Imperial eagle cycling to Bulgaria

This video is called Satellite tagging of Imperial Eagles in Bulgaria – Life+ project “Save the Raptors”.

It is about Green Balkans activities for the conservation of the Imperial Eagle in Bulgaria.

From the Dutch Fietsen voor de Keizerarend site:

From Naardermeer to the Black Sea:

A cycling tour of some 3,500 kilometres to promote the conservation of extraordinary nature in Europe

Friday 23 April 2010 is the start of a long cycling tour for four recently retired regional directors of Natuurmonumenten, the Netherlands Nature Conservation Society. The trip starts at the Naardermeer, a lake situated in the centre of the Netherlands and one of the oldest nature reserves in the Netherlands and ends at the Sakar mountain range in south-eastern Bulgaria, close to the borders with Turkey and Greece.

Sakar Mountain is one of the last remaining breeding places of the Imperial Eagle in Europe. Not only does the Imperial Eagle, with its magnificent appearance and a wingspan of almost 2.5 metres, stand as a symbol for the European birds of prey but it also symbolises the beauty and the vulnerability of nature in Europe.

The 3,500-kilom[e]tre trip passes through nature reserves in Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria. All the nature reserves are part of the European Ecological Main Structure or in other words, the backbone of European nature. These areas are often affected by water and air pollution, intensive farming and urbanisation. The nature conservationists in these areas are managing the reserves with enormous enthusiasm and few financial resources.

Why are we making this trip? Certainly not just because we like long-distance cycling or to see the Imperial Eagle with our own eyes. Although that is also true. The main objective of the trip is to highlight the importance of the conservation of the still unspoilt nature in Europe and to ask for support for all these organisations and individuals who make an effort to preserve and protect the environment.

This website is to keep you posted about our trip and because we think that you take an interest in nature conservation. But we also want to ask you to help and support the managers of these projects. We not only ask you for your moral support but also for your financial support.

If you would like to help, click on Sponsoring and pay an amount, for example, one euro cent for each kilometre we cycle.

Please pay this amount into the account number 9933 of Natuurmonumenten, ’s Gravenland, stating Fietsen voor de Keizerarend (cycling for the Imperial Eagle). Any amount is welcome!!

English translation: languageonline@planet.nl

The restoration of the largest marsh on the Bulgarian part of the Danube was done in 2008 with the financing of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), as part of a World Bank managed project. “Wetlands Restoration and Pollution Reduction”. The project was the first of its kind under the umbrella of the GEF Black Sea/Danube Strategic Partnership –Nutrient Reduction Investment Fund which aims to control or mitigate nutrient inflow to the Black Sea: here.

The Bulgarian government has confirmed Special Protection Area extensions for four key Important Bird Areas in Bulgaria: here.