What inspired you to write a children’s book about animal migration?

I have lived in both England and southern Africa, and it has never ceased to amaze me how I see the same birds - such as swallows, willow warblers and common sandpipers - in both places. Their journeys from one continent to another twice a year are mind-boggling. They also seem to offer a lesson to us humans: that some things are bigger than borders and barriers. 

Join the celebration of a great natural wonder on World Migratory Bird Day!

“Unifying our Voices for Bird Conservation” is the theme of World Migratory Bird Day 2018. This year, the campaign will have a new global dimension, bringing together the world’s main migration corridors, also called flyways – and for the first time, with two peak campaign days in the year.

The University Malaysia Terengganu, in collaboration with both the University Sultan Zain Abidin and the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS Terengganu), celebrated the World Migratory Bird Day for the third year in a row, at Lingai forest, Batu Rakit, Terengganu.

Egypt celebrated World Migratory Bird Day 2017 in Ain El Sokhna which is known to be an important bottleneck for migratory birds. Participants were birdwatchers, photographers and nature lovers, along with representatives of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) and the New and Renewable Energies Authority (NREA).

Le Parc National du Diawling est un site protégé dans le sud-ouest de la Mauritanie. Cette aire protégée a été créée dans le but de reconstituer une biodiversité détruite.

Le vendredi 12 mai 2017, le Parc National du Diawling a participé à la célébration de la Journée mondiale des oiseaux migrateurs (JMOM) dans le cadre des activités du programme d’éducation environnementale. L’événement était organisé avec les écoles de Ziré Sbeikhat et Ziré Taghrédient, situées dans la périphérie du Parc.

Le Groupe de Recherche Pour la Protection des Oiseaux au Maroc « GREPOM-Birdlife Maroc », unité régionale Souss-Massa, a célébré la Journée Mondiale des Oiseaux Migrateurs 2017, sous le thème « Leur avenir est notre avenir, respectons la planète pour les oiseaux migrateurs et pour les hommes ».

On 20 and 21 May, celebrations for World Migratory Bird Day took place in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Around the Lakes Chitu, Shalla and Zeway, the celebrations included bird walks, education programmes, lectures and much more in the spirit of “Their Future is Our Future” for WMBD 2017. The Rift Valley is considered one of the most fragile ecosystems in Ethiopia, with wetlands offering vital feeding and lay-over sites for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds.

The Natural Resources Conservation Section of Dubai Municipality’s Environment Department sustains its ancient commitment to World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) every year which started in 2007.

Bonn/Bologna, 19 May 2017 – there was standing room only in the Cappella Farnese in Bologna’s medieval Palazzo d’Accursio for the fifth annual Benefit Concert held as part of the celebration of World Migratory Bird Day. 

The population of migratory birds worldwide is in danger of collapsing unless their habitats are taken better care of and climate change is addressed.

Listen to Borja Heredia, head of the avian unit at the UN Convention on Migratory Species.