Yonok Wetlands, Bird watching and Conservation in Northern Thailand.

Join with us in becoming a Friend of Yonok Wetlands; you be making a genuine contribution to conservation in Thailand.

We have highlighted the urgent need for conservation of the Chiang Sean areas through the Yonok Wetlands Project “Website”.

The Prime objective here is to conserve the three major wetland roosting sites for; Pied Harrier and Eastern Marsh Harrier, these are the largest known roosts in the world for those species. Located at Wat Bamak No, Nong Lom and Little England.

All of these sites are under threat and have been so far protected through the effort of Yonok Wetlands Project.

Also of prime conservation need and within the Chiang Saen basin are the following sites of International importance to Thailand and World Conservation:

The mapping was undertaken by Mick Davies at the request of: Dr Philip Round; Author of: The Birds of Thailand 1991.
Phil is a founder member of the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand and a senior lecturer at Mahidol University Bangkok. Phil and Mick drew up the boundary at a conservation meeting in Chiang Saen April 2008.

Birds List: A list of some of the more interesting species that frequent Yonok and Chiang Saen Lake.
Cormorant, Grey Heron, Purple Heron, Chinese Pond Heron, Cattle Egret, Great White Egret, Yellow-billed Egret, Little Egret, Night Heron, Yellow Bittern, Great Bittern, Black Bittern, Spot-billed Duck, Ferruginous Duck, Baers Pochard, lesser Whistling Duck, Chinese Francolin, Ruddy-breasted Crake, White-browed Crake , White-breasted Waterhen, Moorhen, Purple Galllinule, Coot, Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Bronze wing Jacana, Grey-headed Lapwing, River Lapwing, Long-billed Plover, Little-ringed Plover, Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Painted snipe, Pin-tailed Snipe, common Snipe, Oriental Pratincole, Small Indian Pratincole, Black-winged Stilt, River Tern. Grass Owl, Barn owl, Plain martin, Striated Marsh Warbler, Jordon’s Bushchat. Buntings (all species).

Brief His5tory: We started the project in April 2007; following the discovery of the Harriers Roosts and Grass owls breeding sites, a new breeding species for Thailand.
The River Tern was rediscovered; following an absence of many years in Thailand. Just one bird that has tried to attract a mate for 3 breeding seasons “his nick name is “Lonely”
Following all of these discoveries it was apparent to us that there was an urgent need for conservation action and we were the only two people who might be able to effect a change in public attitudes.

Our project was created; by a need and not by design. With a love of birds and wild places we could not turn our back and walk away. It has been a hard road. In an odd way it has been the local people, hunters and local fisherman; who have responded in a positive way to our efforts with our project. We have taught more than 500 people; mostly children. We actually took fifty monks on a bird watching walk in the wetlands. We always respond to local needs and give our time freely.

Following the discovery of a family of Grass Owl (first breeding record for Thailand), I found two of the young shot dead...A few days later I had to shout at a ‘hunter with a shotgun” as the newly found River Tern flew by him. The River Tern has been extinct in Thailand for decades and this was a very important find.

The River Tern, Grass Owls and most important the Pied harrier roost has attracted hundreds of visitors. Many other species are in a fragile state; due to environmental pressures and hunting.

We have a real chance here to make Yonok and Chiang Saen Basin a conservation success story, with the help of Friends
Yonok remains a wilderness with some stunning birds; however numbers are low and through our success we have increased the numbers of water birds with our voluntary ban on hunting achieved through understanding.

Extract from: http://yonokwetlands.awardspace.com/records_2009.html
Bird protection at Wat Ba Makno (Yonok Wetlands North) is the prime example of "Friends of Yonok Wetlands" The people who dwell in the area have stopped hunting; and although they are poor they have embraced our ideas on wetland conservation and as a result the Whistling Duck have increased to 8000 feeding in the wetlands just off the Buffalo Camp.
Dowroong spoke to some of the "Buffalo herders" (some formally active hunters and trappers of duck) Mrs. Dui said: In the eight years I have lived here I have never seen this number of Duck and swamp hens in the Wetland" It is wonderful to see so many birds have returned to Yonok.

If we can achieve this our wetland will attain international status. In away it has that now; through the publicity of the Yonok Wetlands website. However; Yonok needs a permanent status.

What have we done so far?
It quickly dawned on me the need for publicity and to change public attitudes: however the need was urgent and so it was left to Dowroong and myself to “get on with it”.
First of all we enlisted the support of the two Buddhist Temples; located within Yonok. The villages of Tong Far Ham and Hua Nam Rak are the major users of Yonok (north) and through Dowroong we enlisted the support of local villagers explaining the importance of the birds using their wetland for Thailand and the need to protect them all.

This worked very well for a time; and we taught the village children, monks and some adults “a mixture of English and conservation in the Temples.

Serious Issues; we have had to evolve and adapt! and quickly; as it soon became apparent that “teaching” alone was not enough.
The discovery of many hunters and trappers using mist nest to trap birds, baited spring traps and shotguns, day and night roost shooting and gangs of trappers armed with battery packs and electric probes destroying all water life in their path.
It has been a hard slog; we now we advise and work in association with the following authorities and conservation groups. It has taken a considerable amount of time and effort to gain support and trust and we are succeeding.

List of public authorities and conservation groups in support of Yonok Wetlands Project.

These groups have come together with Yonok Wetlands Project to for the Chiang Saen Basin Conservation Initiative.

Photo 1: Mick Davies:explains to the BCST Dr Mong & Lanna Bird group the roosting habitat of Pied and Marsh Harriers and the need to conserve.

Photo 2: Dowroong takes charge of the microphone i a hope to steer the "so called stakeholder meeting firmly on the course of conservation.

All of this has been achieved through the hard endeavor of Dowroong Danlammajak and Mick Davies “Yonok Wetlands Project”

We now have some friends; and I hope with their committed support we will succeed, however we are in need funds. It is impossible to do this alone and without funds.

The newly formed: Yonok Wetlands Project – Committee members: Dowroong Danlammajak, Mick Davies, William Van B, Ian Smith, George Daher,(Cast in order of appearance). is most welcome and we are working on a number of ideas to secure a bright future for Yonok and Yonok Wetlands Project.

Dowroong has worked tirelessly for two years now without pay to set up the future of conservation in Yonok and Chiang Saen.

Tourism and Conservation. Benefits from rare birds have been instrumental in attracting interest from hundreds of foreign tourist, bird watchers, birding groups and naturalist from within Thailand. This has been the result of publicity through the Yonok wetlands website; making people aware of the unique aspects of Yonok Wetlands.

News Letter Link: A direct link to latest information: Bird news, conservation, activities.

Your own personal in put: Your ideas are welcome. We are just a small group. If you would like to take an active part. Yonok Wetlands Project is an evolutionary project. To stay alive we all need to be active and try new adventures.

T-Shirt and Logo; All designs are original and we hope to make a small cottage industry whereby local villagers can make a living through conservation of "Their Wetland".

By supporting Yonok: You will be supporting a group of people who will change the face of conservation in Thailand.

I an odd way the hunters are the least problem. Changing attitudes of officials is where the hard work starts.

Dowroong is a gifted woman who has a rare ability to change and influence attitudes. Sometimes I feel I have put he life on the line by working on our project. To take risk and not get paid is a tragedy. We feel that some have used our project to benefit themselves, either financially or with false credibility. It’s time to redress the balance.

I have to say its been great fun and I am proud of our achievements. My daughter Andrea and her husband Mark and my Grandson Oliver have help with the teaching and fun and games for the kids.

Volunteers - please follow link.

Anyone wishing to help financially will be much appreciated. There is much to do;

We need to search out and speak with like minded people, who dwell in or use Yonok for various reason and see how we can archive a coming together for the savior of this wetland for all in the future, the Key to this venture is through the Buddhist Temples.

Buddhism is the main religion in Thailand: sadly it seems to me that many miss the point. The paintings in the Temples show Harmony and indeed love between peoples and animals. We hope to help the Abbots and Monks to bring more people and family into the Temple and listen to the teachings.

There is just one reason why religions have survived the centuries. Those disciples spoke the words of truth and common sense. Sadly for us, all these great religions have been distorted, manipulated by evil power seeking people for the ultimate slavery of mankind, an extreme point of view! I don't think so, just take a look around.

We have no wish to interfere with teachings by Buddhist Monks. We wish only to enlist support of Temples that are in harmony with a love of nature. In that way we hope to achieve a level of success in protecting Yonok for the future.

Obviously we do need to earn some money from working, we intend to do our best regardless, but it would be nice to have some help. We sincerely believe in this project, we will never stop all the problems in this Wetland but I feel we can and have achieved a great deal. It will ultimately be good for Thailand; tourism seems to be big business now here. So maybe their are opportunities for local people.

We need your Donations for a number of items; signs, books, petrol etc:

Signs; We have provided a number of signs through donations by Dr Mong and Ian Smith. We do need may more as Yonok is a huge area. We also need some good slogans "No Hunting" "Do Not Damage Trees" make the point but are a bit harsh: any ideas would be welcome. The Monks and children have given much of their time in the making of some of the signs.

Books: A large number of books have been donated by Dr Mong and Mr May, mostly about Birds and nature. We also need some good english / thai language teaching books for an age group 5 -18.

Petrol is our largest personal expense: we have had to limit our visits to more distant parts of Yonok. For Teaching, counting birds like Harriers and survey work as we have to use a car as most counting is in the evening and the number of insects make it impossible to use our motorbike, also the rainfall this year has been heavy and mostly late afternoon.

Teaching is the Key to Conservation Yonok - We teach The way of Buddha and English - We only teach; truth, understanding and respect for ones self.

Volunteers: We need English Teachers, if you can speak some Thai will be a great help as you could work alone at times, Many of the Older kids are quite well advanced in English and so we would like to progress with them, to help them realize they're full potential in life.

A stay of at least a month is the minimum for teaching. We cannot pay you, it is possible to stay in Wat Yonok (free), however as a Temple one has to respect Temple rules.

Ideally if you have your own transport and accommodation in Chiang Saen you could have a pleasant working holiday. We would do our best to look after you, often you can join us. If you rent a small motor bike or if your fit a bicycle is ideal as the area is flat and very quiet.

We are keen to extend the teaching days but it is only possible with Volunteer help.

Also it would be most helpful if you can help out with, for example:

Bird counting, identifying of flora and fauna, pollution levels, project or report righting, If you have your own personal interest in that you feel will be helpful to Yonok "you will be welcome.

The life of this project depends on how well it goes and we will have to put a lot of time in.

We have already achieved an amazing improvement. Hopefully in a couple of more years Yonok will be "A Major World Wetland"

We will make it clear that this project is funded by people who love this world of ours, we will not supply help to people who destroy wildlife and they're habitats. We live in a Buddhist Country it is a religion to be proud off and a good set of rules for happiness, Birds, Animals and People.

This Project is based on "Truth" I have been most impressed with people who Dowroong and I have been privileged to meet during the course of our project.

Best of luck Mick & Dowroong