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 strategy plan MBP programme 1811 and the MBP Mission visual update 2018 that will help you understand what the programme aims to do, an MBP workplan 2020-21, 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. We are also working 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.
First handover!
Adil Boulahia of WWT hands over 12 sets of binoculars to Ibrahim Hama of Wetlands International West Africa. WWT Slimbridge donated this first batch of optics in October 2019.
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 are adding a second volume of more advanced questions.
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. You can download a free guidebook of activities, compiled by the network.
Map of the “Migratory Birds for People”- network
You may click on the map (2017) in order to enlarge it on screen.
See our new poster (left, version for Naturum Getterön, Sweden) that can be tailored to your own centres – we can provide the design file (publisher) 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.
On the right is our updated map, thanks to Theo de Bruin and Edorta Unamuno for producing it.
Newsletter, films, coordination and meetings
Regular newsletters are produced by Roelof Heringa, one of the lead members of the project. They give updates on meetings, project development, and partner news: subscribe here. We also have a Facebook page. and Instagram page, please ‘like’ MBP if you are interested!
Finally, we have a promotional video created by a volunteer of ours, which you can find in Arabic, Basque, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Luxembourgish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish. These are all on YouTube for use with your wetland conservation projects.
Annual meetings
2021
Our 2021 annual meeting will be online, via Zoom. MBP members can join on the afternoons of October 11 and 12. We will have 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 will have full simultaneous interpretation between French and English.
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
Birds and Schools 2019 review
On the East Atlantic Flyway, our initiative Migratory Birds for People connected two groups of schools, one in English and one in French; WLI Americas connected schools in English from Canada to Colombia. Children in Luxembourg, France, and Senegal visited their centres at Biodiversum Remerschen, La Maison du Lac de Grand Lieu, Saloum and Kallisaye…
First Biowet students’ webinar
The Biowet project took another step closer to fruition on 21 February 2019. As part of the Erasmus+ funded initiative, the head of WLI Chris Rostron hosted a webinar that connected students in Norway, the UK, the Basque Country, and Portugal. WLI and MBP member centres at Dokka delta (Randsfjordmuseet), EVOA, and Urdaibai have all…
MBP Newsflash January 2019
Dear colleagues, This Migratory Birds for People (MBP) News Flash is just a quick reminder for this year’s World Wetlands Day. World Wetlands Day is celebrated every year on 2 February. It marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the city of Ramsar, on the Iranian…
MBP Newsletter November 2018
Migratory Birds for People Newsletter November 2018. Click the story titles below to read more. Report of the Annual Meeting 2018 The eighth Annual Meeting of MBP was held at Bouaye, at the Maison du Lac de Grand Lieu, one of our most active wetland centres in the network. Situated in north west France,…
Migratory Birds on the Island Terschelling
In an area of the ‘Wadden sea’ (in the North of the Netherlands) live many different bird species. For example, on the Island Terschelling you can not only discover geese and plovers, but also the spoonbill, the red-tailed godwit and the red knot. When the summer days are over, these birds follow the East Atlantic migration…
Urdaibai migrant project, Basque Country
A group of Senegalese refugees visited the UBC with the organisation Ongi Etorri Errefuxiatuak, Busturialdea. Amongst many things, they wanted to explore the way in which this Center and their country are connected by birds. What relationship do birds from Basque Country have with Senegal? Well, many of them spend the spring and summer here…
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