Booming bitterns among a year of wins for nature

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.

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A bittern, Botaurus stellaris, adult at RSPB Minsmere Nature Reserve

(LES CATER/ RSPB/PA WIRE)

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 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.