News and Information 
Compiled by Simon Albrecht 
The aim of this section is to inform readers about events in the OSME region. It 
is not intended as a definitive report orwriteup qftheprojects concerned. Many 
of the projects are sponsored; such support is appreciated hut is not generally 
given acknowledgement here. 
New Magazine for Birdwatchers 
OSME member Dominic Mitchell has 
launched the new Birdwatch Magazine. 
It covers a wide range of bird watching 
and conservation issues with articles 
on bird identification, photography 
and shooting. While the focus is on 
Britain there is much to interest birders 
in other parts of the world including 
the Middle East. 
The first volume contains articles by 
R P Morris on the Crab Plover breed- 
ing season on Abu al Abyadh island in 
Abu Dhabi, and an assessment of bird 
conservation priorities in Turkey by 
Richard Porter. 
Individual subscription rates for a year 
(12 issues) are: UK £23.50; Europe and 
surface mail £34; Air mail (outside Eu- 
rope) £75. The magazine is available 
from Subscription Dept, Birdwatch 
Magazine, PO Box 1786, London El 7 
7JG, UK. Enclose a sterling cheque 
payable to Solo Publishing Ltd. 
Israel 
In August, the Society for the Protec- 
tion of Nature in Israel called for inter- 
national pressure to oppose the erec- 
tion of a Voice of America transmitter 
in the Negev Desert. 
The project was initiated some two 
and a half years ago but was suspended 
at the end of 1990 by the Israel High 
court of Justice pending the results of 
environmental impact surveys. The 
partial findings of these surveys un- 
derline the negative impact that the 
transmitter will have. The site is on the 
main migration route between Asia, 
Europ>e and Africa and it is feared that 
the transmitter, covering 8 square kilo- 
metres with twenty 160 metre high net 
antennae, will threaten hundreds of 
thousands of individual birds. In addi- 
tion, it will be an intrusion into one of 
Israel's few remaining natural savan- 
nah landscapes. 
The Israel Government has recently 
renewed its commitment to build the 
transmitter following pressure on 
Prime Minister Rabin from the USA. 
SPNI called on people to express their 
concern and opposition both to the US 
President and to Prime Minister Rabin . 
The matter was due to be discussed in 
late August by Israel's National Plan- 
ning Authority. 
Turkey 
Kizilirmak Delta breeding bird survey 
This project was postponed for a year 
as a result of the Gulf war, but took 
place between 15 March and 15 June 
1992. Preliminary results show that 
the importance of this delta has been 
seriously underestimated in recent 
years. The delta is the last remaining 
coastal wetland on the Black Sea coast 
and of great imp>ortance to birds dur- 
ing the winter, migration and breed- 
ing periods. 
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