natur&emwelt English-speaking Section Newsletter March 2015

1. English-speaking Section March 2015 Newsletter
Contact us: ne.english.section@gmail.com
In this newsletter you can read about:
 Have you heard a cuckoo? If so, please report it!
 How is that blackbird in your garden?
 Wolf, Little Owl, Wild Cat & Co
 We collected apples... Would you like some juice?
 What's on?
 Are you a member yet?
Red Kites on migration over Luxembourg (c) Norbert Paler
More…
http://www.europeanraptors.org/raptors/red_kite.html
http://www.europeanraptors.org/raptors/black_kite.html

2. English-speaking Section March 2015 Newsletter
Contact us: ne.english.section@gmail.com
Have you heard a cuckoo?
If so, please report it!
So you’re out taking your binoculars for a walk and you see something you think the wider
birding community should know about. What do you do?
If you’re reasonably IT-sa vvy, you report it on the birders’ website ornitho.lu. This is a
relatively new resource which is quickly replacing all those fiddly index cards, and which
gives you the chance not only to report what you’ve seen, but to see what other birders are
reporting too. It can be a slightly daunting tool to use first off; but like with most things,
practice makes perfect. And the important thing from the English-language birder’s point of
view: everything is available in English, and you can report your observations in English!
So why not give it a try? If you find you need a bit of help, our helpful colleagues from
natur&ëmwelt’s Centrale Ornithologique are always happy to advise. Contact them on
29 04 04 – 308 or at col@naturemwelt.lu.
What are the hot topics for this breeding season?
ornitho.lu wants all the information you can supply, particularly on:
 Calling and singing Cuckoos and Golden Orioles: where and when?
 Red Kites: what are they doing? — carrying nesting material; a pair together in a
suitable breeding habitat; hunting; feeding; teaching the youngsters to fly, etc. Please
report what they’re doing where and when.

3. English-speaking Section March 2015 Newsletter
Contact us: ne.english.section@gmail.com
Big Garden Birdwatch 2015
How is that blackbird in your garden?
After all, chances are you’ve got at least one. Most gardens in Luxembourg do — nine out of
ten gardens, in fact. In the winter garden bird count conducted on 24/25 January 2015, 93%
of participating gardens had a Blackbird, or two, or three...
405 garden observers reported a total of 14 920 birds, of more than fifty different species.
The most common bird, in absolute numbers, was the House Sparrow, averaging ten
individuals per garden. But for sheer blanket distribution, there was nothing to beat the
Blackbird. The next most frequent garden birds were Great Tit (in 84% of gardens), Blue Tit
(82%), Robin (73%), House Sparrow (72%) and Magpie (71%).
Thanks to all our correspondents who took part.
Male Blackbird at feeding station (c) Gilles Biver

4. English-speaking Section March 2015 Newsletter
Contact us: ne.english.section@gmail.com
Wolf, Little Owl, Wild Cat & Co
Regulus articles in English
You’ve probably noticed that natur&ëmwelt’s membership magazine is bilingual
German/French. In effect, each author can choose which language he/she wants to write in.
So you can only read the whole of each issue if you can read both German and French. If you
don’t do either, you’re in a bit of a pickle...
Which is why we’ve taken recently to translating at least one of the main articles in each
issue of Regulus into English. You’ll find the articles we’ve done so far on the natur&ëmwelt
website. The most recent articles are retrievable by scrolling down the ‘News’ page.
Otherwise you can search the website using the ‘Search’ function at top right.
We’re concentrating on the kind of articles that we think will interest nature-lovers
specifically in Luxembourg. Recent translations concern
 the possible (in fact, almost certain) return of the Wolf:
http://www.naturemwelt.lu/natur-an-emwelt_ShowNews_News.1-2-393-2.html ;
 the breeding status of Little Owl and Wild Cat:
http://www.naturemwelt.lu/natur-an-emwelt_ShowNews_News.1-1-313-2.html;
http://www.naturemwelt.lu/natur-an-emwelt_ShowNews_News.1-1-312-1.html ;
 bird migration monitoring in Luxembourg (with some surprising results):
http://www.naturemwelt.lu/natur-an-emwelt_ShowNews_News.1-2-411-2.html .
We hope our English-speaking members will appreciate this new service.
Wolf (c) Raymond Gloden

5. English-speaking Section March 2015 Newsletter
Contact us: ne.english.section@gmail.com
We collected apples... Would you like some juice?
Apple juice to sell
Last October at a “Day in Nature” event volunteers collected apples in the Cents orchard.
Juice was made on the spot, for immediate consumption, the remaining apples were taken to
a professional juice press. The juice produced can be kept up to October 2015. Once open
you should drink it within a few weeks.
There are some 3 litre boxes of apple juice available for 5 EUR each.
If you are interested contact us at ne.english.section@gmail.com. First come, first served.

6. English-speaking Section March 2015 Newsletter
Contact us: ne.english.section@gmail.com
What's on?
26 April E Laf fir d'Natur
8 – 10 May Kaiserstuhl: bird watching weekend trip event
21 May Natura 2000 network - Bigonville
14 June Butterflies in the Eisléck
21 June Nature Festival
4 July Looking for the Apollo butterfly
30 August Birds in the Eisléck
27 June Fox, Martens & co - a guided Tour of the wild animal Shelter
All the events organised by the English speaking section of natur&ëmwelt can be fund here.
There are several other activities related to the initiative “Day in Nature”: check out the
programme here.
Are you a member yet?
Thank you for reading this newsletter. As you’ll have seen in the ‘What’s on?’ section,
there’s plenty going on, and we’re always pleased to meet and greet new people at our
events.
The single most important thing you can do for nature and conservation in Luxembourg,
though, is to become a member of the national organisation natur&ëmwelt, and to stay a
member by paying your membership dues. (Remember that receiving this newsletter
doesn’t automatically make you a paid-up member of natur&ëmwelt.)
You’ll find details of how to become a member here.
And if you want to take a more active part in organising and running our various activities
(e.g. translations, secretariat...), don’t hesitate to contact the English-speaking Section of
natur&ëmwelt via the contact address given on each page of this newsletter.
Looking forward to hearing from you!