Briefly 755 EUROPE


Bison brought back to UK for first time in thousands of years.. . Bison are being introduced to a British woodland to restore an ancient habitat and its wildlife. Themove is part of a GBP 1 mil- lion project led by Kent Wildlife Trust and the Wildwood Trust to help manage Blean Woods near Canterbury, Kent. European bison, the continent’s largest land mammal, are the closest living relative to ancient steppe bison that once roamed Britain and naturally managed the habitat. A closely- knit herd of four European bison will be in- troduced into a fenced enclosure away from public footpaths, in what is the first time the animals have been introduced to a nature re- serve in the UK. They will be within a wider 500 ha area that will also harbour other graz- ing animals such as Konik ponies, to create a varied and healthy habitat. Bison fell trees by rubbing up against them, and they eat bark, creating areas of space and light in the woods and providing deadwood which will help fungi and insects such as stag beetles. Patches of bare earth created by the bison dust bathing are expected to benefit lizards, burrowing wasps and rare arable weeds. In the UK, lack of woodland management is one of the biggest drivers of species decline, according to theWildwood Trust. Source: The Independent (2020) independent.co.uk/environment/bison- reintroduced-wildlife-project-kent- canterbury-blean-woods-a9610791.html


.. . and lynx set to be brought back to Scottish forests Plans to reintroduce the lynx to Scotland have taken a major step forward after a site was chosen for the project. One male and two females will be released into the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, just 50 km north of Glasgow. Hunted to extinction for their fur in the UK c. 1,300 years ago, the Eurasian lynx has been successfully reintroduced in various European countries. Now the Lynx UK Trust hopes for similar success in Scotland, starting at Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, where the individuals released into the wild will bemonitored over 5 years. Over the past year, the Trust has been carrying out an extensive ecological feasibility study to as- sess habitat suitability for the lynx across the whole of Scotland. Local economies would benefit from the lynx becoming a tourist at- traction. The felids also help to control native deer populations, and no lynx attack on hu- mans has ever been recorded. Source: The National (2020) thenational. scot/news/18655124.lynx-set-brought- back-scottish-forests-five-years


Global warming shrinks bird breeding windows.. . A new study suggests that as the climate warms, birds are not only breeding earlier, but their annual breeding windows are also shrinking—some by as many as 4–5 days. This could lead to increased competi- tion for food that might threaten many bird populations. To find out how the length of breeding periods has changed over time, a team analysed an extensive dataset from amateur ornithologists, coordinated by the Finnish Museum of Natural History. The data are from 1975–2017 and include the nesting records of 73 species and more than 820,000 birds from a 1,000 km2 area in Finland’s boreal forests. The findings suggest that breeding periods are generally occurring earlier in the year, but the end dates are shifting back faster than the start dates. This results in breeding windows that are on average 1.7 days shorter in 2017 than they were in 1975. During that same period, Finland’s mean annual temperature rose by 0.8 °C, suggesting many bird species are responding to changing temperatures. Source: Science (2020) sciencemag.org/ news/2020/07/global-warming-shrinks- bird-breeding-windows-potentially- threatening-species


.. . and threatened European birds face habitat loss In parts of Europe, low intensive agricul- tural practices have created semi-natural agro-steppes that hold important popula- tions of great bustards, lesser kestrels, rollers and other European bird species. However, a new study has shown that these habitats could be at risk because farmers are converting their land to meet increased demand for products such as olive oil and wine. Traditional olive groves and vineyards are occasionally used for feeding or resting by several threatened European birds, but inten- sively managed versions of these and other crops are inadequate for such birds. In the early 2000s several agro-steppe sites were designated as Special Protection Areas for bird conservation, as part of the EU Natura 2000 network of priority areas for conserva- tion. Researchers assessed the effectiveness of Natura 2000 at conservingWestern Europe’s agro-steppes over a 10-year period. The re- search suggests the Natura 2000 network may have helped prevent losses of c. 36,000 ha of agro-steppe habitat in Iberia. However, of the 21 Special Protection Areas surveyed in Spain and Portugal, all agro-steppe sites experienced losses. Source: Open Access Government (2020) openaccessgovernment.org/endangered- european-birds/90793


Oryx, 2020, 54(6), 753–758 © Fauna & Flora International 2020 doi:10.1017/S0030605320000897


First database of funding for environmental restoration in Europe In preparation for the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021– 2030), ambitious targets and commitments for restoration need to be supported by an increased availability and coordination of funding. Information on allocations for restoration projects across Europe has pre- viously been scattered and decentralized. With support from the Endangered Land- scapes Programme, the UN Environment Programme–World Conservation Monitoring Centre and Fauna & Flora International have now collated funding information for over 400 European restoration projects im- plemented since 2010. By providing an over- view of funding trends across Europe, fun- ders and decision makers can now better identify and address gaps, opportunities and priorities for restoration, and coordinate between initiatives to enable effective and sustainable restoration of degraded marine, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. The data and accompanying report are available online, and users can discover current and historic global funding efforts, including details of total project cost, spatial and tem- poral scale, donors, beneficiaries and the- matic area. Not all projects disclose fun- ding information online and further contri- butions of data are welcome. Source: Restoration Funders (2020) restorationfunders.com


European banks urged to stop funding oil trade in Amazon Indigenous people living at the headwaters of the Amazon have called on European banks to stop financing oil development in the region, as it poses a threat to them and damages a fragile ecosystem. A new report found previously undisclosed fund- ing for oil in the region. The headwaters of the Amazon in Ecuador and Peru are home to more than 500,000 Indigenous people, including some who choose to live in voluntary isolation. Many banks have pledged to halt or limit the finance they provide to fossil fuel projects, but the new report focuses on a grey area: instead of pro- ject finance, the authors looked at trade fi- nance. Project finance is used to start and develop oil wells, fossil fuel extraction, re- fineries and pipelines, but trade finance is used to move the oil and gas from produc- tion to refineries. The report revealed USD 10 billion of trade finance from 19 European banks for oil operations in the headwaters of the Amazon since 2009. Source: The Guardian (2020) theguardian. com/environment/2020/aug/12/ european-banks-urged-to-stop-funding- oil-trade-in-amazon


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