NEPAL is famous for the Himalayas, breath-taking scenery and its no nonsense fighters — the Gurkhas.

But hands up who knows much about its threatened vultures?

Well, don't get in a flap because Stephen Lucocq, of Uplands, Swansea, is winging his way out there to give the birds a fighting chance of survival.

And he's going to need every ounce of his tree surgeon skills.

The 32-year-old will spend around a month scaling trees and "rescuing" chicks from nests up to 100ft high while volunteering for bird conservation group the RSPB.

It's not going to be easy, especially if the chick's parents happen to return from a spot of foraging.

But Stephen said it's simply a matter of stopping three species of vultures going the way of the dodo.

"There are three species whose numbers have declined by an average of 97 per cent since the 1990s," said Stephen.

"One of the three, the white-backed vulture, is down to a few hundred pairs in the wild.

"The massive decline is down to a drug which farmers give to livestock as an anti-inflammatory.

"The vultures are exposed to the drug when they eat the carcasses. It poisons them, and they die within days."

Stephen said there were other livestock drugs available which didn't kill vultures, and moves were underway in Nepal and neighbouring India to swap them with the one that has wreaked havoc.

The vulture problem has had knock- on effects on the local ecosystem.

"There are a lot more rotting carcasses, more disease, and more dogs," said Stephen, a Swansea Council tree surgeon.

He is aiming to "rescue" around 40 chicks during his stint in Nepal, and admits having slightly mixed feelings about his work.

He said: "Vultures only have one chick, but unless we can get them into captivity, the animals will be extinct."

As well as his usual safety equipment, Stephen will wear protective eye gear in case the chick's parents use their sharp talons to fight for their precious offspring.

"Iit's going to be a bit dangerous," he said.

Once in captivity, the vultures will be looked after until it's safe to release them back into the wild.

That could be years, said Stephen.

By then the Nepal trip will just be a memory.

"It's going to be a massive adventure," he added.

WEB LINKS

www.vulturerescue.org www.rspb.org.uk/supporting/ campaigns/vultures/index.asp