UK Bird club proudly donates 590 UK pounds to RFCG

Peter McGough who is an avid finch enthusiast.

Peter McGough, who is a member of the Solaway Parrot and FBC club in the UK, recently visited South Africa on the Glen Holland seedeaters birding safari. During his visit he and the rest of the group met members of the Rare Finch Conservation Group ( RFCG ) at the home of Prof. Ernst Kruger in Pretoria. Prof. Ernst Kruger is widely regarded in South Africa as the leading expert on African finches .

Peter, and the rest of his tour group, were appraised of the difficult logistics and challenges involved in managing the conservation work on one of Africa’s rarest finches, namely the Shelley’s crimsonwing finch which is porportedly found in Uganda , Rwanda and the DRC in central Africa .

Peter, equipped with a copy of the RFCG fund raising DVD titled : Searching for Shelley’s  finches amongst Africa’s Mountain Gorillas, went back to his club in the UK and shared the information about the world’s most exciting finch conservation project with his fellow club members.

The great news is that he and his club were able to raise and donate 590 UK pounds for the RFCG . The RFCG is registered as a non profit organisation and is focused on doing conservation work on threatened finches in the wild .

The Soloway Parrot and FBC club is based in Cumbria close to the Scottish border, on the edge of the Lake District and has a membership of 80+. Meetings are held monthly at Waverton on Sunday mornings and usually between 30 and 60 people attend. At the start of each year the club draws up a meetings calendar for the year. During a Typical calendar year specialist speakers are invited to give talks including one by an Avian Vet at the meetings.

For more information about the club please contact the club chairman  David Carruthers, e mail p-roper1@sky.com or its vice chairman Robbie Young, e mail cooleye1977@hotmail.com

The RFCG would hereby publicly like to thank Peter and his club for their fantastic donation and we appeal to all other bird clubs in the world, that have an interest in finch conservation work in the wild, to pick up the challenge to try and support this very worthy and pioneering cause.

Unless other wise requested all donations will be publicly acknowledged on the RFCG website  www.rarefinch.co.za