This year Lyndon continued a long standing collaboration with Chinese partners in Beijing, teaching a workshop at the Belgian embassy on how to fit loggers. This was a project by the Belgium-China cooperation with support from long-term swift enthousiast and current Belgian ambassador to China, Bruno Angelet. Thanks go out to Terry Townshend providing critical local knowledge and Martine Wauters, founder of Swifts Without Frontiers and creator of World Swift Day, for putting swift conservation on the map.
During this workshop some 41 swifts were fitted with (GPS) loggers. The data retrieved (next year) will continue a line of research of Lyndon and others on the conservation of swifts, and the detailed description of their behaviour during their long journey from Beijing to South-East Africa and back. For a long-form description of the project we refer to the excellent blog post by Terry. In addition, the local Beijing TV station made a short documentary on the work at the Summer Palace and the impact and importance of swifts to Beijing culture in general (check out the channel for more videos).
