A private landowner in Norfolk, at Deepdale Marsh, has announced plans to try and reintroduce the ruff as a breeding bird in the county. Planning permission for breeding aviaries and a bungalow for the on-site warden have been submitted. As well as creating wet grassland, the project has also made small lekking mounds for the male birds to display on.
Several conservation groups including the Max Planck Institute in Germany and Pensthorpe, the Zoological Society of East Anglia and Banham Zoo in the UK are all in support of the programme.
More information can be found in the link below:
Landowner plans to establish breeding Ruff in Norfolk - BirdGuides
It's hard to believe that we are now talking of hundreds of beaver in just one location in the UK.The River Stour catchment in Kent is now home to 51 occupied beaver territories, indicating a population of several hundred animals.
This is the finding of the first survey of this population, after beaver presence has been noted for more than a decade.
Kent hosts hundreds of wild beavers, survey finds
In 2020 a group of eight captive-bred steppe marmots (Marmota bobak) were released onto the Tarutino Steppe in southwest Ukraine, part of the wider Danube Delta ecosystem. The species was formerly widespread in the country until the nineteenth century, when hunting and industrial agriculture all but wiped them out. More releases will continue to happen with hopes that a stable population will form within five to ten years.
Two methods are being used to evaluate the best way to acclimatise the marmots. Some are being settled in areas with abandoned fox or raccoon dog dens to use as shelter while others are being released into artificial dens. Whichever method has the most success will be used for future reintroductions.
More information can be found in the link below:
Marmots settling in well to their new home on Ukraine’s Tarutino Steppe | Rewilding Europe
Common Hamsters (European Hamsters) have recently been reintroduced in the Tarutino steppe in Ukraine, this place has been known for the reintroduction in recent years of many species including the Asian Wild Ass or Kulan (once widespread in Eastern Europe).
The reintroduction of the Hamsters is supported by the Kiyv Zoo.
Such an event has a special importance now, with the conflict situation that Ukraine faces for more than a year.
Rewilding Europe on Instagram: "The European hamster is making a comeback to the wider Danube Delta #rewilding landscape! A second group of hamsters - which were once widespread across Ukraine - was just released on the Tarutino Steppe by @Rewilding_DD and Kyiv Zoo as part of a reintroduction programme that aims to establish a stable population of the species in the area. And don't let their size and cute looks fool you: these rodents actually have an important job, working on the basis of a healthy landscape! Quite literally. Rodents help to disperse seeds, while their burrows will create habitats for many other wildlife species and improve soil fertility. And at the same time, they're an important part of the food web and will even boost nature-based tourism Find out more about this #WildlifeComeback LINK IN BIO #RewildingEurope #BiodiversityMatters #EuropeanHamster #CircleOfLife #Hamster #RedList #Steppe #SpeciesReintroduction #SpeciesConservation #SpeciesTranslocation #ZooConservation #WildlifeConservation #Ukraine #Tarutino"
Another rewilding-project at the Danube Delta : Eagle owls:
Eagle owl reintroduction programme complements Danube Delta food chain | Rewilding Europe
The first herd of 'tauros', cattle bred to resemble the extinct aurochs, are due to be imported from the Netherlands to be released into the 4,000 hectare rewilding reserve on the Dundreggan Estate in Scotland in 2026. Initially, a small herd of up to fifteen animals will be released - the hope is that the release of these cattle will help provide microhabitats for specialised plants and animals:
UK ‘return’ for ancient aurochs 400 years after European extinction - Trees for Life
I have seen comments elsewhere(not this site) querying why our own British White Park cattle shouldn't fit the bill as well, or even better, for this task, given they are native to Britain. Is it just because they are too numerically low, or (in the case of the Chillingham breed at least, too wild and unmanageable? Or some other reasons?