Stu Butchart

@stubutchart.bsky.social

Chief Scientist at BirdLife International, the world’s largest partnership of nature conservation organisations. Views are my own.

This morning I recorded the 500th species of moth in my garden: Hummingbird Hawk-moth (a surprising omission till now). They look a lot cooler when they're hovering and sipping nectar like a hummingbird....

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What an amazing afternoon celebrating 10 years of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative and David Attenborough Building, which began with me accidentally ending up in a small lift with the extraordinary centenarian as he arrived...

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Good news! Ministers have finally given green light to new #NaturalHistory GCSE. We’ve campaigned so long for this! Big hats off to tireless advocate Mary Colwell 🙌 Now our young people will have a chance to get to know & love the natural world, to feel awe & wonder, & gain skills to protect it 🌷🌳🦡

Natural history GCSE to teach teenagers to plant wildflower-friendly gardens

Long-awaited course to examine human effects on natural world and explore everyday ways to aid biodiversity

theguardian.com

It’s been far too long since I’ve been birding in woods in the west at this time of year. Lovely views of wood warbler, redstart, pied and spotted flycatcher and goshawk in Forest of Dean and nearby Wales over the last couple of days.

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Over a quarter of a million seabirds on Rathlin Island are now safer! 💙 Rathlin Island has been declared ferret-free: a world-first conservation success helping Puffins, Guillemots and more raise their young safely again. Read the full story: www.rspb.org.uk/media-centre...

A chocolate brown-and-white Guillemot stands upright on a grassy cliff edge, its dark head and slender bill silhouetted against a soft, hazy sky. Just behind it, a Puffin with a bright, colourful bill sits among the grass.

Translocation of Raso Larks to the island of Santa Luzia in 2018 after eradication of invasive cats has been spectacularly successful, with nearly 1000 individuals now. Great work by @birdlifeglobal.bsky.social partner Biosfera, and long-championed by Mike Brooke www.birdguides.com/news/raso-la...

Raso Lark reintroduction proves a triumph

After a small number of Raso Larks were translocated to Santa Luzia in 2018, the population has grown to as many as 1,000 individuals.

birdguides.com

Gripping video of the last 2 Slender-billed Curlews at www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/S.... I couldn't afford to join some mates who did a trip to Morocco to see them in 1992, 2 years before they disappeared. And last week, we declared the species extinct in our update to the IUCN Red List 😢

Slender-billed Curlew Declared Extinct

IUCN confirms the loss of a once-widespread Western Palearctic wader after three decades without a verified record

rarebirdalert.co.uk