The Independent reports after 400 years beavers could return to populate England’s rivers, land managers talk to Holly Bancroft about the government’s new consultation and the ups and downs of living alongside the animals.
BBC News reports the eagles, the UK’s largest bird of prey, have since been observed searching for suitable nest sites, suggesting they intend to stay. It is believed that this is the first time sea eagles have settled at Loch Lomond since the early 20th Century.
Persecution and habitat changes led to their extinction across the UK some time soon after 1918. Their reintroduction to Scotland, first in the 1970s and again in the 1990s and early 2000s, has been a conservation success.
The BBC reports a pair of beavers have been reintroduced to Dorset as part of a nationwide trial.
The Dorset Wildlife Trust is monitoring a male and a female beaver in the west of the county. They are being observed by wildlife experts in a large freshwater habitat, with footage captured on night cameras. The species went extinct in the UK 400 years ago, during the 16th Century.
The Daily Telegraph reports perhaps one of the last things one would expect to see when popping to the high street would be a beaver busily foraging materials for its dam. However, the Wildlife Trusts are planning the first in a wave of urban beaver releases, with a pair due to be transplanted to central Shrewsbury, and influential figures behind the “rewilding” plans say this is the beginning of a drive to get them in most towns and cities.
The Wildlife Trusts have identified a 12-hectare site in the centre of the large Shropshire town which is perfect to host the furry rodents. It is currently being prepared for their release next year.
The BBC reports a second bid to introduce lynx to a Northumberland forest is to be made two years after it was rejected. The Lynx UK Trust had wanted to release Eurasian wildcats into Kielder Forest but the government rejected the plan saying it lacked “depth”. The trust said it had addressed shortfalls in its bid which aims to save Kielder being “overrun” with deer. However, the National Sheep Association (NSA) said lynx would prey on “easy meals” such as sheep and red squirrels. Lynx became extinct in the UK in about AD700 because they were hunted for their fur.
The Daily Telegraph exclusively reports wandering through the Sandringham Estate, one may hope to spot a skylark in full song – or perhaps even a member of the Royal Family out for a stroll. Soon, however, tourists are likely to be startled by the sight of the giant wings and hooked beak of Britain’s largest eagle as the royals welcome the work of local re-wilders hoping to bring them back. Wild Ken Hill – a farm recently taken over by re-wilders working to restore lost nature to Norfolk – is about a 10-minute drive from the royals’ home in the county.
The Guardian reports consultation comes after the birds have been successfully rewilded in other parts of the UK. A consultation has been launched to reintroduce Britain’s biggest bird of prey to Norfolk in an unprecedented rewilding move led by farmers. Supported by other landowners in the region, a west Norfolk farm wants to release white-tailed eagles on to its coastal land, after the successful reintroduction of the birds in western Scotland and the Isle of Wight.
iNEWS reports a group hoping to reintroduce the lynx to Scotland has singled out a forest near Loch Lomond as the perfect spot for the animals. While the Lynx UK Trust is launching a public consultation on plans to release them in Queen Elizabeth Forest Park near Aberfoyle, farmers leaders have deemed the proposal “wholly unacceptable”.
Photo by Charlie Jackson under creative commons.
The Guardian reports painstaking conservation effort to accommodate insect’s complex lifecycle pays off. The biggest reintroduction to date of the large blue has led to the rare butterfly flying on a Cotswold hillside where it has not been seen for 150 years.
About 750 butterflies emerged on to Rodborough Common in Gloucestershire this summer after 1,100 larvae were released last autumn following five years of innovative grassland management to create optimum habitat.
Large Blue ovipositing photo by Paul Ritchie under creative commons.
The Guardian reports scheme in West Sussex leads to first chicks of the species hatching in the wild since the 15th century. The sound was both primeval yet utterly fresh and new: a time-travelling throwback to the middle ages; yet, at the same time, a portent of a brighter future for our rural landscape…But this wasn’t in France, Spain or Poland, where I have watched them in the past, but in West Sussex: at the Knepp Wildland Project.