The oak leaves are emerging at Yarner, so the frass monitoring has begun! All the traps out and we might have found a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nest 🤞 @piedflynet.bsky.social

I'll make sure to read it Caerphilly.

Cuba’s doctors were a lifeline for the world. Now the Caribbean is shamefully complicit in the US drive to expel them | Kenneth Mohammed For decades, Cuban doctors have served the Caribbean’s most marginalised. Now, as Cuba faces its own crisis, the region looks away, waiting on Trump’s approval

Cuba’s doctors were a lifeline for the world. Now the Caribbean is shamefully complicit in the US drive to expel them | Kenneth Mohammed

The conservation management of European bison requires strong evidence and careful risk assessment: A response to “Comment: Nores et al. (2024) fail in their attempt to demonstrate the inappropriateness of an eventual introduction of the European bison to Spain as a rewilding initiative” Click on the article title to read more.

The debate on European bison in Iberia continues, with an excellent message here from Nores et al. on the need for a strong evidence base for driving conservation decisions...
doi.org/10.1111/csp2...
Many points are relevant for UK #rewilding discussions too!

Hmm...it's a sufficiently vague waffly statement in the article! We have Birds of Conservation Concern which is for the UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man www.bto.org/sites/defaul... and the most recent one (2021) listed it as 'Amber'.

A perfect sunny day to set up audio recorders at Yarner Woods with @ajhdoyle.bsky.social & @piedflynet.bsky.social. The recorders will act as a remote nest box monitoring tool to estimate breeding behaviour, phenology & success of the Pied Flycatchers. Find out more: www.durham.ac.uk/staff/andrew...

First Pied flycatcher at East Dartmoor today continuing the trend for earlier arrival. Another present at Dunsford Woods today. Also have the earliest ever first tit egg recorded (data starts in 1955) by two days - a Coal tit egg laid yesterday. Discovered with @drroskennerley.bsky.social

A morning well-spent: checking and repairing nest boxes in Yarner Wood with @piedflynet.bsky.social. No signs of any Pied Flycatchers yet though...

A profession built on hope, strained by loss Earlier this month, Jeremy Hance’s “‘An epidemic of suffering’: Why are conservationists breaking down?” and the follow-up commentary “Emotional and psychological stresses beleaguer conservation profe...

The emotional price of conservation work

news.mongabay.com/2026/03/the-...

'Ambitious' nature project aims to link Cornish habitats Cornwall Wildlife Trust says work will include bringing more beavers to Helman Tor nature reserve.

I'm happy to see 𝗧𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗲 was awarded full funding. Well done to Dr. Gwen Maggs and the @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social team!
Looking forward to seeing the changes and benefits this makes to this wonderful part of Cornwall.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Ros holding a lapwing chick.

It's such a nice feeling to think I played a teeny tiny part in this successful project.
Well done to all those involved in the Rathlin LIFE RAFT Project rathlin360.com/life-raft/
📷Lapwing chick monitored on Rathlin Island

Predatory feral ferrets removed from an island for the first time ever Rathlin Island in Northern Ireland is ferret-free after £4.5m five-year partnership led by RSPB NI

Just had a moment when I realised it's been nearly 20 years to the day🫣 that I began an amazing spring/summer on Rathlin Island as a research assistant examining the effects of introduced mammalian (ferret) and native avian predators on ground-nesting birds.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Integrating environmental archives into conservation: using historical data to evaluate species suitability for reintroduction Abstract. Evidence-based conservation planning is typically informed by recent data, but anthropogenic activities have shaped biodiversity throughout histo

Hi Ross, there's a section on bison in our paper that came out earlier this week: royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Hopes for breeding Kent bison herd in new UK location The animals, from the Blean Bison Project near Canterbury, have been relocated to Cumbria.

An addition, rather than a replacement unfortunately www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Hopes for breeding Kent bison herd in new UK location The animals, from the Blean Bison Project near Canterbury, have been relocated to Cumbria.

I wish journalists would stop using the word 'reintroduce' in articles talking about European Bison and the UK.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

We have developed a framework to help decision makers. The paper uses a series of engaging case studies from the UK, including European Bison🦬, Moor Frogs, and Dalmatian Pelicans, to highlight why each part of the framework is important to consider for any conservationist.

Historical data 📖🦴📉are essential for planning species reintroductions. They can help conservationists to define whether a species can be interpreted as native under modern environmental conditions, and whether its former population status, ecology, and causes of extinction are adequately understood.

New paper out!
𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: u𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

A successful annual meeting at the weekend for @piedflynet.bsky.social, with around 60 keen attendees there to hear about last season's results, @cateden91.bsky.social's research on spotted flycatchers, the Two Moors Pine Marten project, and to generally feel geed-up about the season ahead!

Written evidence can be inaccurate and open to different interpretations. There's an interesting thread here about some of the reasons why the written accounts for European tree frogs may not be reliable: threadreaderapp.com/thread/16692...

🌍 The late Gustavo Fonseca’s legacy lives on through the Fonseca Leadership Program.

The GEF & @wcs.org invite applications for the Young Leaders in Africa Fellowship, which supports top African conservationists for Master’s/Ph.D. studies.

To learn more: wcs.org/about-us/gra...

​​🇯​​🇺​​🇸​​🇹 5️⃣ ​🇩​​🇦​​🇾​​🇸​ ​🇱​​🇪​​🇫​​🇹​ ​🇹​​🇴​ ​🇦​​🇵​​🇵​​🇱​​🇾 !​

🧪🌿Reconstructing the trophic ecology of Caribbean mammals: new baselines to understand island evolution, extinction & conservation🐀🌴

blogs.reading.ac.uk/crocus-dla/c...

Three frogs to be reintroduced to West Acre 'pingos' The money will be spent on breeding thousands of frogs and managing their release in 2026.

This is the height of ecological illiteracy and shows how wannabe zookeepers have taken over UK nature conservation. Evidence for native status of these species is incredibly tenuous; releasing them into one of our most ancient & irreplaceable ecosystems would be crazy.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

🚨Caribbean mammal PhD opportunity🚨

🧪🌿Reconstructing the trophic ecology of Caribbean mammals: new baselines to understand island evolution, extinction & conservation🐀🌴

@uor-research.bsky.social, @zslofficial.bsky.social, @nhm.org, and with me at Durrell!

blogs.reading.ac.uk/crocus-dla/c...

And then there were none: Australia’s only shrew declared extinct Australia’s only known shrew has been declared extinct. Its loss emphasises the need for national protection of Australia’s rare and unique wildlife.

And then there were none: Australia’s only shrew declared extinct
theconversation.com/and-then-the...
A great article by SMSG member Prof. John Woinarski.

Genetic evidence for invasive rat‐caused vegetation damage has implications for endemic Caribbean mammal management Conservation translocations of the Bahamian hutia, a threatened Caribbean rodent, have prompted concerns about vegetation damage. Extensive vegetation damage reported on John Higgs Cay (Turks and Cai...

Fieldwork for this was back in 2018, so it's great to finally have it published. Huge thanks to the fantastic ecologists at Department of Environment and Coastal Resources
in Turks & Caicos, colleagues at @nhm-london.bsky.social, and of course Sam at @zslscience.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1002/2688...

Closing date tomorrow, an exciting PhD linking insects with demography of aerial foraging birds such as House martin based @uniexecec.bsky.social in Cornwall.

Operation Turtle Dove’s view on the release of captive-bred Turtle Doves as a conservation measure - Operation Turtle Dove Operation Turtle Dove is a science-led conservation partnership working to reverse the decline of Turtle Doves in the UK by restoring habitat and addressing key threats. Learn why captive-bred release...

Very firm statement on releases of captive-bred Turtle Doves, from Operation Turtle Dove inc @rspb.bsky.social & @naturalengland.bsky.social:
*Doesn't meet IUCN guidelines
*Risk of disease/genetic pollution
*Irresponsible aims
operationturtledove.org/captive-rele... 1/2 #ornithology #ukbirding

Durrell return threatened gecko species to Mauritius Durrell Conservation says it cared for and bred 30 lesser night geckos at Jersey Zoo for five years.

Well done Nik and all the team in Mauritius!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

After a 10 year (!) hiatus, I'm happy to be bird ringing again. Thanks to @piedflynet.bsky.social for taking me on as a trainee!!!
A juvenile barn owl was not a bad starter bird....