Spring Newsletter 2016

Birdlife South Africa Festival
The BirdLife South Africa Festival held at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens from the 3rd to the 4th of September was a real treat. The EcoSolutions stand was inundated with interested and interesting people. The other stands were well stocked with bird books, binoculars, bird safaris and an array of bird and birding products. Our pellet dissection table was bustling with both children and adults, attempting to find a bird skull within a sea of rat bones. Definitely a must for next year.

Bumper year for owl box occupancy
There have been 19 newly occupied owl boxes this season alone. All of these boxes are serviced regularly. The service component is vital in order to enjoy owls in your owl box. The service allows us to clean, re-varnish, bee treat and replace the substrate in the box. To arrange your owl box service or to find out more about the necessity for service click here. To delight in our newly occupied owl boxes, view our success stories.

Birdlife South Africa Owl Awards - October 2016
A big thank you to Birdlife South Africa for the Eagle Owl Award presented to us in recognition of an outstanding contribution and dedication to the conservation of birds and their habitats.

Alexandra Township Owl Day
On world Environment day, 5 Alexandra Township schools were up at dawn attaching almost 1000 pieces of artwork onto their schools' perimeter fences. The art work was beautiful and diverse with the only commonality being the fact that every image was that of an owl. The kids were working for weeks, drawing and painting on the wooden cut outs left over from manufactured owl boxes. The schools' efforts were to publicise their involvement in owlproject.org and inaugurate the first Alexandra Owl Day. With prizes of soccer balls (a winner alongside) and owl handbags, it was a special day for everyone who participated and attended. To check out their art visit the GALLERY. The exhibition, along with the artists, travelled from Alexandra to the Johannesburg Zoo and then to the Birdlife SA Festival at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens. Next stop? Perhaps the Everard Read Gallery?

There are so many challenges facing the youth in our country that the idea of donating to an owl programme in townships may seem frivolous. There are big issues that donor funds are required to tackle. Health, education, food security, safety and more. Although rodents in townships do impact on food security, affect health and the owlproject.org programme is highly educational, a discussion with a headmaster at one of our participating schools was very insightful. "owlproject.org raises the standard of living for kids in these areas in 2 ways", he said, "It teaches them nurture, they learn to look after the owls in their care, something not generally experienced by township children, and secondly, it teaches them awe". Awe and amazement for the world in which they live and the creatures with whom they share that world. Now, in its 12th year, owlproject.org has enjoyed the participation of 88118 township children in 63 participating schools. If you would like to DONATE to this programme - that would be wonderful.

ANN7 CONSERVATION PROJECT OF THE YEAR - SMS CONS 2 to 43043

EcoSolutions and owlproject.org have been nominated for the Conservation Project of the Year Award by ANN7 and New-Age Press. Voting for us is straightforward. Please SMS Cons 2 to 43043.

We hope that you have enjoyed this newsletter. Please like our Facebook page to keep abreast of owl news. We always aim to improve - if you have any comments or suggestions on how we can - talk to us.