Ros Kennerley
@drroskennerley.bsky.social
Chair of IUCN SSC Small Mammal Specialist Group, based at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust | interested in conservation in general, but threatened mammals & birds in particular | PhD on mammals | Bird ringer | Views are my own.
Big funding news for global species conservation. Well done to everyone at @rewildorg.bsky.social for making this happen.
Phoenix Species Project@phoenixspecies.bsky.social · 2d ago🌍 Meet the Phoenix Species Project, a new global effort to help recover 100 of the world's most threatened species. Launched by @bezosearthfund.org & @rewildorg.bsky.social, support from Leonardo Dicaprio, Age of Union & the Todd Graves Family Foundation. Follow along: phoenixspeciesproject.org
Naturally colonised Night Heron, Little Egret, Great Egret and Crane alongside resident Grey Heron are not enough, apparently, and cultural connections mean we should introduce another generalist predator into the last fragile refuges for Amphibians & reptiles. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘They’re part of folklore’: storks return to Derbyshire after 600-year absence
Conservationists are thrilled at the arrival of three juvenile birds at Willington Wetlands, hoping more will follow
theguardian.com
Did sturgeon ever breed in Britain? Evaluating historical evidence and conservation implications royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...
Did sturgeon ever breed in Britain? Evaluating historical evidence and conservation implications
Abstract. Historical archives can provide unique perspectives on past biodiversity and have the potential to reconstruct life-history cycles for lost popul
royalsocietypublishing.org
As it's a species the SMSG represents, I suppose I'm obliged to vote Hedgehog 🗳️ 🦔https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgzrpe6mzjo Puzzled as to why a wildlife expert panel would include non-native brown hares on the list...
Puffin and bumblebee among 18 creatures shortlisted to feature on banknotes
The Bank of England is asking the public which animals should appear on future banknotes.
bbc.co.uk
Including this one with two chicks in East Dartmoor NNR!
@angusrobin.bsky.social · 3mo ago6 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nests have been monitored in Devon and Somerset this year. One failed at the hatching stage, others will be fledging in the next few days, 1-2 weeks early. Young can now be heard calling in nests @lesserspotnet.bsky.social @somersetbirds.bsky.social @ukrbbp.bsky.social
It’s May, so no more seed and peanuts in bird feeders. BTO Senior Research Ecologist Dr Kate Plummer, part of the Technical Steering Group that carried out the evidence review on which the new guidance is based, sets out the reasoning behind the changes in this BTO blog ➡️ www.bto.org/our-work/new...
As of yesterday, we recorded the first pied flycatcher chicks at Yarner Woods. Things are about to get even busier! @piedflynet.bsky.social
I'd prefer not to see changes in legislation that would make it easier to introduce non-native species like European Bison! www.itv.com/news/meridia...
itv.com
Species go up and down annually, but a two-thirds (66%) decline of a resident bird in a single year is sign of accelerating terminal decline - that's not a slump that the single-brooded, low-density, low dispersal Willow Tit is going to bounce back from. Bad years get worse, better years are rare.
Breeding Bird Surveys (BBS)@bbs-birds.bsky.social · 3mo ago(4) Similar to Tree Sparrow, despite being locally common in some parts of England, Willow Tit declined by 66% 2024-25. Sadly, it is now extinct in some parts of the country, especially in southern and eastern areas.
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
Cuba’s doctors were a lifeline for the world. Now the Caribbean is shamefully complicit in the US drive to expel them | Kenneth Mohammed
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
theguardian.com
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!
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.
doi.org
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...
The emotional price of conservation work news.mongabay.com/2026/03/the-...
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...
news.mongabay.com
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...
'Ambitious' nature project aims to link Cornish habitats
Cornwall Wildlife Trust says work will include bringing more beavers to Helman Tor nature reserve.
bbc.co.uk
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/...
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
theguardian.com
I wish journalists would stop using the word 'reintroduce' in articles talking about European Bison and the UK. 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.
bbc.co.uk
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!
🌍 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...
CR2026_39 – Crocus DLA
blogs.reading.ac.uk
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...
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.
bbc.co.uk
🚨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...
CR2026_39 – Crocus DLA
blogs.reading.ac.uk
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.
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.
theconversation.com
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...
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...
doi.org
Closing date tomorrow, an exciting PhD linking insects with demography of aerial foraging birds such as House martin based @uniexecec.bsky.social in Cornwall.
PiedFly.Net@piedflynet.bsky.social · 11mo agoFully funded PhD with me, @uniexecec.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social @btobirds.bsky.social working on insectivorous bird declines - hopefully esp. House martin www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
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
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...
operationturtledove.org
