VWT E-newsletter November 2016

2016 has been another busy and exciting year for the VWT. This issue of our newsletter includes highlights from the second phase of pine marten translocations and the 2nd All-Ireland Pine Marten Symposium. We also hear from the staff and volunteers working at our bat reserves and receive updates from our PhD students on their work with grey squirrels, polecats, Bechstein’s bats and greater horseshoe bats.

The Pine Marten in Ireland

VWT’s Ruth Hanniffy reports on the latest research into this conservation success story in the Irish Wildlife Trust’s ‘Irish Wildlife’ Magazine.

Welsh rare kits

VWT’s David Bavin is part of a team that is bringing pine martens back to Wales and is amazed by how the animals have taken to their new home. David reports on the pine marten’s return to Wales in BBC Wildlife Magazine’s October issue.

State of Nature 2016: Wales

This report is a companion to the State of Nature 2016 report, which makes an assessment of the fortunes of wildlife across the UK, its Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.

This State of Nature 2016: Wales report represents a step forward in our ability to report on Wales’ biodiversity. Since the first report was published back in 2013, we have developed new country-specific metrics of change for all of the UK’s four nations. The new Welsh measures, presented alongside existing national biodiversity indicators and alongside UK metrics, improve our understanding of how Wales’ nature has changed, and the scale of the challenge that faces us.

State of Nature 2016

This report pools data and expertise from more than 50 nature conservation and research organisations to give a cutting edge overview of the state of nature in the UK and in its seas, Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.

It presents newly developed measures of change, the latest knowledge on what has driven these changes, and showcase inspiring examples of how we can work together to save nature.

The VWT is one of 53 organisations involved in the State of Nature Report.

Annual Review 2015

This summary version of our Annual Report outlines the achievements of the Trust in its 40th year. It covers our work on mustelids, bats and other species as well as including a financial synopsis.

A native enigma: the pine marten

VWT in Ireland’s Ruth Hanniffy reports on new research on the pine marten in the Native Woodland Trust’s ‘Woodland’ Magazine.

Back from the brink: pine martens in Wales

In the ancient wildwoods that once blanketed much of Britain, the pine marten was one of our most common carnivores, but today the story is rather different. Written by VWT’s Pine Marten Recovery Project Officer, Jenny MacPherson, for the Woodland Trust’s Magazine ‘WoodWise’.

If you go down to the woods tonight…

VWT’s Henry Schofield reports on the ecological needs and requirements of Britain’s bats in the Woodland Trust’s ‘WoodWise’ magazine.

Croose, E. et al. (2016). Den boxes as a tool for pine marten conservation and population monitoring

This paper presents the results on the provision and occupancy of pine marten den boxes in Galloway Forest, Scotland. 50 den boxes were installed in order to increase the availability and diversity of suitable den sites for breeding female martens and aid monitoring of the marten population. A proportion of the boxes was occupied by martens every year and the boxes were used by breeding females to raise their young.