"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead, American anthropologist, 1901-1978
They want to bring beavers back to Northamptonshire. It’s been over 400 years since beavers – a keystone species - were last seen there, and the Trust has been given permission to release a family group at the Delta Pit wetland, at the Nene Wetlands nature reserve.
The Beaver Trust visited the site and did a full feasibility study and identified the site as a suitable feeding site – it’s also quite away from the public. Furthermore, the site is a difficult one to manage, with breeding birds in summer and overwintering birds in winter, giving the Trust very limited time to do any work. so the beavers will be able to manage the habitat work for the Trust.
The beavers will be in a safe, enclosed area surrounding a lake. They are excellent eco-engineers, and have an excellent ability to create habitats that will benefit a whole range of animals.
The beavers will be busy restoring the wetland habitat – beavering away – and the humans have to do some work of their own beforehand, managing trees and constructing a fence. This fence is constructed and installed to an exact specification from Natural England – it follows a full site survey. That survey involves considering the risks, so that the Trust can make sure the beavers are safe and don’t escape. The stock gates are designed to an approved beaver-proof spec.
The beavers’ work should benefit wetland birds, creating more roosting and feeding habitat, and invertebrates and bats should benefit from it as well. The beavers will be doing what humans would be doing, but they will be doing it better (and the Trust themselves said that!)
One of the exciting things will be the monitoring of the site, to see how the beavers are doing and how their introduction and work is benefiting other species.
The public visiting the shopping centre next to the reserve will also benefit as they should be able to see the beavers when they visit!
Around the world there are many people who are willing to put their lives on the line in order to protect endangered animals and habitats.
The International Ranger Foundation (IRF) is the official body representing rangers around the world. It was established on 31st July 1992, after a year spent setting up and planning for the establishment and development of the organisation. The aim now is to drive through this development so that there is a professional body of rangers around the world. It's based in Australia. International Ranger Foundation UK is here.
Mokala National Park observing World Ranger Day, South Africa This shows how dangerous the job of being a ranger can be and gives you an insight into the life of a ranger. THANK YOU to rangers, everywhere.
2023 was an important year because it was the first year of the newly set biodiversity framework, with lots of targets. Target three is especialy important because it sets a target of 30% of the world having effectively managed areas by 2030. To achieve this, it will be vital to have a professional body of rangers around the world and the numbers of rangers worldwide will need to increase from 286,000 today to 1.5 million. There will be benefits for wildlife and biodiveristy of course, but also for people, who will benefit from the economic and social services outcomes which come about from such a development.
So the theme for World Ranger Day for 2024 is 30 x 30, reflecting target three.
There is a lot of information about rangers on their website, so please explore their website. It works with The Thin Green Lineto promote the initiative of World Ranger Day.
World Ranger Day is a chance for all of us to show our appreciation for the work that wildlife rangers and guardians do and offer our support in whatever way we can and to remember those who have died or been injured doing this vital work and to think of the families they leave behind.
The Thin Green Line says that often rangers' families are left behind without any support. Donations and support give a gift of hope and an urgent lifeline to families left behind.
And it’s good to know that there is something you can do to help wildlife and locals in their communities at the same time, and we thought we’d do a roundup of charities and organisations working to help in this way. Sometimes wildlife rangers are called wildlife guardians.
The Foundation works with ranger groups, ranger associations and conservation partners in over 60 countries. They say it’s estimated that over 1,000 park rangers have been killed in the line of duty over the past 10 years. They are dedicated to providing Rangers worldwide with the assistance they deserve and need.
Other organisations supporting wildlife rangers
Ol Pejeta Ol Pejeta Conservancy is a 90,000 acre wildlife conservancy in Kenya. They have 150 rangers who are dedicated to protecting the wildlife there and neighbouring communities. They also have a K9 unit, whose dogs work hard also to protect wildlife.
Project Ranger supports a range of patrols such as horse patrols, foot patrols, motorbike, aerial, truck and K9 patrols. In doing so it protects a number of species in national parks, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, conserved land and wildnerness areas. There are plenty of ways to support their work so visit their website to find out more!
The World Land Trust has a Keepers of the Wild initiative. The rangers are working on the front line of conservation, safeguarding some of the world’s most threatened animals and the crucial habitats in which they live. They protect reserves from poaching and logging, and importantly, link to local communities, building trust, helping to change attitudes and find practical solutions to problems. You can support Keepers of the Wild by making a donation.
The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation works to support rangers in both Asia and Africa. You can support wildlife rangers here and help them conserve nature. Their work includes carrying out anti-poaching and anti-trafficking patrols across national parks, finding and removing wildlife snares and collecting essential data on endangered speices and their habitats. They also work with communities to raise awareness and mitigate wildlife conflict.
This organisation works to save wildlife from extinction through education, anti-poaching and conservation efforts. It does this by using anti-poaching units, awareness and education and on the ground action, working on wildlife’s problems. You can adopt a ranger (also there’s a K9 poacher tracking unit) – find out what the options are to adopt a ranger here.
African Parks has an anti-poaching team of 1,000 rangers making up their law enforcement team. Thei rangers are stabilising force both for parks and regions
Virunga National Park is located on the eastern edge of the Congo Basin in Africa, and it's home to over 1,000 species of mammal, bird, reptile, and amphibian and a third of the world’s endangered mountain gorillas. It has 750 male and female rangers, all working hard and putting their lives on the line to protect the park and local communities. There's a canine unit as well. Find out more
The Gorilla Organisation has a supporting rangers scheme in the Democratic Republic of Congo and they act as the eyes, ears and voice of the forest. They cut snaes, save injured gorillas, combat the militias running the blood minerals trade, monitor the gorillas’ health and collect vital conservation data every day. Find out more here.
Tigers4ever have anti-poaching patrols in Bandharvagh, India, to protect tigers. They equip forest patrols, provide anti-poaching patrols and provide permanent solutions to water scarcity for wildlife
Become an Orangutan Guardian and help the Orangutan Foundation’s 60 Indonesian staff work on the frontline of conservation in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. Their role is to guard and patrol the forests and rivers, to rescue and monitor the orangutans and to replant and nurture tree saplings. And crucially, they need to gain the trust and support of local communities. Become an Orangutan Guardian!
The Lewa Security Team consists of field rangers, radio operators, gatekeepers, baby rhino keepers, anti-poaching rangers and the tracker dog unit. The Anti-Poaching Rangers and Tracker Dog Unit work day and night to protect wildlife and keep them safe, especially rhinos and elephants. The tracker dog unit has four dogs and their handlers, the dogs act as efficient trackers, as they can pursue suspects for lengthy distances.
Save the Rhino makes sure that ranger teams have the the equipment they need to do their job as safely as possible. It has expanded canine units across the projects it funds, which in turn helps apprehend criminals. Find out more from Save the Rhino
Tusk
The charity Tusk give a Wildlife Ranger Award every year to give international recognition to the men and women who face danger every day to protect the wildlife and its ecosystems in Africa.
There are also rangers in other countries such as Australia and America and the UK, working for organisations such as national parks and they are also essential to protecting the environment and keeping wildlife safe.
And a very big thank you to each and every wildlife ranger working to care for and protect our wildlife and their habitats. And thank you to their families too.
Derbyshire Wildlife Trust have a new appeal, Common Farm, and the goal was to raise £300,000 by 30th November 2023.
Update on 18 March 2024:SUCCESS!!!
Derbyshire Wildlife Trust to say that they could officially announce they'd completed on the purchase of Common Farm!!!
Over 2,000 donated to the appeal (only launched last October), contirbuting nearly £300,000 to the purchase. Major donors and philanthropic organisations gave the rest of the funding needed to secure the site. Locals have been critical to the success of the appeal, organising walking tours for potential donors, delivering leaflets, donating and encouraging people to get involved. And the Trust is working closely with the community to develop the site as a great place for people and nature.
This is great news, well done Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and to everyone involved!
It’s made up of 18 sheep-grazed grassland fields which the Trust is going to transform into a wildlife reserve. The team will make every field count, as they make the most of the different types of habitat; they will re-wet the land, by filling in ditches, as drainage ditches flush vital rainwater from the site. Blocking or filling them in will create pools by filling in the ditches to re-wet the land.
As the land gets wetter, so trees and vegetation and wildlife will benefit. And cattle and ponies may come in as grazers, their manure enriching the soil and their grazing stopping trees from becoming dominant.
The project should form a diverse habitat – woodland expansion, scrubby thickets and open grassland that are species-rich and will benefit barn owls and skylarks and curlew, as well as plants such as the ragged robin and harebell. This will give a new territory to wildlife – native plants and animals will thrive – hopefully within a year!
Have you discovered a bee on the floor who looks like they are struggling? What do you do to help?
The RSPB says that if you come across a struggling bee, you should place them safely on a bee-friendly flower - but if there aren't any flowers close by, or the flowers have been drained by nectar by other bees , then a boost of a sugar solution can help the bee find their way to a flower that is full of nectar.
Well, help is at hand with bee revival kits from Beevive! The one below is and above, available from the RSPB, is pre-filled with ambrosia® syrup in a small aluminium vial, and it also somes with 5+ uses which are refillable from home - you just follow the instructions.
Beevive started in 2018, when three friends met a very tired bee, and so created the Bee Revival Kit. They've since visited schools, hosted workshops and collaborated with businesses to spread the word about how important bees are.
Of course, one of the great things we can all do to help bees is to plant flowers that attract pollinators such as bees and butterflies.
Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has a "Go Potty" campaign to encourage us to do that - you just need a pot to go potty with! Find out all about it here.
Extend the protected area of land by 181 hectares This will mean 1,031 hectares are protected – the ecosystem is threatened by agricultural activity. Pumas roam here – they are safe from human conflict and illegal hunting, but the encroachment of agricultural land could change all this. Without this land purchase, the area could be bought up and used for livestock – and that will make forest fragmentation worse.
Restore 100 hectares of essential cloud forest habitat This will be done by planting 36,500 native tree species between 2023 and 2028. It will reconnect fragmented forests for animals such as the puma, the ocelot and Northern oncilla so that they can move safely, rest and feed. The pumas’ presence and condition will be monitored by the forest rangers, using camera traps to see what the pumas are up to, and rehabilitated wildlife will be released in the area, too.
Protect habitat of 665 species. 15 species are on the IUCN Red List so this project is giving them a lifeline. Species such as the Antioquia Brushfinch are here – this species was once thought to be extinct – and so is the Antioquia Chocolate Frog, a tree frog found in northwestern Columbia alone. This frog needs the torrents and puddles that the damp terrain provides. But a successful appeal will help:
28 Amphibians, of which 3 are threatened species.
443 birds, of which 6 are threatened species
148 mammals of which 4 are threatened species
46 reptiles – 2 species are threatened
Over 250 plant species. These include 120 recorded orchid species and the area also has the world’s tallest palm tree!
4. Ensure the health and security of very important water cycles Wildlife and local people depend on these, as the cloud forest captures, stores and releases water downstream.
5. Offer livelihoods to local people through ecotourism and conservation jobs. Nine cabins will be built to host guests, for example, and ecotourism activities will be developed with local communities. Three forest ranger positions will be held by local people for the first three years of the project and their role will be to plant and nurture trees, monitor camera traps and accompany visitors to the reserve
The Antioquia Brushfinch is one of the species who need this appeal to succeed.
This is an exciting and important opportunity to support Fundación Guanacas, a partner of the World Land Trust, to expand its Guanacas Reserve which has one of the only cloud forests in its Antioquia region. Fundación Guanacas needs funds to save land that would suffer deforestation and soil degradation if it were not saved and restored.
Please support this appeal if you can!
All about the World Land Trust:
The World Land Trust is an amazing charity based in the UK, (HQ in Suffolk). It focuses specifically on conserving threatened habitats and it does this through raising funds for land purchase. It goes down this route with considerable care, and the land is purchased, protected and managed by local partner organisations. Thus is has the ability to respond swiftly when lands are under threat of destruction.
So far, the World Land Trust has protected 2,409,420 acres, and planted 2,457,900 trees. It works in countries such as Argentina, Ecuador, Belize, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, the UK, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Paraguay, India, Guatemala – and lots more! View their projects here
It raises some of these funds through a Buy an Acre scheme – a £100 donation can buy an acre of land and protect it for wildlife in perpetuity. You can also donate (one off or monthly) to the Action Fund which is used to for funds to enable the Trust to respond fast where action is needed, be it to extend and safeguard existing reserves or fight fires, or make sure that the reserves are protected by experienced rangers.
Every year, the World Land Trust has a huge appeal in the autumn. It's called Big Match Fortnight...
All about previous Big Match Fortnights
In 2022, this appeal was a real opportunity to save Ecuador’s incredible Río Anzu and Río Zúñac forests! The Life of the Edge appeal launched in October 2022 reached its £1,430,000 target! Everyone who donated has enabled the World Land Trust's partner – Foundación EcoMinga – to DOUBLE the size of the Anzu and Zúñac reserves in Ecuador’s upper Río Pastaza watershed. Read all about it HERE
Along with donations from EcoMinga’sother supporters, the World Land Trust’s partner would be able to safeguard 5,1234 acres across both reserves, patrolled by the World Land Trust funded Keepers of the Wild. And – very exciting – they will be linked to a 1.6 MILLION hectare protected network.
In 2021, the Trust aimed to raise £1.2 million for the Guardians of Nimla Ha’ – one of their most ambitious appeals to date. An incredible £1.37 million was raised which enabled the Trust’s partner in Guatemala, FUNDAECO, to complete the purchase to TRIPLE the size of their Laguna Grande Reserve, home to over 700 species. Manatees, ocelots, 357 bird species, primates, Jaguars, Margays will all be much safer thanks to this purchase. The reserve tripled in size from 1,668 to nearly 5,000 acres. Find out more about the Guardians of Nimla ‘Ha appeal here.
We need to buy these habitats to protect them. Let conservation be the victor here, not extraction and destruction
Together we can all make this happen. Every single donation will make a difference.
We can act as individuals by donating and spreading the word and being a part of a something really important and terrific. By pulling together, we can power through this appeal and help protect wildlife.
