Conservation work produces concrete results for penguins, harriers and beavers
Bird-flu vaccination on Phillip Island, protection of Montagu's harrier nests in England and the appearance of beaver kits in Norfolk show different conservation practices in three wild animal populations.
Science··Midday
More than 1,000 little penguins receive a first H5N1 dose on Phillip Island
Teams working at night on Phillip Island gave a first H5N1 dose to more than 1,000 little penguins. According to Phillip Island Nature Parks, cited by The Guardian, the work may be the largest vaccination programme ever attempted on wild birds. About 5,000 birds across Phillip Island and St Kilda are due to receive two doses. Because the penguins return to the same burrows each night, teams can move them into small pens after they come up the beach; about 300 penguins have been handled on recent nights.[1]
One male Montagu's harrier raises six chicks in two nests
The RSPB reported that one male Montagu's harrier raised six chicks in two nests with two different females at an undisclosed site on English farmland. BBC News reported that the species entered the United Kingdom's red list of most threatened birds in 2021. Successful nests numbered nine in 2011, but there was no evidence of successful breeding between 2020 and 2024; four chicks hatched at the same location last year. Monitoring with the farmers allowed the nests to be fenced against ground predators such as foxes.[2]
Two beaver kits are born in Norfolk after more than 500 years
Camera traps at Pensthorpe nature reserve recorded two beaver kits on the River Wensum. The Guardian reported that they are the offspring of two free-living beavers that arrived in December and built a lodge on the river. Beavers were hunted to extinction in England and have been re-establishing there since 2015; the nearest known wild population is on the River Stour in Kent. How the parents reached Norfolk is unknown, and the reserve says it does not support suspected illegal releases.[3]
