News

The National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme (NHMP) is an exciting new project aiming to calculate robust population estimates for hedgehogs. The project officially launched at the end of March 2024 and the pilot phase is currently running for three years, until May 2026. We started our first surveys last year (2023) and are looking forward to …

Barn owls are one of our best-loved and most recognised birds. Hunting in the daytime as well as during the night, their distinctive heart-shaped faces and ghostly silent flight have endeared them to us, despite their status as an avid hunter. They feed in long grass and woodland edges where they hunt for voles, shrews …

We will plant 45,000 miles. Not a follow up song by the Proclaimers, but an ambitious target set by Defra to plant and restore 45,000 miles of hedgerow by 2050. An opportunity to design It’s been a long time since we’ve planted hedges at any sort of scale. In fact, most of the hedges we …

The first mammals made an appearance around the start of the dinosaurs’ heyday, 200 million years ago. Then (as now), most dinosaurs were diurnal (active during the day) and keeping out from under their feet was probably a smart move. So, mammals adopted an alternative lifestyle, busying themselves at night. Goats town For a lot …

Sushmita Kar, one of our conservation insight grant winners at the Turtle Survival Alliance, talks to us about her recent field work expedition in Nagaland, India, searching for released Asian giant tortoises. Why are we looking for Asian giant tortoises? Asian giant tortoises are mainland Asia’s largest tortoise and the 6th largest in the world! …

Watching water voles in 2023 Last year, PTES volunteers played a crucial role in helping us map the whereabouts of Britain’s water voles. The results from the National Water Vole Monitoring Programme (NWVMP) in 2023 were fantastic and it’s the dedicated time and effort put in by our monitors that means we can all look …

What is wood pasture? Wood pasture is a man-made mosaic habitat featuring open-grown veteran and ancient trees, an open ground layer such as grassland or heathland, grazing animals, wood decay and flowering shrubs. The structure and appearance can vary depending on historic and current management. If the site is in good condition, there will be …

This June, we successfully released 38 healthy captive-bred hazel dormouse into a woodland on the Calke Abbey estate in Derbyshire. We reintroduced this new population of dormice in collaboration with Wildwood Trust, London Zoo ZSL and Paignton Zoo. Checking nest boxes for dormice As part of our dormouse reintroductions each year, we work with trained …

Below us, as the aeroplane started its descent, the lights of Tashkent stretched as far as the horizon. The capital of Uzbekistan is home to over two and half million people, making it the largest city in Central Asia. I was arriving there, close to midnight, on a visit to meet our Conservation Partner Elena …

Veronica and John‘s medium-sized suburban garden is about two miles outside a city in the north of England. ‘We read a lot about the importance of gardens as potential spaces for wildlife to flourish, so we decided to join the Living with Mammals survey. That was in 2006, and we’ve been going ever since.’ Fifteen-year-old …

This summer, two keen members of Wren Wildlife and Conservation Group in Northeast London took part in our stag beetle count. Laura Bower, PTES’ Conservation Officer, spoke to Sybil and Nate about how they took their participation to another level by encouraging friends and neighbours to look out for stag beetles too and create dead …

PTES’ Habitat Officer, Megan Gimber, recollects a recent trip to Northumberland, organised by the Coquetdale Branch of the Wildlife Trust, to meet farmer Kevin and learn how he has restored his hedgerows. Northumberland hedgerows at their finest A recent visit to Northumberland had me flabbergasted at the difference one person can make. In an area …