Reintroduction and Rewilding Summit April 2021

Subtitled ‘A Focus on Wildlife Restoration and a Vision for the Future‘, the teams at Birds of Poole Harbour (BoPH – Paul Morton, Liv Cooper, and Brittany Maxted) and The Self-Isolating Bird Club (SIBC – Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin) are hosting an online ‘Summit’ in April looking at the incredible work going on to reintroduce, restore, rewild, and relocate wildlife and their habitats to the UK (and beyond) – and we’re all invited! From Ospreys to White Storks and Vultures to Beavers there is a huge effort taking place to bring back populations of iconic species that have been lost to persecution, hunting, and habitat loss.

There is a great deal to celebrate, and in a period that has (to put it mildly) been just a little wearisome, BoPH and the SIBC feel that doing a little ‘shouting from the rooftops’ to discuss the huge characters and the visionary projects taking place across the nation is exactly what we all need! A sentiment we here at The WoW Project heartily endorse…

As Bird of Poole Harbour put it on their website:

In 2021, it cannot (rightfully) be denied that our planet is at an ecological tipping point. Whether we’re discussing the climate crisis or extreme declines in biodiversity, taking appropriate action to remedy these problems is still not a priority for many of those with power. In the past year especially, nature has proven it’s worth 100 times over, with millions of us finding comfort and solace within it. At Birds of Poole Harbour, we are not content with letting the opportunity to restore and conserve our natural heritage slip through our fingers, and we’re not alone. We are a small part of a mighty network of people and organisations striving to make positive change for nature, exploring novel ways of doing so and educating the public as we go.

The R & R Summit is a virtual event which you will be able to stream live from home on Saturday 10th April 2021. The day will be hosted by the brilliant Self-Isolating Bird Club, with presenters Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin, and will be jam-packed full of content from different projects, conservationists and science communicators talking all about reintroductions and nature restoration. The event will raise the discussion of a multitude of questions, from whether reintroductions are the best way to re-establish native species,  to how beavers can shape our landscape, and whether rewilding has become ‘the’ overused buzzword or is it actually our best answer to reverse this catastrophic biodiversity decline?

Birds of Poole Harbour, The Reintroduction & Rewilding Summit

 

Some truly inspiring guests are being lined up for the day. In the meantime a series of podcasts produced by the WoW Project’s Charlie Moores are being produced to support the Summit.

The podcasts will discuss the details, aims and inspiration behind a number of rewilding projects and the first is online now – a chat with the BoPH team about their fantastic efforts to bring breeding Ospreys back to the south coast.

If you’d like a listen you can find it on BoPH’s Soundcloud page. For more announcements follow BoPH on Twitter at harbourbirds