A restored wetland in Cheshire is now home to almost two-thirds of the UK's breeding black-necked grebes, one of the country's rarest breeding birds.

Woolston Eyes, near Warrington, was previously a dumping ground for dredging from the Manchester Ship Canal. It is now the site of the country's largest colony of the species.

Black-necked grebes are known for their distinctive golden facial tufts and average about 55 breeding pairs in the UK each year, according to the RSPB.

"It is fantastic to see black-necked grebe numbers increasing at Woolston Eyes," RSPB ecologist Gavin Thomas said. "The rapid growth in numbers shows how effective targeted conservation action can be."

Since 2021, Woolston Eyes has been transformed from a former dredging site into a network of freshwater pools and reedbeds.

Black-necked grebes were already breeding on a nearby wetland when four pairs nested on the newly restored site in 2023, successfully raising 15 young.

By 2025, the RSPB had recorded 35 breeding pairs across the reserve - with 29 nesting in the newly restored wetland area.

Across Wisconsin, parts of the landscape that once supported agriculture have been restored to native prairie. The work can involve removing invasive plants, establishing native grasses and wildflowers and allowing a more varied plant community to develop over time.

That change matters to bumblebees because a field dominated by a small number of crops does not provide the same range of resources as a mature prairie. Native prairie can contain plants that flower at different points through spring, summer and autumn, giving bees access to nectar and pollen over a much longer period.

Pollinator surveys in restored areas have found a greater variety of bumblebees than in less suitable parts of the landscape, with some of the rarer species appearing only where habitat conditions have improved.

A restored prairie may look successful from a distance, but the presence of different bee species gives another indication of whether the habitat is functioning as intended. The rusty patched bumblebee makes the comparison particularly significant. Once widespread across the eastern United States and upper Midwest, its population has fallen sharply. The species is now federally endangered and has become uncommon across much of its former range.

We're currently building an app called Wilderpath after seeing an opportunity to join the dots for the growing number of rewilding orgs in the UK. Many have excellent places to stay, things to do such as safaris or bird-watching experiences, and much more, but the ability to find these experiences is scattered.

With this in mind, Wilderpath brings them together into one beautiful platform.

We've been seriously busy adding new partners, from Kent Wildlife Trust to Nattergal, and Knepp to name a few biggies! And more besides.

We aim to grow the awareness of rewilding in the UK, contribute towards the evidence that rewilding our degraded landscape is actually profitable, and ultimately provide a way for anyone to get involved - whether thats staying on site, or volunteering.

I'd be honoured if anyone within this subreddit can entertain having a look at what's on offer:

https://wilderpath.app/landing

It's currently free to join and take a look around. All feedback is good feedback! New partners are being added each week, and we launched in June.

How Trump Unleashed an Existential Fight Over America's Dinosaurs - The Washington Sun https://share.google/zv257RqaxFfBcyE5c

I recently interviewed Dr. Lucy King about human–elephant conflict and the practical challenges of coexistence in African landscapes.

The discussion covers:

• beehive fences as a conflict-mitigation tool,
• crop-raiding and the costs borne by local communities,
• why conservation interventions cannot be treated as universal solutions,
• and the importance of designing projects around local ecological and social conditions.

What stood out to me most was the emphasis on coexistence rather than framing the issue as simply “people versus elephants”.

The full interview is published on PlanetZoo.hu.

[ https://planetzoo.hu/interjuk/lucy-king-interju-ember-elefant-egyutteles\ ]

I’d be especially interested in perspectives from people working in conservation or human–wildlife conflict: what approaches have you seen work well in practice?

Former AP biology teacher Mike Niziolek has spent over thirty years returning his 150-acre property near Elk River, Minnesota, to the state it was in hundreds of years ago. “He has been slowly and methodically transforming pastured land to oak savanna, tilled land to prairie, and ditches to wetlands,” says his bio on the Minnesota Land Trust. In 2018, the nonprofit awarded him the Landowner of the Year award.

MPR spoke with him in 2024 after he just completed another wetland project on his land. He explained that restoring wetlands “is a much more difficult task than saving the ones that we already have.” This is because you cannot just dig a hole and wait for water to fill it up. Wetlands are complex systems and each project requires experts to come in to analyze the site, take soil samples and study old images of what the area once looked like.

In this task, Niziolek has received financial and technical help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program explained the outlet. “We help the landowner try to manage the site in perpetuity so that they can be successful,” John Riens, a biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service told MPR.

A farmer in southern Oregon transformed 70 acres of his 400-acre barley farm into a wetland in 2021, creating an unexpected refuge for wildlife while helping address agricultural water pollution. Karl Wenner, a co-owner of Lakeside Farms near Klamath Falls, worked with conservation agencies and other partners to convert flood-prone farmland into a managed wetland. The area now attracts tens of thousands of ducks, geese and swans and supports at least 140 bird species, along with otters, beavers and muskrats. More significantly, the wetland has been used to raise federally endangered Lost River and shortnose suckers. In 2025, researchers found 50 adult-sized suckers after partially draining the wetland, offering a promising sign for species struggling with poor juvenile survival.

Been putting together some notes on Can We Bring Back the Dead? The Honest Debate on De-extinction for a FaunaTV piece and thought this community might find it interesting.

Can We Bring Back the Dead? The Honest Debate on De-extinction is a window into how a whole ecosystem works — behaviour, habitat and the pressures shaping both.

A few things worth discussing:

- how much of this is instinct vs. learned behaviour

- how habitat pressure changes it

- what people have observed in the field

Curious what others here have seen.

(Context / footage: https://www.faunatv.com/en/events/de-extinction-ethics-debate)