For more than 25 years, the team of Green Balkans has been working to preserve Bulgaria’s biodiversity. One of the main goals of the Organization is to restore species that have gone extinct in our country, such as Lesser Kestrel, Saker Falcon, Bearded Vulture ... This is done through translocation of birds from places where they are still found, followed by their subsequent adaptation to our environment and the provision of conditions suitable for their long-term survival in the wild.

The work done for each of these species is a long-term conservation program that includes various activities - educational initiatives with local communities, cooperation with foreign partners, translocation of birds from other places, release into the wild, including all efforts for their feeding and protection ...

All this requires huge efforts by many people and a lot of money ... Unfortunately, it is far easier to annihilate a species than to restore it back to nature ... And the programs for the restoration of extinct species prove this ...

In 2008, we launched a program for the recovery of the Lesser Kestrel. Being a common species in the past, it went extinct in the late 1980s. This required the initiation of a long-term program for the restoration of the species.

Within “Lesser Kestrel Recovery” LIFE11 NAT/BG/360 project funded by the LIFE+ program, as well as with the support of our partners from DEMA and EuroNatur, 75% of the funding needed for this conservation program has been secured. These funds are used to maintain an adaptation and release module for Lesser Kestrels in the village of Levka; breed birds in Spain and translocate them to Bulgaria; release the birds into the wild; secure necessary aftercare, monitoring and conservation.

All these efforts were rewarded in the very first year following the release of Lesser Kestrels. In the spring of 2014, having overwintered to the south, about 30% of the released birds returned to the area of the release and adaptation module! According to various experts, this is a very good return rate for the first year after the release of the chicks. What is even more exciting is that the returnees established several pairs and started incubating in the artificial nest boxes installed by Green Balkans.

In order to continue and complete our campaign successfully we need a lot more money ... More than BGN 500 are needed for a bird per year. We need to find these funds with the support of people who care about the preservation of Bulgaria’s nature. Thus, if our projects do not receive funding, we will not be forced to stop this successful program, in which we have already invested so much money and efforts ...

You can help us complete this conservation program successfully and restore this species as part of the breeding fauna of our country if you:

· Become an adoptive parent
· Become a godparent
· Become a donor
· Donate materials, supplies, food
· Promote!