As I arrived in China a day earlier than colleagues from BirdLife, I was taken to Chongming Island by Professor Ma from Fudan University. Until two years ago, Chongming was only accessible by ferry. Access from Shanghai is now via a 10km tunnel followed by a 10km bridge. So now it is only a one hour bus journey from the centre of Shanghai. With this improved access comes the inevitable development and things happen quickly in China. I was shown areas which were fields two years ago, but are now urban developments. The same thing happens in the UK and other parts of the World. But Chongming has a wonderful coastal wetland reserve that provides a haven for species such as migrant Hooded Cranes and Black-faced Spoonbills. One of the highlights of my visit was Reed Parrotbill – imagine a Bearded Tit on steroids and you may get an impression of this interesting bird with its large yellow beak.
Reed Parrotbill
Red-necked Stint
I was taken to the University’s ringing station on the island where species such as Red-necked and Long toed Stints, Sharp-tailed, Terek and Wood Sandpipers were being recorded on this part of their journey along the East Asian-Australasian Migratory flyway. I never cease to be amazed by the wonders of bird migration. The realisation that the Red-necked Stint that I was studying was travelling from Northern Siberia to probably spend the winter in Australia just reinforces my view that we need to keep on communicating these amazing feats to target audiences. Protection of wetlands like Chongming is essential for the survival of the migrant birds and other wildlife they support. Interestingly, the person catching the birds for the ringers is Mr Jing. Mr Jing was a hunter who used to catch shorebirds for food, but now he is using his skills for the benefit of conservation.
Mr. Jing
Long-toed stint
Of course, there’s no such thing as a free lunch (and a free visit in this case) so I was asked to speak to the staff of the Chongming Dongtan protected area. Twenty of the reserve’s staff, including the Director and his Deputy, were gathered together to hear me give a presentation about the development of education work on nature reserves. The Director led the discussion after my presentation. There was a lot of interest in exploring methods of inspiring and communicating to children and reserve visitors. The reserve is currently in the process of developing its visitor infrastructure and one building has a 3D cinema where I watched a beautiful animated film based around the life of a sea turtle but also including a variety of marine wildlife. A film about migration was due for completion soon. I understand the visitor facilities will be open in October and, with the new access from Shanghai, I hope that the reserve attracts many visitors to open people’s eyes and minds to the amazing nature that is so close to millions of people. Places like Chongming are so important, not only for protecting habitats and species, but also for inspiring people.
Visitor facilities at Chongming Dongtan Nature Reserve