting in very little biodiversity. We very much hope that this is a turning point towards a more balanced and qualitative approach to habitat management. It’s going to take time to see significant change but, as the capital city of the country that presided over agreement by more than 190 countries on the new Global Biodiversity Framework under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, it would be fitting if Beijing led the way towards aligning the city with biodiversity goals by integrating the needs of migratory birds into urban planning.
We are planning to continue monitoring nocturnal bird migration from AIIB’s roof and have received tremendous support from Cornell Lab (Andrew Farnsworth and Benjamin van Doren) to help with automated detections and identifications, which will make processing the recordings more efficient (thus far, all processing has been done manually). Once we have the automated processing working effectively, we plan to explore the potential for schools to deploy recorders on their campuses as a way to expand the monitoring of migratory birds.. and potentially even set up competitions, for example to see which school records the most Olive-backed Pipits in a season. Huge thanks go to my partners at Peking University, especially Professor Hua Fangyuan and Liu Shuangqi, to AIIB staff for their invaluable support, especially Sir Danny Alexander, Alberto Ninio, Tian Hua, Yan Bo and Li Zeyu, and to the Beijing Municipal government, especially Wang Xiaoping, for the wonderful cooperation and positive response to the findings.
Second, the Ambassadors for Nature initiative has gone from strength to strength. Launched in July 2022 by Clare Fearnley, the former New Zealand Ambassador to China, with 14 founding members, as of 31 December there are 35 ambassadors signed up to support the “pledge for nature”, committing to manage their diplomatic green spaces in a more friendly way for nature. Events this year have been hosted by the Irish, Swiss, Belgian and Slovenian Ambassadors focusing on migratory birds, pollinators and guidance for embassy gardeners, with a field trip to Miyun Reservoir hosted by the Beijing Municipal government.
In addition to encouraging actions – such as planting native pollinator-friendly species, keeping areas wild, reducing and eliminating the use of pesticides, monitoring wildlife and erecting insect hotels, bird and bat boxes to support biodiversity in diplomatic green spaces – the initiative has been a great way to get biodiversity onto the agenda of senior foreign policy officials and to promote international cooperation. For example, thanks to Bruno Angelet, the new Belgian Ambassador, there are plans for a new international cooperation project to study the Beijing Swift involving Chinese, European (Belgian, UK and Swedish) and African (Namibian) scientists, with political support from the Beijing Municipal government and the relevant embassies. And it was thanks to this network of ambassadors that I was honoured to go birding with US Ambassador Nicholas Burns and his wife, Libby, to Shahe Reservoir in Beijing. Following that, Ambassador Burns invited me to a reception at his residence in honour of visiting California governor, Gavin Newsom. I briefed Governor Newsom on the incredible story of one particular migratory bird that connects China and the US (Alaska) – the Bar-tailed Godwit – and discussed the potential for a three-way ‘(Inter)National Park’ involving New Zealand, Yellow Sea of China and Alaska to celebrate this incredible bird as a way of celebrating biodiversity and building bridges. I believe Gavin has high political ambitions, so maybe it planted a seed!
California Governor Gavin Newsom at a reception at the US Embassy in Beijing at the end of his visit to China in October 2023.
The Ambassadors for Nature initiative has also provided opportunities to engage on biodiversity with visiting ministers from a range of participating countries, including the New Zealand Foreign Minister and the Canadian Environment Minister.
With the visiting Canadian Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault, at Shahe Reservoir
In addition, building on the success of the Ambassadors for Nature initiative in Beijing, I understand that the New Zealand ministry of foreign affairs is considering the idea of encouraging ALL of its embassies overseas commit to the ‘pledge for nature‘. And the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in the Republic of Korea is planning to begin a similar initiative with foreign embassies in Seoul.
At the same time, several schools have adopted the ‘pledge for nature‘ and are applying it to their campuses. It has been wonderful to work with students and teachers, including at the Western Academy of Beijing (WAB), where different groups of students have led on implementing each aspect of the pledge. Helping nature is infectious!
This group of students at the Western Academy of Beijing has taken responsibility for identifying a suitable area to leave wild and to monitor changes in the wildlife, especially insects, for comparison with the remainder of the campus.
Third, I’ve been part of a small group pushing for the control of the sale of mist nets. Despite strengthened wildlife protection laws, improved law enforcement and greater public awareness, mist nets remain one of the biggest killers of migratory birds in China (and SE Asia). Even in Beijing, poachers still operate. In the capital, these criminals target mainly Siberian Rubythroat and Bluethroat for the cagebird trade but data from prosecutors show that mist nets have been used in many large-scale trapping efforts, both for the cagebird trade and for exotic food, all across China. Twice this year I have personally encountered poachers using nets to trap migratory birds in Shunyi District. The map below, produced by Gu Xuan, shows the locations where poachers have been apprehended in Beijing in 2023 alone.
A map showing the locations where poachers have been caught in Beijing in 2023 (Gu Xuan).
The good news is that there is determination to tackle this illegal activity and there is a lot going on behind the scenes that I hope to be able to talk about in a future post. Needless to say, action is starting and, today, if you search for mist nets on e-commerce platforms, a warning appears that it is illegal to capture wild birds, and this is just the start.
At the same time, it is likely that the UN Convention on Migratory Species will promote tackling the illegal killing of birds, including with nets, at its next meeting in February 2024, so I am optimistic that further progress will be made this year both in China and internationally.
Fourth, over the last few years it has been the privilege of my life to work with ShanShui Conservation Center to help set up the “Valley of the Cats” project in Qinghai Province on the Tibetan Plateau. This is the community-based conservation and wildlife-tourism project, working with a village of Tibetan yak herder families. The herder families host visitors in their homes and guide them to look for the special wildlife they have in the area, including snow leopard, wolf, lynx etc. Many visitors remark on what a privilege it is to experience authentic Tibetan hospitality, as well as having the opportunity to see the elusive snow leopard. At the end of 2023, the project is close to passing the milestone of 4 million RMB (GBP 440,000) of revenue, 100% of which has stayed in the community. The project was showcased at the 2nd National Parks forum in Xining in August 2023 as an example of sustainable tourism and a way to bring income into local communities to reward them for their stewardship of important and fragile landscapes, and has won a host of national awards. In late August 2023, following the National Parks Forum, with ShanShui Conservation Center I visited two other (spectacular) villages that are interested in setting up similar initiatives.
A glacier at 5,000m asl near Diqing, Qinghai Province
One of the spectacular valleys in Diqing at 4,900m asl.
There is no doubt that the Valley of the Cats model, focusing on low volume and community-led tourism, can help to bring income to relatively poor communities while protecting fragile ecosystems. However, it is not a model that will work everywhere. In my view, three conditions are required for success: first, the presence of sought after wildlife (to create demand); second, a robust and established community structure that is able to handle decision-making and deal authoritatively with any issues that arise; and third, a supportive local government (essential in China). It will take time to establish similar projects in other villages but the high interest from other communities reflects the potential of this approach to engage and support communities inside China’s national parks. ShanShui Conservation Center, powered by a terrific group of enthusiastic and dedicated young people, is doing brilliant work and I cannot praise them enough for the contribution this NGO is making to conservation in China.
It was during the September visit to Qinghai that we were fortunate to enjoy a stunning encounter with a female snow leopard next to the track.. Alerted by the alarm calls of several marmots as we were driving, we stopped to check whether there was a predator in the vicinity. Looking at the directions faced by the calling marmots, and triangulating their lines of sight, we were able to spot the big cat as she stalked one of the rodents. When just a few metres away, she made a dash but the marmot disappeared down its burrow in a cloud of dust in the nick of time. The video below (low resolution for ease of uploading) was taken just after the failed hunt using my iPhone attached to my Swarovski ATX95 scope.
Watching a snow leopard from the track in the Valley of the Cats, August 2023
Special thanks to Shi Xiangying, Zhao Xiang, Yuqiu (Iris), Jun Yi (Audrey) and Qiuni for their hard work and for a wonderful trip in August.
Fifth, after my brush with TV in 2019 when I enjoyed the incredible experience of filming with Ray Mears as part of his Wild China series, I seem to have somehow become a (somewhat reluctant!) TV presenter in China. In April I spent a week at Tiaozini, Dongtan, Jiangsu Province, with CCTV4 making a documentary to highlight the importance of coastal wetlands and migratory birds. Tiaozini is at the heart of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway and is a vital stopover for millions of migratory shorebirds – natural heritage that is shared by 22 countries from New Zealand in the south to Arctic Russia and Alaska in the north. The programme aired in June on prime time TV. And September saw the launch of National Geographic/CICC’s “Road to Carbon Neutrality”, a two-part documentary series. The two episodes, hosted by China-based photojournalist Sean Gallagher and me respectively, focus on nationwide efforts to reduce China’s carbon emissions in order to meet the twin goals of peaking emissions by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2060. Filmed in 2022, navigating all manner of pandemic-related restrictions, the documentary has been shown in more than 50 countries worldwide. And in November I appeared in an episode of UK explorer, Ash Dykes’ series “The Great Wall with Ash Dykes”, speaking with Ash about the wildlife of the Great Wall around Beijing. Later that month I was invited to the studio of CCTV’s international channel, CGTN, to film a talk on the importance of biodiversity and what people can do to help. That aired in early December. It is encouraging to see the growing media interest in biodiversity in China and, although I am not a natural in front of the camera, I am happy to do anything that will help to advance the interests of nature.
Filming in Tiaozini about the importance of coastal wetlands and migratory birds, April 2023
Finally, at the end of the year, I was able to spend Christmas with my family in Norfolk for the first time since 2019. It was a wonderful chance to spend time with my elderly parents and to catch up on some of the incredible wildlife experiences in north Norfolk, especially the spectacular flights of Pink-footed Geese at Holkham.
This year, I was keen to record the awesome sound of the geese and the 22-min soundscape below starts with the wakening of the local Eurasian Wrens and Blackbirds before the Pink-footed Geese begin to lift, passing over in groups, their calls slowly growing in intensity. At 07m50s the local Jackdaws leave their roost and, towards the end, the calls and song of Goldfinches tinkle as the last of the geese leave the roost. Best enjoyed with headphones! Thanks to Holkham Nature Reserve manager, Jake Fiennes, for tips on where best to record the geese.
As if that experience wasn’t incredible enough, for a few days before Christmas, rare nacreous (“mother of pearl”) clouds were visible, providing a stunning backdrop as the geese returned to their roost at dusk…
Pink-footed Geese returning to Holkham National Nature Reserve just after sunset against a backdrop of nacreous ‘mother of pearl’ clouds.
A lone Eurasian Curlew going to roost at dusk as nacreous clouds light up the evening sky.
It was a fitting end to 2023, a reminder of the breathtaking beauty of nature and why I do what I do.
As we begin 2024, I would like to acknowledge the brilliant, and growing, group of conservationists in China who are doing wonderful work to celebrate and protect the special wildlife we have all around us, and the places it needs. It is an ongoing privilege to support what you do!
Finally finally, some of you may have noticed that Birding Beijing has evolved into Wild Beijing. This reflects the broadening interest and coverage of the website. As well as the branding, the web address has also changed from birdingbeijing.com to wildbeijing.org. There will be an automatic redirect for a few months but, in due course, only wildbeijing.org will be accessible, so please update any bookmarks. Subscriptions for alerts about new posts have been automatically transferred to the new site.
Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and nature-filled 2024!
Watercolour of an (Amur) Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis, 豹猫, Bàomāo), January 2024. This small cat (around 50% bigger than the average house cat) is native to Beijing and can be found in the mountains and in some wetlands where there is lots of cover. As an ambush hunter it needs scrub and grassland, both habitats that have decreased significantly in lowland Beijing due to development and tree-planting. Primarily nocturnal, sightings during daylight hours are rare. This small painting is in celebration of an incredible sighting in Tongzhou District in December 2023. More details here.
Title image: a Beijing Swift (Apus apus pekinensis 北京雨燕 Běijīng yǔyàn) flying through a rainbow, Wenyu River, June 2023.