Booming bitterns, habitat restoration and cranes: RSPB celebrates nature wins

Conservation successes from restoring native woodlands to saving seabirds from invasive rats have delivered “wins for nature” that give hope for the natural world, the RSPB said.

The conservation charity is marking the new year with some of its highlights over the past quarter of a century, boosting the fortunes of threatened species from bitterns to field crickets, fen raft spiders and cranes.

And it is pointing to landscape-scale work to restore habitats that provide homes for wildlife, including more than 50 square kilometres (19 square miles) of uplands in the Pennines, to expanding Caledonian woodland in the Cairngorms and restoring wetland and saltmarshes for waterbirds.

The charity warns that nature remains “hugely threatened” by climate change, intensive agriculture, inappropriate development, habitat loss and inaction from government.

But the wins show there is hope for wildlife, the charity said.

Success stories include seabirds thriving on Ramsey Island off the coast of Pembrokeshire since a rat eradication in 2000, with burrow-nesting birds such as Manx shearwaters that were vulnerable to rodents preying on their eggs and chicks benefiting from a rat-free island.

The shearwaters have seen numbers reach 6,225 breeding pairs, up from 900 pre-eradication, and the scheme has provided information and techniques for similar projects to remove invasive rodents from islands around the world, the charity said.

Other successes across the wider UK include purchasing Tarnhouse Farm at RSPB Geltside in the Pennines in Cumbria during 2024, to help transform the upland landscape into wildlife-rich habitat and creating the charity’s biggest nature reserve in England.

Work on the reserve has included planting 110,000 native trees and expanding scrub, re-wiggling Howgill Beck to restore the water system, and changing grazing from sheep to cattle and ponies, with surveys showing 94 bird species now breed at Geltsdale including black grouse and hen harrier.

In the Scottish Highlands, work at RSPB Abernethy has included expanding the Caledonian woodland through natural regeneration and planting 12,000 broadleaf trees each year, while peatland restoration is also under way.

Restoring the landscape has helped the recovery of rare capercaillie, while golden eagles, crested tits, red squirrels and pine hoverflies also make their home there.

The RSPB has worked to create wetlands at Frampton Marsh, Lincolnshire, where an area of saltmarsh was first purchased in 1984 to help breeding redshank, purchasing more land and creating freshwater lagoons, wet grassland and scrapes.

The reserve is internationally important, supporting more than 25,000 wintering waterbirds and is home to breeding redshank, avocet and oystercatchers.

There has also been a recovery of bitterns, once threatened with extinction in the UK as numbers dwindled to as low as 11 “booming” males, who make the distinctive sound to mark their territory and call for a mate.

Large scale creation and restoration of inland reedbed habitats has helped the birds reverse their declines and RSPB nature reserves now hold half the UK’s breeding population, with 138 booming males counted.

The common crane, a 1.2 metre tall bird driven to extinction in the 16th century, has also returned, with restoration and protection of wetlands supporting their comeback.

At RSPB Lakenheath in Suffolk, staff have created “runways” – large areas of reedbed cut so adults can safely land and take off without catching their wings – to encourage the cranes to nest there.

RSPB chief executive, Beccy Speight, said: “Since the start of this century, we’ve delivered some of the biggest wins for nature.

“From re-wiggling rivers to protecting islands from invasive, non-native species, the RSPB has shown what’s possible when we take bold conservation action.

“These wins for nature give hope for wildlife and the natural world on which we all depend.”

She added: “Whilst nature remains hugely threatened by challenges such as climate change, intensification of agriculture, habitat loss, inappropriate development and inaction from government, we are proud of our role, alongside our members, volunteers and supporters, in helping to bring hope for nature for many years to come.”