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2016 has certainly been a year to remember – but amid the political upheaval and celebrity deaths, there have been victories for our wildlife.
The RSPB has revealed great things have been achieved for Nature, and reported 10 conservation success stories from the past 12 months.
The stand-out success of 2016 for the RSPB and partners was the 2016 national cirl bunting survey, which showed an increase in these rare birds (main image) to over 1,000 pairs – 10 times more than in the 1980s.
This is thanks to a highly successful reintroduction to Cornwall and decades of partnership working with farmers in Devon, supported by Natural England, plus grants to recover Nature-friendly farming.
The number of booming bitterns on wetland reserves increased again to a record high of 161 at 76 sites, proving another success story for conservation.
Numbers of these rare birds reached their highest level since records began. In 2016 the latest data from 2014 were processed, revealing 772 pairs of bearded tits in the UK. This is thanks to extension and improvements to the reedbed habitat they depend on. It is thought that the population has continued to grow.
Often thought of as Scotland’s national bird, the golden eagle was granted ‘favourable conservation status’ in 2016. Results from the fourth national golden eagle survey showed that the population of these birds of prey has increased to 508 pairs in Scotland – a rise of 15% since the previous survey in 2003.
For the second year running, both nightjar and woodlark were at their highest ever numbers on RSPB heathland reserves.
Rare smooth snakes bred for the first time at RSPB Aylesbeare in 2016 – seven years after they were first re-released into the area.
A survey recording the number of common cranes in the UK revealed a population of around 160 birds – the highest number since these large birds returned to the UK in 1978 after an absence of more than 400 years.
Cranes are now found in south west England, East Anglia, Yorkshire, East Scotland and south Wales. In August, commuters between Norwich and Ely were treated to the sight of three crane chicks, which hatched on RSPB Lakenheath Fen nature reserve.
Despite usually spending just the winter on our shores, a pair of little gulls stayed at RSPB Loch of Strathbeg for the summer, bred and fledged two young. This is the first known successful nesting of little gulls in the UK.
St Agnes and Gugh in the Scilly Isles were officially declared rat free in 2016, and as a result the breeding population of Manx shearwater has increased from 22 pairs in 2013 (pre rat eradication) to 73 pairs in 2016 (post rat eradication) with two new locations colonised.
The rat eradication phase of the Shiants project in the Hebrides was completed in March and, if all continues to go well, these islands will be declared rat free in winter 2017.
2016 marked the 10th anniversary of the Albatross Task Force, which was established to reduce albatross deaths as a result of fishing hooks: the main threat to these impressive birds which can live well into their 60s.
The number of albatrosses accidentally caught reduced by 80% in five out of 10 target fisheries, and the RSPB is on track to hit this figure in a further two.
Click here for more on the RSPB’s conservation work or to find a local reserve.
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