New stamps in the Birds series feature Latvia’s Bird of the Year 2017 western yellow wagtail and the rare little crake

11.07.2017

Latvijas Pasts has expanded the Latvian Birds series by releasing two new stamps depicting the rapidly declining western yellow wagtail, which is Latvia’s Bird of the Year 2017, and the little crake, which is rarely found in this country. The first day cancellation of the stamps is scheduled to take place in Riga post office No. 50 located in the shopping centre Origo, 2 Stacijas laukums, Riga from 8 AM to 7 PM on Friday, the 14^th of July 2017.  

The print run of the stamp featuring the western yellow wagtail is 500,000 copies, and its face value is € 0.50, which corresponds to the cost of sending a regular Class B letter within Latvia. In turn, the print run of the stamp dedicated to the little crake is 100,000 copies, and its face value is € 1.41, making it suitable for sending a registered item in wrapper or a registered Class B letter within Latvia. The release of the stamps is accompanied by the issue of two covers featuring both birds, with a print run of 1,500 copies each. The stamps and the covers have been designed by the artist Ģirts Grīva.

The western yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava) named as Latvia’s Bird of the Year 2017 by the Latvian Ornithological Society inhabits wet grasslands. Its population in Latvia has declined by 95% since 1995. Intensive agriculture is one of the threats to the western yellow wagtail not only in Latvia, but also in other European countries, yet none of them witnesses such as rapid decline in the number of this bird as Latvia. 

In turn, the little crake (Porzana parva) is a rare nesting bird in Latvia, which can be found only on overgrown lakes and ponds.

Latvijas Pasts has issued the Birds series of stamps since 2010, releasing two new stamps per year. In 2016 Latvijas Pasts released the stamps depicting the great spotted woodpecker and the Eurasian pygmy owl. All stamps released in the Birds series are available for viewing here.

The new stamps and covers Western Yellow Wagtail and Little Crake can be seen here.

The next new philatelic release is scheduled for the 18^th of August. 

About SJSC Latvijas Pasts

Latvijas Pasts ensures the widest availability of postal services throughout Latvia by maintaining more than 600 post offices. The primary function of the company is provision of the universal postal service; Latvijas Pasts also provides commercial transport, express mail, payment, press subscription, retail and philatelic services. Latvijas Pasts is a wholly State-owned company with more than 4,200 employees. The quality measurements of Latvijas Pasts domestic mail deliveries are regularly conducted by Kantar TNS, one of the leading market, social and media research agencies in Latvia. In turn, the quality measurements of the cross-border deliveries are provided within the framework of the International Post Corporation through the intermediary of the research companies Kantar TNS, Ipsos and Quotas.

Additional information:
Gundega Vārpa
Head of External Communications 
Phone: +371 67608505
E-mail: pr@pasts.lv; gundega.varpa@pasts.lv
twitter.com/latvijas_pasts; 
facebook.com/latvijas.pasts