The Migratory Birds for People (MBP) programme is about 30 wetland visitor centres across Europe and West Africa in a network that follows the flight path of many migratory wetland birds species.
These centres are working together to share best practice and develop new approaches to delivering wetland messages to their visitors. We have an MBP strategic plan and the MBP Mission visual update 2018 that will help you understand what the programme aims to do, an MBP workplan 2021-22, and a summary action plan poster to which you can add your details.
The lead group for the project consists of the Dutch Staatsbosbeheer, WLI, and Wetlands International West Africa. We also work with partners across Europe and Africa. Please see the contacts list for details.
Optics for Africa
Where possible, MBP visitor centres in Europe collect binoculars and telescopes and share them with members in West Africa. So far we have collected more than 80 binoculars and telescopes.
We invite any member centre to participate! Find out how.
Social media guidelines
Together with partners Eurosite we produced an introductory guide to using social media at wetland visitor centres and nature reserves. In 2021 we produced these more advanced guidelines.
Educational Map
Discover the East Atlantic Flyway through games! The MBP flyway map is an educational resource developed by MBP members, a fabric map of 2 x 1.5 metres. It is rugged so you can bring it to schools or out to the wetland to illustrate migration and how wetland centres are networking to help migratory birds. Members, please contact us for a copy.
You can also download a free guidebook of activities, compiled by the network, to make use of the map.
Newsletter, films, coordination and meetings
Regular newsletters are produced by Isabelle Zwick and Audrey Cadou. Please also check out the archive of more than a decde of newsletters produced by MBP co-founder Roelof Heringa.
They give updates on meetings, project development, and partner news: subscribe here. We also have a Facebook and Instagram page.
Video for centre screens
We have a promotional video for visitor centre screens. MBP volunteers produced and translated it in Arabic, Basque, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Luxembourgish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish. You can view it on YouTube and we can send it to you as a PowerPoint or mp4 video file, as suits your technical setup.
Map of the Migratory Birds for People network
Our poster (on the left, with version for Naturum Getterön, Sweden) that can be tailored to your own centres – we can provide the design file for you to add your own logo, pictures and examples, for display at your centre. Just contact Chris Rostron to arrange for us to send it to you.
Flyway Youth Forum
Since 2021 we have co-organised the East Atlantic Flyway Youth Forum. Along with the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat and Youth Engaged in Wetlands, we bring young people together virtually to expand their skills as wetland conservationists in the Flyway.
Flyway expeditions
We are supporting two expeditions on the East Atlantic Flyway: for Conservation Without Borders' Flight of the Osprey we are developing educational materials.
For the Sounding Wild Exploration, we are connecting MBP members with the Drioli brothers to create 3D audio and immersive image magic with local people at MBP member wetland centres.
Annual meetings
2021
Our 2021 annual meeting was online, in the afternoons of October 11 and 12. We had our usual review of the past year and planning for the next, as well as presentations from MBP members and inspirational external groups.
This meeting had full simultaneous interpretation between French and English.
Read the meeting report, including our work plan for 2021/2.
2020
In 2020 we held our first virtual Annual Meeting. On 12 November we met, as usual, to review the past year, and plan for the next one, but we even managed some online birding!
The meeting report summarises the presentations from members and guests, and links to recordings and PowerPoints from the meeting.
2019
Twenty MBP colleagues gathered at WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre, in October 2019 to review the past year and plan for the next. Here’s the summary, with some photos, or read the full meeting report here.
2018
This meeting took place at the Maison du Lac de Grand Lieu, near Nantes, France from the 24th to the 27th of September 2018. To see the summary report of the meeting, please click here. For some feedback from some of the participants here’s what said they would be taking home to their wetlands centres and organisations.
MBP News
News from East Atlantic Flyway
The latest Newsletter from Migratory Birds for People is now online! With articles from up and down the East Atlantic Flyway, download the PDF to learn how our peers have been keeping visitors safe when visiting their centres: Sensory and fun outdoor activities for kids 2021 Species year – trying to count 2021 species of…
WWD 2021 at Biodiversum, Luxembourg
To celebrate the Ramsar Conventions’ 50th anniversary, BirdLife Luxembourg and Biodiversum Nature Centre were invited by RTL Radio to speak about the Ramsar Convention, wetlands and their conservation in Luxembourg and worldwide. World Wetlands Day was the ideal time. Visits to wetlands were postponed due to current health restrictions, so these interviews were a great…
Planning advanced social media guide
Migratory Birds for People and Eurosite are teaming-up to produce an advanced guide to social media for wetland centres and nature reserve managers. We want your input now, to help make the guide as relevant as possible! MBP members, please take part in this 3-minute survey; let us know what you would like to learn…
MBP Annual Meeting 2020
Our East Atlantic Flyway initiative, Migratory Birds for People, will hold an online annual meeting on 12 November 2020. Since we cannot travel to a member visitor centre to meet in person, we will have a different format but still meet the core needs of the network as best as the internet can offer. So,…
Following Sandwich terns oversea
Wageningen Marine Research 31-May-2020 – How do Sandwich Terns fly over the North Sea and the Wadden Sea? And where exactly do they catch their fish? Scientists from Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and the University of Amsterdam are trying to map the flight and foraging behaviour of large Terns by equipping fifteen Texel birds…
Finima Nature Park’s World Wetlands Day 2020
Finima Nature Park joined the rest of the world in commemorating World Wetlands Day 2020 through three days of events. Day One The event kicked off on the 29th of January, 2020 with a discussion session led by Miss Grace Alawa, a lecturer from the Department of Zoology, River State University of Science and Technology. Different stakeholders…
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