Suffolk Says No to Sea Eagles
Controversy has erupted over the planned reintroduction of the White-Tailed Sea Eagle, Today’s Endangered All-Star, to the Suffolk region, on the coast northeast of London. The Guardian reports that the plan, launched by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, initially met with approval from most residents, but when free-range chicken and pig farmers heard that enormous raptors might be spreading their wings over domesticated flocks and herds—triggering stress and fear in their animals—alarm spread. Reintroductions in northwest Scotland have been successful, generating ecotourism to that area, but signs have appeared around Suffolk urging: “Say No to Sea Eagles Here.” Newspaper editorials claim the plan expresses “contempt for human society.” Even birders have worried that the project may imperil rare bitterns in the area.
But Mark Avery, the RSPB’s conservation director, promised compensation for farmers and claimed that the birding group has done significant research on the plan, which may increase tourism to the area. He told The Guardian: “We spend too much of our time trying to stop bad things happening. This is a good thing we could be making happen – it’s finishing off habitat restoration by putting back the last species that cannot get back here on its own … it’s a great project, and everybody ought to be excited by it.”
Photo: © Chris Gomersall
You Beauty!—A Tale of Tiny Rewilding
Today’s Endangered All-Star, the Dark Bordered Beauty Moth presents a fascinating opportunity for rewilding in the U.K. The Beauty is limited to a few tiny patches of habitat in northern England and Scotland, largely because of the decline of aspen. A priority species listed in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, this is one of several invertebrates destined for a captive-breeding and reintroduction program. According to a recent article in The Guardian, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Butterfly Conservation are behind the plan: Few things are as important to the perpetuation of birds as a biodiverse landscape.
To expand viable habitat, the RSPB is undertaking to restore and replant core areas of aspen and to seek connectivity between aspen stands. Along with Butterfly Conservation, it hopes to release captive-bred Beauties on a reserve in Strathspey, in Scotland’s northern highlands, by next year. Other species slated for reintroduction include the Short-haired Bumblebee (extinct in the UK since 2000), reintroduced from a New Zealand population, and the Pine Hoverfly.
This is not the first case of invertebrate rewilding in the UK. The Large Blue Butterfly has already been resurrected: From extinction in 1979, the Large Blue was brought back by way of eggs from a colony in Sweden, after extraordinary pains taken by a British entomologist. Jeremy Thomas, professor of ecology at the University of Oxford, spent years deciphering the life cycle of the Large Blue, laying trails of Battenburg cake for wary insects. He eventually discovered that this strange species was dependent on a relationship with an ant: Deploying a special fluid and singing persuasively, the Large Blue grub hoodwinks its host, Myrmica sabuleti, masquerading as the grub of a queen ant. Once inside the nest, Large Blue caterpillars dine out on ant grubs all winter, emerging from the nest in June as butterflies. The ant, however, requires grass neatly trimmed by rabbits, cattle, or sheep. Long grass creates a microclimate too cool by 2-3 degrees Centigrade, and the decline of both rabbits and livestock had spelled doom for the ant and its flashy guest. Few stories illustrate so clearly the complex interrelationships and dependencies that have evolved between species. Few suggest more forcefully how complicated it can be to restore them.
Photo: © Roy Leverton
