Pine Martens return to Kielder Water

27/08/2018

Camera footage has recorded Pine Martens at Kielder Water and Forest Park, Northumberland, for the first time in more than 90 years.

The cameras are located in a remote part of Kielder Water and Forest Park, as part of a Red Squirrel monitoring project, and the recent images confirm the first Pine Martens recorded in the area since 1926. The sighting is encouraging news for the organisations working together for Pine Marten conservation in northern England, including the Forestry Commission, Northumberland Wildlife Trust, Aberdeen University and Vincent Wildlife Trust. It also could have wider positive implications for Red Squirrels.

Recent research carried out by Aberdeen University found that Red Squirrels are doing well in areas in Scotland where Pine Martens are increasing, with Grey Squirrel numbers dropping significantly. Grey Squirrels out-compete Reds for food and also pass on a deadly virus, squirrel pox; this is one of the main reasons that the latter species is under threat. These finding show that a re-establishment of Pine Martens at Kielder Water and Forest Park could suppress Grey Squirrel numbers, possibly leading to an increase in Red Squirrel numbers.

The conclusive footage was first seen by John Hartshorne, who has been helping with the squirrel surveys as part of the Red Squirrels United project for several years. He explained: "It's very common to see wildlife other than squirrels on the cameras I use, but this was most unexpected. Historically, Pine Martens were commonplace here, but habitat clearance and persecution led to them being eliminated."

Tom Dearnley, Forestry Commission Ecologist, added: "As the forest nears 100 years in age, it is increasingly being colonised by rare and protected species. Pine Marten returning to England, over the Scottish border, has been anticipated for some time, encouraged by the efforts we are making to create ecologically diverse forests. We are delighted to see photographic evidence of their return, in a forest valued by so many people."

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Six of the secretive cats could be released in Northumberland’s Kielder forest if an application by the Lynx UK Trust is approved

Damian Carrington Environment editor

Friday 7 July 2017 15.39 BST Last modified on Friday 7 July 2017 22.00 BST

After an absence of 1,300 years, the lynx could be back in UK forests by the end of 2017. The Lynx UK Trust has announced it will apply for a trial reintroduction for six lynx into the Kielder forest, Northumberland, following a two-year consultation process with local stakeholders.

The secretive cat can grow to 1.5m in length and feeds almost exclusively by ambushing deer. Attacks on humans are unknown, but it was hunted to extinction for its fur in the UK. The Kielder forest was chosen by the trust from five possible sites, due to its abundance of deer, large forest area and the absence of major roads.

Sheep farmers and some locals are opposed to the reintroduction, but Dr Paul O’Donoghue, chief scientific advisor to the Lynx UK Trust and expert adviser to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) believes there are good reasons for reintroducing the predator.

 “Lynx belong here as much as hedgehogs, badgers, robins, blackbirds - they are an intrinsic part of the UK environment,” he told the Guardian. “There is a moral obligation. We killed every single last one of them for the fur trade, that’s a wrong we have to right.”

Rural communities would also benefit from eco-tourism, O’Donoghue said: “They will generates tens of millions of pounds for struggling rural UK economies. Lynx have already been reintroduced in the Harz mountains in Germany. They have branded the whole area the ‘kingdom of the lynx’. Now it is a thriving ecotourism destination and we thought we could do exactly the same for Kielder,” he said.

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Ratty returns: hundreds of water voles released in UK's biggest reintroduction

Almost 700 of the endangered rodents, immortalised in Wind in the Willows, will be released in Northumberland – and it’s all thanks really to the otter

Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent

Thursday 15 June 2017 06.30 BST 

The biggest reintroduction of water voles in the UK began this week, with 325 voles released into Kielder Forest in Northumberland, and 350 more to follow later in the summer.

Water voles hold a special place in Britain’s natural history, providing the model for Ratty, the much-loved character in The Wind in the Willows. But the species has suffered catastrophic declines over several decades, driven by loss of habitat, the pollution of waterways, increased urbanisation, and rampant populations of American mink, originally farmed for their fur but which escaped into the wild and proved a voracious predator on the native vole.

More than 90% of the water vole population across the UK has died out, making it the country’s fastest declining land mammal.

Kielder Forest, more than 650 sq km in extent, was once a stronghold of the water vole, but none have been seen there in more than two decades, owing to the prevalence of mink.

By a curious quirk of conservation, “Ratty” owes the reintroduction in the area to the revival of another water vole predator: the otter. Burgeoning otter populations in Kielder, generations of which have been carefully nurtured through conservation efforts, have displaced the rival mink, which tends not to share hunting grounds with otters.

The reintroduction in Kielder Water and Forest Park has only taken place following comprehensive surveys for mink carried out since 2013. The Kielder Water Vole Partnership said it was confident the mink had permanently gone, making the habitat safe. As well as the otter, other native predators such as foxes, stoats, weasels and owls can all be found at Kielder, but these predations are likely to be kept in natural balance as the voles increase their range.

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Red squirrels: 5,000 volunteers sought to save species – and help kill invasive greys

Wildlife Trusts’ biggest-ever recruitment drive will see volunteers monitor populations, educate children – and bludgeon grey squirrels to death

Patrick Barkham

Friday 24 February 2017 06.01 GMT 

An army of 5,000 volunteers is being sought to save the red squirrel from extinction by monitoring populations, educating children – and bludgeoning grey squirrels to death.

The Wildlife Trusts’ biggest-ever recruitment drive is focused on areas of northern England, north Wales and Northern Ireland where invasive grey squirrels first introduced by the Victorians are driving the retreating red squirrel population to extinction.

More than 2.5 million grey squirrels are continuing to spread north through England and into Scotland, out-competing the 140,000 remaining red squirrels and spreading the squirrelpox virus, which does not affect greys but rapidly kills reds. 

“In most of the UK there are only a handful of refuges left for red squirrels,” said Dr Cathleen Thomas, programme manager of Red Squirrel United, a conservation partnership started in 2015. “Without help, experts predict this beautiful and treasured creature could be extinct within as little as 35 years.”

Volunteers for Red Squirrel United will be asked to monitor red squirrel strongholds in Northumberland, Merseyside, Wales and Northern Ireland, and report any grey squirrels entering these areas. Volunteers will set up camera traps to film squirrel behaviour and teach the public and school children about the way in which greys have rapidly driven the reds to extinction across southern Britain since 1945.

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Plan to return the lynx splits friends and families in Kielder Forest community

Northumberland nature reserve community at odds over application to import six of the mammals from Sweden

Josh Halliday and Nazia Parveen

Friday 3 February 2017 18.12 GMT Last modified on Friday 3 February 2017 22.00 GMT 

It is the idyllic nature reserve where walkers roam among roe deer and red squirrel while star-gazers enjoy the biggest expanse of dark sky in the whole of Europe.

But there’s a blot on the horizon over Kielder Forest, in Northumberland, thanks to highly contentious plans to reintroduce the Eurasian lynx. 

The move has caused a bitter divide in the picturesque hills bordering Scotland. Campaigners say the wild mammal, which was last seen across Britain in 700AD, would reinvigorate the biggest forested area in Britain and control its sizeable herbivore population.

The idea has, however, caused a deep split in the rural community. There are fears among farmers that the six lynxes, which will be imported from Sweden, will kill their sheep and attack deer.

An application is due to be submitted to Natural England and Scottish Natural Heritage in a matter of weeks. If approved, the Lynx UK trust, the charity behind the proposals, hope that the animals could be introduced into the wild as early as next year.

The local MP, Guy Opperman, is also locked in a heated dispute with the charity, which he accused of behaving in a “confrontational and high-handed” way.

“The way in which this organisation have conducted their ‘consultation’ has been an object lesson in how not to consult and how to wind up local communities,” Opperman said on Friday.

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