“The recognition is wonderful and the group is very grateful to be recognised for our efforts. This is an entirely voluntary group which has been going for 40 years. We do an enormous amount of work to correlate numbers and information on these migratory species and that takes long haul dedication and serious commitment and it’s fantastic to celebrate everyone’s passionate efforts.” – Roger Standen, chair of the Victorian Wader Study Group.

For decades, the Victorian Wader Study Group’s volunteers have collected vital data that contributes to conserving migratory waders internationally. They’ve used the very demanding cannon-netting technique to capture the migrant and resident waders for more than 20 years, consistently meeting their annual field work targets. The group’s research has revealed a severe decline in migratory bird populations travelling to South Korea due to habitat loss. This information helps to build a case for protecting wader habitat here and internationally.