Rockjumper has long been a Corporate Sponsor of the Ornithological Society of the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and we are delighted to have donated £1,000 to ensure the success of their free Middle East bird app project. More on the project from OSME:

The launch of the Arabic Version of the Birds of the Middle East in March 2017 was the culmination of many years of dedicated work by those who saw the book as making a significant contribution to celebrating the diversity and variety of the birds of the region.

The next logical step after the publication of the book was to develop an App suitable for Android and Apple formats. Whilst the book was a partnership effort led by Bird Life Middle East, this time OSME is taking the lead to finance and produce the App.

Calls and songs of all the species that are available will be added to create a ‘must-have’ product that would be made available for free download to any smartphone or tablet. We believe this could be the first ‘Bird Identification App’, if not the first Natural History App, anywhere in the world in a language other than English.

Anecdotal evidence from those in the Middle East convinces us that this approach will reach a far greater audience, particularly younger people and those just casually interested, thus beginning to build a far wider community who care about their birds and, most importantly, their birds’ future.

The app is still being built, but it aims to be a high-quality product, meeting the expectations of a very tech-savvy community; it aims to have easy navigation and be full of rich content.

We plan to launch it simultaneously on both the Android and Apple platforms. The launch should undoubtedly take place in the Middle East, as this is for the people of the region. We would anticipate a launch in the early summer 2018.

In Summary, the App will:

• Make a considerable contribution to the understanding, recording and conservation of birds in the Region.
• Be a wonderful educational tool.
• Manifestly be a celebration of the Region.
• Be modern and accessible to all.
• Be non-political, non-religious, crossing all national boundaries.