News

On 15th December, LIFE FALKON ‘flew’ to Reggio Emilia, to the headquarters of the worldwide known Consortium of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. The Consortium unites over 2,000 farmers in the Po Valley and ...

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And what happens afterwards?  This is the question that is intended to be answered by the ambitious document called After LIFE Plan, an action plan to support the objectives of the LIFE FALKON project in the five years following the formal closure of the ...

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In recent months, the LIFE FALKON team has been busy drafting the “Handbook for transferability and replicability”.   This is a very important document, which contains valuable information for the ...

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On 14 and 15 November 2023, Sara Luchetti from the European Commission monitoring team, met with the LIFE FALKON team for the last assessment of the project progresses, before its closure at the end of the year. The theatre of the visit was the ISPRA ...

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Sorry, this entry is only available in Italiano. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language. Tra agricoltura e ...

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From the 12th to the 14th October, the final conference of the LIFE FALKON project took place on the island of Lemnos, Greece! These have been exciting days, which saw more than 30 presentations by experts from all over Europe, moments of conviviality, and, ...

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At the end of the 2023 season we can announce it: lesser kestrels like the LIFE FALKON nest boxes more and more every year! We are now in the third year from the installation of the nest boxes in northern Italy and ...

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As every year, in 2023 the LIFE FALKON team downloaded new migration tracks of adult Lesser Kestrels from different study areas of the project. Here is a glimpse of them in this beautiful map: the different individuals are indicated with a different colour ...

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From 5 to 9 September 2023, the 21st Italian Ornithology Conference was held at the University of Insubria in Varese. The LIFE FALKON project was among the protagonists of the event, with eight oral contributions and ...

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On the 21st of August the LIFE FALKON team headed to Sweden for the 14th European Ornithologists Union – EOU Conference.  The venue of the conference was the prestigious Biology Department of Lund University, ...

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In July 2023, eight young lesser kestrels were equipped with new-generation GPS/GSM and released at the LIFE FALKON tower of Minerbio/Baricella (BO). A similar research had already been carried out in 2021, but the ...

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As every year, the LIFE FALKON team was busy monitoring the population of Lesser Kestrels nesting in the Po Plain during the spring and summer months. The cold and rainy weather in May caused a delay of about three weeks in egg laying, moreover, the ...

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LIFE FALKON CLOSING CONFERENCE – THE AGENDA International Meeting on the research lines and conservation efforts on Lesser Kestrel in the Mediterranean Lemnos Island. Greece 12-14 October 2023     DAY 0 ...

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And finally… here they are! A pair of wild lesser kestrels choose the ‘Matteo’ tower (Baricella – Bolonia) for nesting! We now have hundreds of videos of ...

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During these months, the LIFE FALKON team is continuing to build the Community of Interest. The aim is to establish a permanent network of stakeholders who care about the conservation of the Lesser Kestrel. The Community of Interest involves scientists and ...

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On the 10th of March 2023, at the Centro Congressi CNR, via Alfonso Corti 12, Città Studi/Lambrate (MI), our documentary “LIFE ON THE MOVE” hit the big screen for the first time. Premiered on social media on 6 February, “LIFE ON THE ...

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Two workshops were held on 22 and 24 February 2023, promoted by the LIFE FALKON project, at the ISPRA headquarters in Ozzano ...

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Finally out the wonderful doc of the LIFE FALKON project! Enjoy it HERE    

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Michelangelo Morganti, the coordinator of the LIFE FALKON project for the National Research Council, CNR-IRSA, undertook a very special trip to Senegal. What has gotten him this far is that there are 650 bird species in Senegal, including the world’s ...

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From the 18th to the 21th September, LIKE FALKON participated in the Lesser Kestrel Balkan Expert Workshop in Bulgaria, organized by the Green Balkans in the framework of the project  LIFE for Lesser Kestrel – LIFE19 ...

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Sorry, this entry is only available in Italiano. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language. Siamo lieti di ...

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A new start for the hacking activities of #LIFEFALKON. The 28th of June, the LIFE FALKON team composed by ISPRA, UMIL and CNR has translocated 33 lesser kestrels chicks from the colony of Matera (Southern Italy) to the ...

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A renewed TV program, named ‘Dalla parte degli animali’ (On the animals side), presented to the Italian public the LIFE FALKON project and activities. The TV team followed us on the field, so we could show to the public our research activities, such as ...

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A beautiful day of information, birdwatching and exchange of ideas among people who share the same passion for our lesser kestrels! On the 21st May, ornithologists and birdwatchers from the Scanagatta Ornithological ...

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In the previous months, LIFE FALKON team met with about 700 students from primary and secondary schools in the province of Modena, with the aim of introducing the protagonist of our project: the lesser kestrel! But not only theory: following the classroom ...

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The future of the lesser kestrel stems also from the involvement of expert landowners, knowing the importance of protecting the species and the delicate equilibria between agricultural environment and bird ...

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From 10th to 13rd May 2022, Mrs. Simona Bacchereti (LIFE Project Adviser, European Commission – CINEA), Mrs. Chiara SPOTORNO (representative of the LIFE Programme Monitoring Team NEEMO – TIMESIS) and the LIFE FALKON team met in Ioannina (Greece), to ...

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One of the main objectives of any LIFE FALKON project is to increase the nature conservation awareness of the people living in the project areas. Between April and May 2022, the project partner Consiglio Nazionale delle ...

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During the 3rd week of March, the HOS/BirdLife Greece visited the Komotini region, the exact same period that the winged immigrants arrive in the villages of the Greek countryside from Africa. During the visits, the ...

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The LIFE FALKON is pleased to announce the participation at the The Nature Of Cities Festival, an international virtual festival that spans 3 days with programming gathering a huge variety of high level stakeholders ...

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Sorry, this entry is only available in Italiano. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the ...

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How is climate change affecting the lesser kestrel breeding range? What can we do to counteract these negative effects? The conservation of the Lesser Kestrel is a matter of great ...

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We are pleased to announce to you the Lesser Kestrel Beer born from the cooperation between the LIFE FALKON project and the Milvus Brewery. The Lesser Kestrel is a straw-yellow coloured beer, highly-fermented, fruity ...

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The 22 and 23 October have been important dates for the LIFE FALKON project, which officially opened three out of the five nesting towers of the Po Valley project areas. The buildings were completed the past spring but ...

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On the evening of October 22 in Poggio Rusco was held the conference “Nature Conservation and Climate Change: The case of the lesser ...

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According to several climate scenarios, the average temperature in the Mediterranean will irreversibly increase by at least 1.5°C in the coming years. Furthermore, the frequency and intensity of summer heat waves will ...

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On October 1st, the results dissemination event entitled “The research on the lesser kestrel in the Po Valley: the results of the campaigns LIFE FALKON 2018-2021” was ...

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On September 21, as part of the Science Together initiative, a guided tour was held at the lesser kestrel nesting tower located in the Area di Riequilibrio Ambientale of Baricella. The visit was organized in the form of ...

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On September 11, AsOER, one of the major Italian ornithological associations, held its first assembly in presence after the pandemic period at Barchessone Vecchio in Mirandola ...

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On September 1st, the park rangers of the Protected Areas of the Piedmont Apennines were contacted by the CNR to recover a lesser kestrel ...

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At the beginning of spring 2021, upon their return from Africa, the lesser kestrels of the Po Valley found at their disposal 310 new safe nesting sites: nest boxes and nesting ...

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During the month of July, the project LIFE FALKON has transferred 30 lesser kestrel chicks from Matera to the nesting tower “Matteo Griggio” in Baricella, in the province of Bologna. This transfer, foreseen by the conservation action plan of the ...

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Between the 29 June and the 2 July  the VIII INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON THE CONSERVATION OF THE LESSER KESTREL took place online, hosted by the General Directorate for ...

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LIFE FALKON brochure and postcards are now available in English for download and consultation! In the brochure you will find general information regarding project objectives and activities, as well as scientific ...

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Among the main objective of any LIFE project there is to increase the awareness about nature conservation of people living in the project areas. Educational activities of LIFE FALKON began in 2019 in both Greece and Italy and were partially suspended due to ...

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Between the 4th and 7th May the 3rd Seminar of Natura 2000  for the Mediterranean Region took place online, hosted by the Italian Regione Calabria and the Sila National Park. The Seminar is part of the Natura 2000 Biogeographic Process, launched in 2011 by ...

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On 5th May, LIFE FALKON hosted an online networking event, with the participation of Spanish non-profit organization DEMA PRIMILLA. DEMA is an NGO that has been working over the last 30 years on studying and protecting the Lesser Kestrel.  Indeed, DEMA ...

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On the 23rd of April a field monitoring visit took place in the Italian project areas located in the Emilia Romagna region. Michelangelo Morganti from CNR-IRSA, lead partner of LIFE Falkon, welcomed the project ...

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Since 2017, the Ministry of Ecological Transition has dedicated a column to all Italian LIFE projects of the 2014-2020 period, called the “Project of the Month“, which can be consulted on the Ministry’s website. The column aims to ...

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HOS installs nest-boxes to welcome back home the endangered falcons! Spring marks the return of the Lesser Kestrels in the plain of Komotini, northeastern Greece. The Hellenic Ornithological Society / BirdLife Greece ...

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The LIFE FALKON staff, guided by the project partner ISPRA, has concluded a three-days rush of works to set up the nesting towers in the Po Plain. Built during the winter, the three towers (two more are still in ...

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Educational activities for the Lesser Kestrel in Lemnos, Ioannina and Komotini While Lesser Kestrels are preparing for their return to the Mediterranean, educators from all levels of education are working to make sure ...

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The LIFE FALKON staff has concluded the installation of 200 nestboxes for Lesser Kestrel in the project area located in the Po Plain, between Mantova and Comacchio. A hundred nestboxes were installed on 18 buildings for which formal agreements with landowners ...

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Life Falkon has conducted a winter field survey to assess the distribution of potential safe sites on where to install nest-boxes for the lesser kestrel. We will install 100 boxes on recently restored buildings and ...

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As every year, SOM/Cisniar is celebrating the winter with a party and a scientific conference about conservation of local birdlife and biodiversity. As in 2018, LIFE FALKON is again among the invited speakers, this time ...

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    Not only nest boxes: LIFE FALKON is fostering the recovery and the expansion of the northern population of lesser kestrel with the construction of small buildings entirely dedicated to the species! Tens of ...

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HOS has finalised the surveys in all project areas! 2 new breeding areas were discovered in Project area 4 (Lemnos), one breeding site at project area 2 (Ioannina) has undergone a ...

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During the initial step of the wide survey in the Po-Plain, the LIFE FALKON team – supported by enthusiastic volunteer – checked over 250 rural buildings scattered in the area and found at least 6 new colonies ...

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The first nest boxes of those installed by LIFE FALKON is occupied by a pair of adult lesser kestrel! Their 5 eggs are there and we are looking forward for the chicks.

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Poggio Rusco (Province of Mantua), 28th Avril 2019 NHK (National Japanese Television) shooted the installation of nestboxes for the lesser kestrel within the framework of LIFE FALKON project activities and interviewed ...

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Very positive evaluation by EASME on the 1st Monitoring Visit held in Rome on the 12th of February 2019! The first surveys and GIS analyses carried out on the project areas which already evidenced potential suitable ...

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LIFE FALKON staff realized a first rush of filed survey in the Po Plain project area (Project area 1) in the last days of March. Surprisingly, we found that some of the Lesser Kestrel (estimated in ~30% of the total population) were already back to their ...

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The spring appointment of the bi-annual scientific conference of the SOM (Stazione Ornitologica Modenese) was dedicated to the LIFE FALKON project. We extensively presented the lesser kestrel biology, population status ...

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LIFE FALKON has provided safe nesting sites for 15 pairs of Lesser Kestrel in Baricella (BO), where one of the most important colonies of the entire Po-Plain was threatened by the restoration of the building in which ...

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The 14th of February, ISPRA and UMIL meet up with the technical offices of the municipalities of Mirandola in Emilia-Romagna and Poggio Rusco in Lombardia (both located within the ...

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On 12th February 2019, Mrs. Chiara SPOTORNO, representative of the LIFE Programme Monitoring Team NEEMO – TIMESIS, met in Rome #LIFEFALKON to assess the project progress. The technical and administrative ...

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On 14 October 2018, UMIL (LIFE FALKON partner) visited the study areas located in the municipalities of Poggio Rusco (Mantova) and Mirandola (Modena) and surprisingly discovered that some of the buildings which hosted ...

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The lesser kestrel colony sited in the municipality of Baricella (Bologna) is one of the largest of the entire Po Plain, hosting up to 8-12 pairs in 2018. The most of these pairs breed in the roof of a small abandoned ...

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The LIFE FALKON Project has attended the Kick-Off Meeting for NAT and GIE LIFE17 projects on 8 and 9 November 2018 in Brussels. The aim of the meeting, organized by the European Commission, Executive Agency for Small ...

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On 26-28 October the 2nd European Meeting of Young Ornithologists was held in Turin (Italy) thanks to the collaboration of the Centro Italiano Studi Ornitologi (CISO), the Hessische Gesellschaft für Ornithologie und ...

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On 14 October 2018 in Mirandola (Modena), some representatives from UMIL and ISPRA (LIFE FALKON partners) attended the annual meeting of the SOM (Stazione Ornitologica Modenese). The SOM is a local association working ...

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Friday 12th October 2018 the Association TECLA, as Coordinating Beneficiary, led the kick off meeting of the LIFE FALKON  Project, held in Ozzano dell’Emilia (Bologna) at the premises of ISPRA. The event was the ...

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LIFE FALKON – Fostering the breeding rAnge expansion of central-eastern Mediterranean Lesser Kestrel pOpulatioNs has been co financed by the LIFE PROGRAMME! LIFE FALKON is an almost 5-year LIFE Project which aims at fostering the resilience of the ...

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