At the end of July, the team travelled to Uzbekistan to complete the annual fieldwork for our Central Asian Vulture Project. This year’s focus was to tag more juvenile Egyptian Vultures with GPS trackers. This involves locating nests and within that, nest with birds at the right stage of development – both elements of which are no mean feat!

The team set out from Tashkent, covering over 3,000km in just six days of fieldwork, travelling across the Kyzylkum Desert in search of active nests. In these remote desert landscapes, Egyptian Vultures’ nests are often found in crags and holes on low hills and small riverine cliffs. The first nest of the season was found in the Arystanau Hills, just two metres above the ground on a small cliff face and home to just a single chick. Egyptian Vultures typically lay one or two eggs per clutch, so lone chicks like this aren’t unusual to find. There have been occasional observations from various parts of the world of three eggs being laid, a number rarely associated with vultures, and in exceptional circumstances – all three fledging, but this is far from the norm.

Other nests prove a far greater challenge and much more demanding to reach. Indeed, among this year’s nest finds, several were found tucked away near the top of scree slopes and rocky outcrops in the Bukantau Mountains, which required careful climbing to access them safely.

The stage of development of a chick is also an important factor in terms of attaching trackers, as Dr John Burnside from our partners Central Asian Vultures (CAV) explains:

“Chicks are ideally tagged just days before fledging. At this stage they’re nearly full adult size (weighing around 1.6kg), though still in juvenile plumage, and once they do leave the nest they tend to stay close by. One of the risks of tagging juveniles this close to fledging age though, is that the chicks can sometimes leap from the nest prematurely due to the disturbance. Whenever this happens, the priority is to return the chick safely to the nest because if birds remain on the ground, they are vulnerable to predation. During this season we had two chicks leap from the nests, but the team moved quickly to recapture both chicks, before tagging them and replacing them safely back in their nests. Adults will continue to feed juveniles for several weeks after fledging, and it’s not uncommon to see a parent nearby during a nest visit.”

This year, the team also located two nests that both contained two chicks. The first nest was in Navoi, located in a river channel, which had two well developed healthy chicks, almost ready to fledge. In contrast, in Bukantau, a nest containing two chicks had one healthy full-grown chick and one underdeveloped chick that weighed only 700g. It is likely that the food availability in that area was not enough to support the growth of both chicks, although there could also be other health issues we are not aware of that might have contributed to this difference.

Over the last three years, the Institute of Zoology (IoZ) in Uzbekistan has been an important in-country partner supporting the CAV field team and the project more widely. During this time, the collaboration has not only helped facilitate fieldwork and outreach in Uzbekistan, but has also provided an opportunity for valuable skill-sharing and capacity building to occur. Through working alongside the CAV team, IoZ colleagues have been able to gain valuable experience and take away key learnings to develop their skills and own project work. The CAV team helped train two more IoZ staff this year in the complete process of fitting tags, including the preparation of the tags and harnesses, programming and testing the transmitters and the safe handling of the birds while fitting the trackers as required.

Developing local expertise is a key part of ensuring ongoing success of conservation efforts. By combining the experience and expertise of teams working across Central Asia, partnerships such as that between IoZ and CAV is helping to build the capacity needed to continue monitoring vultures and other species in Uzbekistan long into the future.

Including tags deployed by the IoZ team, a total of seven Egyptian Vultures were tagged in the 2026 field season. This latest fieldwork brings the project’s total to 29 tagged individuals since the beginning of the project with 21 active individuals still being monitored, with tags from partners in Kazakhstan providing further important data.

Continued tagging and monitoring are essential to conservation planning and have proven to be the most effective way of tracking individual birds across the vast, remote regions of Central Asia. A sufficiently large sample size is critical for drawing robust conclusions about key migration routes and important sites, while maintaining a strong sample across multiple years is equally important for monitoring threats as they shift across space and time. So far, the birds we have tagged appear to follow two broad journey routes. Most migrate to northern India and southern Pakistan, along routes where we have already identified significant bottlenecks and other heavily used areas that may warrant protection. A handful of birds, however, have travelled westwards towards East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. These less frequent movements highlight the need to tag many more birds so that we can determine how representative these routes are. Are these individuals simply getting lost or taking an unusual route or becoming displaced from their typical migration path, or do these movements represent established routes used by a portion of the Central Asian population that we have not yet sampled sufficiently to detect? At present, there are several plausible explanations, but we need more data to distinguish between them.

Building this understanding is a vital first step in assessing threats and developing effective conservation measures. Greater certainty around the routes to South Asia has helped identify key sections of the migration pathway that may require protection and the conservation actions most likely to be effective there. The same applies to wintering grounds: by identifying where birds spend most of the winter and why they favour certain locations, we can ensure these sites are safe and identify other areas with similar characteristics that may also need safeguarding. These are steps we would also want to replicate if birds travelling west to the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa are not simply taking a wrong turn.

In vulture populations elsewhere, satellite tagging has proved invaluable in revealing movements, identifying important sites and migration bottlenecks, and helping to identify threats and causes of mortality. The goal for this project is to use the data generated to provide valuable insights as the work progresses from understanding where these birds move, to identifying the threats they encounter along the way, and ultimately informing measures to help protect them.

Dr Jamie McKaughan, our Conservation and Research Coordinator, cracks open the myth surrounding Kestrels and how they hunt their prey, separating fact from fiction and revealing what the science is really telling us…

When better evidence comes along, it should update our knowledge and our thinking, but sometimes our collective memory does not always keep pace, or perhaps the new evidence does not get the public spotlight it should – another discussion for another time perhaps!

Nonetheless, ideas that have never been properly demonstrated, tested or proven can become so deeply embedded in popular understanding that years of repetition give them an authority they never earned, sometimes even allowing them to survive a robust scientific study that has directly challenged or disproved them. The result is a strange inversion: common belief being more persistent than empirical evidence. Even if you ask an AI system, it is likely these very same inherited assumptions are confidently repeated rather than any reflection or credence given to the robustly tested published research that overturned it…

So, where am I going with all this?! There are many examples of this scenario regarding wildlife, but a prime example comes in the form of Kestrels, and the idea that they use urine trails to help them hunt their prey – 100 percent, right? Wrong! A piece of research by Olle Lind and team set about testing this theory properly, with their comprehensive results published in 2013, coming up on 15 years ago now…

This myth originated from two circumstantial pieces of information being put together with an assumption they were related without ever being tested… Point Number One – birds’ vision is sensitive to UV light and point Number Two – a finding from Finland that urine of Finish voles reflects UV light.

Let’s break those two points down… are they even true and are they actually related?

Let’s start, logically, with point Number One – birds’ vision is sensitive to UV light. We widely accept that many birds are what are called tetrachromats, where they possess a fourth specialised cone type in their eyes that detects ultraviolet or violet wavelengths of light. For comparison, humans are trichromats, possessing only three types of colour-receptive cones in our eyes (blue, green and red). The extra colour-receptive cone that many birds have allows them to experience a world of colour humans cannot perceive. As the feather structures of many bird species also reflect light in the ultraviolet or violet range and because many birds can discriminate this greater variety of colours than humans it is likely that birds will appear quite differently to each other than they do to us. So, part one of our myth, thus far, is giving truth vibes… However, that is just part of the tale…

The 2013 study that disproves this entire myth tested the specific wavelengths of light that actually make it to the retinas of several species of raptor. Before light hits the retina, it is filtered through the cornea, the lens and the fluids in the eye, all of which could impact what amount and/or wavelengths of UV actually reach the retina – something their research showed to be true. They found that a lot of UV light was filtered out, with only much higher wavelengths reaching the retina. As such, in order for Kestrels to be hunting voles by following their urine trails they would need the vole urine to be reflecting the higher wavelengths of UV light…

So, what wavelengths might vole urine be reflecting if any?…

To address point Number Two – that urine of voles reflects UV light – the same 2013 study tested the amount of UV light that vole urine reflected. In a contrast to the idea from many years before that Finish vole urine reflects UV light, their findings showed there was very little if any UV light reflected, with many other studies also studying mammalian urine and finding no UV is reflected, with it effectively appearing the same as water would – pretty robust and conclusive! If there is no UV being reflected by vole urine (which there isn’t!), Kestrels cannot be using it as a means to hunt said voles!

So, despite the long-standing claim that Kestrels use vole urine trails to locate their prey being a compelling ecological story that has persisted in popular and even scientific discourse for decades, and a narrative that still seems to remain, it is not true! Now we just need to dispel this commonplace myth more widely… If you hear someone saying that the Kestrel’s superpower is hunting voles by following their UV-reflecting urine trails, be sure to let them know this is not true… science says so!

My final reflection is about how we perceive species and their ‘value’… I often hear Kestrels being hailed as awesome because of this mythical hunting superpower, and it strikes me as curious that we would think their achievements are more awesome because of this supposed ability than without it. If anything, I think they become even more wondrous by being able to hunt successfully in the way they do in the absence of this ‘special ability’ in their arsenal… They are super enough as they are and that is just one reason we are working so hard to conserve them!

If you’ve ever spent time watching owls, be that in the wild or in human care, in the UK or overseas, one of the things you’ll no doubt notice is just how different their eyes can be. At the Hawk Conservancy Trust, we have some wonderful examples. Sweeney Todd, our Snowy Owl, has striking bright yellow eyes that seem to glow against her white feathers. Molly, our Eurasian Eagle-Owl, stares out with vivid orange eyes, while Troy, our Tawny Owl, has deep, dark brown eyes.

So why are they so different?

For years, one of the most common explanations has been that an owl’s eye colour reflects when it is most active. The theory suggests that owls with yellow eyes are adapted for brighter conditions and tend to hunt during the day, orange-eyed species are most active at dawn and dusk (crepuscular), and dark brown or black-eyed owls are specialised for hunting at night because their eyes absorb more light.

It sounds neat and tidy, but nature rarely is.

The truth is that we don’t actually know for certain why different owl species have different eye colours. While the popular theory has some appeal, there are simply too many exceptions for it to be considered a definitive explanation.

For example, one study found that almost 60% of owl species considered strictly nocturnal have dark irises. That might seem to support the theory, but it also means that more than 40% of nocturnal owls don’t fit the pattern. Likewise, nearly 30% of owl species that are active during the day or at dawn and dusk also have dark eyes.

It’s a bit like the old spelling rule many of us learnt at primary school: “I before E except after C.” It’s a useful guideline until you discover there are so many exceptions that it quickly falls apart. Owl eye colour appears to be much the same – perhaps an interesting trend, but far from a universal rule.

That said, there may be some evolutionary clues.

Researchers have suggested that changes in an owl’s activity pattern over evolutionary time may have influenced changes in iris colour. This idea appears to hold up a little better when looking at the two main owl families.

Willow the Barn Owl

The Tytonidae family, which includes Barn Owls and Bay Owls, consists almost entirely of nocturnal species, and they all have dark eyes. In contrast, the much larger Strigidae family, which includes almost every other owl species, displays a remarkable variety of eye colours alongside a wide range of activity patterns.

Even within the UK’s owl species, however, there are exceptions. Tawny Owls and Long-eared Owls are both predominantly nocturnal, yet Tawny Owls have dark eyes while Long-eared Owls have bright orange eyes. Then there’s the Little Owl, with its pale yellow eyes, which seems to fit the traditional theory by being partly active during the day, but it is also perfectly capable of hunting at night.

Mozzarella the Little Owl

So, if activity patterns don’t tell the whole story, what else might explain these colourful eyes?

Across birds in general, eye colour is often thought to have evolved for one of two main reasons: to improve survival or to communicate information to other birds.

The activity-pattern theory falls into the first category, suggesting eye colour provides an advantage in different lighting conditions. Another possibility belongs in the second category.

Walter the Great Grey Owl

In some owl species, scientists have suggested the pigments responsible for yellow and orange eye colours are influenced by compounds obtained through their diet. If that’s the case, the richness of an owl’s eye colour could potentially reflect its health or, in breeding birds, a parent’s ability to find enough food to raise its young successfully.

However, once again, this is unlikely to be a universal explanation. It may apply to some species, but certainly not to all.

In the end, owl eye colour remains something of a mystery. While researchers continue to investigate the role of evolution, behaviour and diet, there is still no single explanation that works for every species.

So next time you meet Sweeney Todd, Molly or Troy, take a moment to appreciate their remarkable eyes. They may be different shades, but each one is a reminder that nature often refuses to fit into the neat little boxes we’d like to create.

If you want to hear more then check out this episode of the Trust’s Nature’s a Hoot podcast, hosted by Tom Morath, investigating more about owls, their head turning and their eyes!

As ever, July brought with it Global BirdFair, and we went along, joining thousands of fellow bird enthusiasts to celebrate and discuss all things birds!

As an international bird of prey conservation charity, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to share the work we’re doing around the world. Our Conservation and Research Coordinator, Dr Jamie McKaughan, gave two talks over the weekend. The first highlighted the status of vultures in Pakistan and the conservation challenges they face, reflecting on nearly 30 years of our work in the country. The second explored the challenges falcon conservation faces from the illegal wildlife trade, drawing on our recent publication on digital trade (watch this space for more on that!).

We caught up with Jamie when he was back…

“It was great being back at Global BirdFair this year. One of the best things about BirdFair is catching up with friends from around the country, and sometimes the world, and often making new friends there too – the joy of being surrounded by so many like-minded individuals with similar passions can be infectious. It was also great to catch some members of the Trust there again, whose support of the Trust generally, but also attendance at my talks and the live podcast episode we recorded was greatly appreciated as always!

Jamie talking at Global BirdFair 2026

Catching up with others is not just good for the soul in a conservation world that can be disheartening if you think about it too long, but it also gives an opportunity to check in with the bigger picture. Last year for example, everyone I spoke to in the proverbial raptor nest box game(!) was experiencing terrible nesting numbers and success rates countrywide. While that was not a positive for the species we are striving to conserve – it is valuable information and context when it comes to these types of occasions and trends, and allows us to broaden our questions or considerations to reasons beyond the borders of our own study areas. Thankfully this year, that scenario has been turned on its head and cavity nesting birds of prey appear to be doing extremely well in many parts of the country, so long may that continue!

This year we were lucky to have colleagues from SAVE (Saving Asian Vultures from Extinction) at the event, some of which had travelled from India to be there, so it was really great to see them and catch up with them in person. Having long been part of the SAVE consortium to help conserve and recover vultures across South Asia, it is great to have such opportunities to touch base in person with some fellow vulture lovers! It was especially well-timed too, given my talk on day one was on the progress and challenges of vulture conservation in Pakistan!

On that topic, BirdFair also provides a great opportunity to talk about the conservation work we are doing to an audience that we may not always reach. We do a good job of communicating our work to our members and visitors, but it can be more difficult to share those stories more widely with people who may be less familiar with who we are and the impact of our work. We often let the work speak for itself, but events like BirdFair give us the chance to showcase the longevity of our commitment to what we do and the difference our conservation efforts are making.  It also helps to raise awareness of the challenges and successes across the countries and species we work with, and engage with people who could become future supporters, partners or advocates for birds of prey and our conservation work. Ultimately, broadening that awareness helps strengthen support for our conservation ambitions and enables us to achieve even more for birds of prey in the years ahead.”

Jamie also joined Tom Morath, host of the Hawk Conservancy Trust’s Nature’s a Hoot podcast, for a live episode in front of an audience of fellow bird lovers drawing in the audience with some myth-busting fun and games!

Nature’s a Hoot live from Global BirdFair 2026

“As part of the myth busting, we talked about owl eye colour, bird of prey vision and the nuances of some long-spoken myths! For example, it is likely that many hawks have similar vision to ours, but also some are very different to us and to each other, like Harris’ Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks and Cooper’s Hawks, that vary in their visual acuity despite all being hawks – being hawk-eyed means different things depending on the hawk! Meanwhile, a similarly nuanced topic is owl eye colour, myths of which we also busted… to a degree anyway! For more on that, check out our recent blog too. We at least had one thing that was more categorical – Kestrels hunting voles using the UV light reflected from their urine… debunked pretty robustly by a study in 2013, and supported by several other studies since – but I will let you catch the full explanation of that, along with all the other podcast fun I had with Tom, in the Live at Global BirdFair podcast episode coming soon!”

Some readers might be aware that 2025 was a very poor year for cavity-nesting birds of prey such as Barn Owl, Tawny Owl, and Kestrels. Only 132 young birds were ringed from project boxes in 2025, which is considerably lower than in previous years. 2013 was the last time we recorded as few in the nest boxes. A lack of small mammal prey is one of the likely reasons for the poor season, along with unfavourable weather conditions. The Small Mammal Project, a project within the British Raptor Programme, focuses on monitoring abundance and diversity of small mammal species in the local area to the Trust that overlap with locations of our nest boxes. In 2025, only after six weeks of surveying did we find the first Field Vole of the year! Field Voles, also known as Short-tailed voles are one of the primary prey species for Kestrels. The low capture rate across the Small Mammal Project combined with poor reports from the nest boxes raised alarm bells. This year, however, things have bounced back and the nest box monitoring has felt busier than ever.

General observations from the wider Raptor Nest Box Project in 2026 include birds nesting earlier in the season and larger clutch sizes; a record of 9 eggs were found in a Barn Owl box this Spring! It has been a welcome change to the previous year when we had just over 10 confirmed Barn Owl fledglings in total. As of the end of June, we have already ringed more than 250 Kestrels, 200 Barn Owls and 100 Tawny Owls across our project area. This surpasses the 2025 total of 132 quite considerably and given the early nesting of Barn Owls this year, there is even a possibility of second nesting attempts later in the year. The Small Mammal Project has also been reflecting the success from the boxes, with 37 field voles being caught in six weeks of surveying and 150 captures of a variety of small mammal species to date.

Other positive news includes achieving our target fundraiser back in 2025; ‘£60k for Kestrels’. Thank you! As a result of the many generous donations, the Conservation and Research Department bought several GPS tags for Kestrels. These solar-powered GPS tags can record fine-scale movements of these birds over the course of the breeding season. This is key for understanding what habitats they use, how far they travel from the nest box and how frequently they provision to their chicks. This year, we have successfully fitted four Kestrels with these tags in the Hampshire area; two females and two males. This project is ‘growing wings’, and we hope to deploy a few more of these tags in 2027 and see what data we can retrieve from the birds tagged this year.

With the increased productivity of the nest boxes, 2026 has been a ‘record year’ for the Kestrel Colour Ring Project. Under a BTO licence, Dr Matt Stevens has been fitting these rings as part of the British Raptor Programme since 2015. With a previous record of 140 kestrel colour rings in a season, over 200 colour rings have been used in 2026 already, with more expected. Quite the year for Kestrels! These rings are bright blue and marked with a white unique code variation; i.e. “A H 7”. The codes can be read at distance with binoculars or telescopes and reported back to us

If you notice a colour ring on a Kestrel, please let us know by emailing Matt@hawkconservancy.org with the location, date and time you spotted the bird. If you can take a photo of the Kestrel with the tag, that would be ideal, but we know this is easier said than done! This information is incredibly valuable and helps us to understand more about the movements and dispersal of Kestrel fledglings from our boxes.

Finally, we couldn’t do all the in-depth monitoring work for Kestrels without the nest boxes. An expansion to our group of dedicated and hardworking nest box Volunteers in late 2025 has meant that over 130 new boxes have been built for the British Raptor Programme. This new nest box building team has been a fantastic addition to the Conservation and Research Department; their time and skills have helped us to build up a good stock of boxes in preparation for replacing damaged or worn nest boxes, installing new boxes in the Autumn of 2026 and will set us up to provide even more for Kestrels in 2027!