IN THE WILD

STORKS GO LIVE!

This year, the White Stork Project set up the UK’s first live-stream white stork nest camera. The new cameras allowed the team and the public to get an intimate ‘storks eye view’ of any birds using the nest on the roof of Knepp Castle in West Sussex. Stork pairs were seen checking out the nest, and viewers were treated to sights of bill clattering, wing-pumping, displaying and mating. Viewers were also encouraged to report any sightings and interesting behaviour witnessed on the cameras.

The camera can be viewed at www.whitestorkproject.org/live The team in Madagascar have fitted tracking devices to rare turtles released in Lake Ravelobe in Ankarafantskia National Park. In 2015, 144 captive-bred Madagascar big-headed turtles, known locally as “rere”, were released into the lake but monitoring the population proved difficult. In January this year, three turtles were equipped with VHF tags and monitored daily by a Master’s student from Antananarivo University. Tracking the rere will help the team understand more about the movements and use of habitat by these critically endangered turtles.

MAURITIUS KESTREL NAMED NATIONAL BIRD

The Mauritius kestrel has officially been proclaimed the National Bird of the Republic of Mauritius. In 1974, only four individuals were known to remain in the wild, and the species was believed doomed to extinction. Our Chief Scientist, Prof Carl Jones, did what most at the time thought was impossible and managed to raise the chicks of the remaining adults in captivity to save the species from its unfortunate fate. Thanks to the work of Carl and our partners at the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, the Mauritius kestrel remains a true conservation success story, as several hundred birds now inhabit the forests of Mauritius.

At the end of 2021, the project to save the critically endangered Madagascar pochard reached a new milestone. A group of 35 captive-bred pochards were released onto Lake Sofia, a remote site in northern Madagascar. The team had to make a 200km trip along a dirt road with the birds ahead of the release. The ducks then spent time in a lakeside aviary before being transported in canoes to floating aviaries on the lake. They spent a few more days in the aviaries, getting used to their surroundings before exploring their new home. The Madagascar pochard was believed to be extinct for 15 years. However, since they were rediscovered in 2006, the race has been on to save the world’s rarest duck from extinction. The project’s first-ever reintroduction took place in 2018, and the adult population on the lake is now 47.