For World Rewilding Day 2024, here is an overview of one of the earliest ecosystem-wide Ecological Restoration Projects, (now known as Rewilding) that was started in 1960 on Nonsuch Island in Bermuda, and continues to this day, from which the Nonsuch Expeditions project is based.
Biodiversity Photography Project
Nonsuch Island is 16.5 acres in area, is well known as Bermuda's most important Nature Reserve and is where many of Bermuda's rarest and most critically endangered plant and animal species survive. Due to the ongoing massive impact of man on Bermuda through development, habitat destruction and introduced mammal predators, some of these species can only survive on offshore islands that are managed to control invasive species and human access. It is also home to several "Lazarus species", that is, species that were thought to be extinct, but were rediscovered barely surviving in unexpected locations, and are now the subject of recovery programs or captive breeding and re-introduction projects.
Nonsuch is also notable as one of the first examples on Earth of Ecological Restoration, or "Rewilding" as it is now known, where restoration and recovery work is being carried out not just for one or two species, but with the entire ecosystem that these species live in and need to survive in the wild. This also involves removal or control of all non-native or introduced plant and animal species that do not belong in that ecosystem but were accidently or deliberately introduced by man. It also involves ongoing management to ensure both survival of the re-introduced native and endemic species, and the continued control or eradication of additional invasive introduced species making their way out to the rewilded areas.
Bermuda Petrels as seen in CahowCam LiveStream
A keystone species the recovery of which is a signature part of this effort is the Cahow, or Bermuda petrel which was rediscovered in 1951 after being thought extinct since the 1620s, by Robert Cushman Murphy, Louis S. Mowbray and a teenage David Wingate. Eighteen pairs were eventually found breeding on four of the smaller Castle Harbour Islands, which led to these islands, including Nonsuch, gaining Nature Reserve status.
In 1962, after studying zoology at Cornell, Dr. David Wingate moved to Nonsuch Island as caretaker, where he conceived and initiated the "Living Museum" project, a monumental, and at the time ground-breaking ecological restoration or rewilding project that aimed to restore Nonsuch as an example of Bermuda's pre-colonial flora and faunal communities and habitats. He was appointed as Bermuda Government Conservation Officer in 1966, with the "Living Museum" project securing Government funding.
David Wingate, 1992 Nonsuch Tour
Between 1960 and year 2,000 when he retired,10,000+ seedlings of Native and Endemic plants were planted on Nonsuch by Dr. Wingate, on the initially virtually barren island, which was followed by another 6,000+ by Jeremy Madeiros once he took over as Warden in 2000 (see below).
Between 1967 and 1978, 16,000 green turtle hatchlings were hatched and released to sea from Nonsuch South Beach, in an effort to re-establish a breeding population in Bermuda. This project was ultimately unsuccessful, due to reasons that were not fully understood at the time.
In 1975 and 1992, two artificial ponds were excavated on Nonsuch to create wetland habitats, which were previously missing from the island. The freshwater pond was excavated in the center of the island and fitted with an impermeable liner to create a freshwater marsh habitat that continues to thrive and create a freshwater source for bird and invertebrate species. A sea-level saltwater pond was excavated and planted with Mangroves in the dune area behind the South Beach, but was damaged by hurricanes in 1995 and 1999, and then totally destroyed by major hurricanes in 2003 and 2010.
Between 1976 and 1978, 44 Yellow-crowned Night Herons were shipped from Tampa Bay in Florida to Bermuda in a collaborative project with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. These were hand-reared on Nonsuch on land crabs and released into the wild. These began breeding here and elsewhere on Bermuda by 1980, eventually encouraging the Fish-eating Green Heron to naturally colonize Bermuda by 2002.
Top Shells and Portuguese Man-0-War in Nonsuch tide pool
In 1982, the re-introduction of the large intertidal West Indian Top Shell or "Whelk", which was wiped out on Bermuda after being collected as food by the early settlers, was carried out on Nonsuch Island, using 86 shells imported from the Turks and Caicos Islands by famed diver Teddy Tucker. This project was successful and the top shell started reproducing by 1986 on Nonsuch and has since recovered island-wide on Bermuda.
By 1990, the native forest planted by David Wingate matured enough to begin self-seeding; this forest has since developed into a closed-canopy, mature forest composed entirely of endemic and native tree and shrub species. Planting of shade-loving fern and shrub species that need the shelter and shade of a mature forest has continued until the present day.
In 2000, Dr, Wingate retired as Conservation Officer, with Jeremy Madeiros, who had worked with Wingate since 1984 as an apprentice and Parks Superintendent, becoming the new Conservation Officer by 2001. Madeiros travelled to Australia in 2001 to receive training for the handling and translocation of Petrels and numerous other seabird species. He has continued as the warden and manager of the Nonsuch Island project for the last 24 years.
From 2004 to 2008, in the first phase of the Bermuda Petrel Translocation Project initiated by Mr. Madeiros, 102 Cahow chicks were translocated from the 4 tiny original islets where the species had barely survived for almost 400 years, to artificial concrete nest burrows constructed on Nonsuch, where they were hand-fed on squid and anchovies and allowed to imprint upon and fledge from Nonsuch Island, so that they could return there to nest once they were mature. This project was successful and the first of the birds returned as adults to Nonsuch in 2008, with the first Nonsuch-born Cahow chick since the 1620s hatching in 2009. Almost 50% of all translocated chicks eventually returned as adults to Nonsuch and the original nesting islets, compared with an average of 33% of chicks that are naturally raised by adult Cahows that return.
Following a number of strong hurricane impacts, which destroyed hundreds of Tropicbird (Longtail) nest cavities on the Castle Harbour islands, over 100 artificial "Igloo" Tropicbird nests were installed on Nonsuch and 5 other Castle Harbour Islands between 2003 and 2012. These have helped to keep the number of Tropicbirds breeding in this area, which represents the largest number of breeding pairs of any single location in the greater North Atlantic area, from declining, and have contributed to this population actually increasing over the last 10 years. A survey of breeding success of over 300 Tropicbird nests was initiated by Madeiros in 2006, and continues to this day.
Jeremy in Cahow Translocation Colony “A” with an almost fully fledged Cahow chick
After the success of the first phase of the Cahow Translocation Project, a second translocation project was carried out at a second location on Nonsuch Island, with a total of 65 Cahow chicks translocated between 2013 and 2017 to artificial nest burrows at this new location. This second translocation has also proved to be successful, with the first birds returning and chicks produced by 2018. The number of Cahow breeding pairs at both Nonsuch nesting colonies reached 39 pairs in 2024, with 25 chicks being confirmed.
In 2010 the Nonsuch Expeditions team launched the CahowCam project which has contributed greatly to the management of the species. They continue to develop tools to solve conservation challenges with the latest, an AI-assisted rodent detection system, with support from the Nature Conservancy, that aims to give early warnings to a global rewilding problem. (see more below)
Another "Lazarus species" that was thought to be extinct by 1963, the endemic Greater Bermuda Land Snail (Pocilizonites bermudensis), was rediscovered in 2000 with small populations located in a couple of locations around Bermuda. These were the subject of a captive breeding program at Chester Zoo in the U. K., from which over 10,000 individuals were brought back to Bermuda and re-introduced to Nonsuch Island starting in 2014. This population began to successfully breed and has been monitored and censused ever since, with a survey conducted in 2023 by Dr. Kristiina Ovaska estimating a minimum of 150,000 now living on about one-third of Nonsuch's total area.
The endangered endemic Bermuda Skink also survives in good numbers on Nonsuch Island, with one of the largest populations still to be found in Bermuda. The confirmation in 2023 that Skink populations are increasing around the two Cahow colony sites strongly suggests a symbiotic relationship between the two species, (as filmed by the CahowCams) ,which is doubly important in light of the fact that the few remaining populations on the main Bermuda Islands are all in decline and may collapse in the near future, due to introduced predators such as feral cats and Kiskadee Flycatchers.
The Lesser Bermuda Land Snail (Pocilizonites circumfirmatus), another endemic species that, like its larger cousin became extinct in the wild by the early 2000s, was also the subject of a captive breeding program at Chester Zoo in the U. K., using some of the last individuals collected before the species disappeared. The first 800 young snails from this program were re-introduced to Nonsuch starting in 2020, with another 3000 snails released in 2022-23. Although breeding has not been confirmed on Nonsuch yet, the released adult snails have survived and there are plans to supplement this population with additional releases in the near future.
The Native and endemic forest cover of Nonsuch has now fully matured and the various tree and shrub species are reproducing well in the absence of invasive pest species such as rats and mice, which eat almost all seed produced by surviving native & endemic plants on the main islands. Annual baiting and trapping programs to prevent these pests (along with a new Ai rodent detection system see below), which can swim on rare occasions across from nearby Coopers Island from becoming established on Nonsuch and the other Castle Harbour Islands. Invasive trees, in particular the invasive Australian Casuarina tree, originally planted on these islands as a windbreak in the 1960s, have now been completely removed from Nonsuch as of 2020. Seed from other introduced pest plant species still are carried out to Nonsuch in the excreta of introduced pest bird species such as European Starlings and Kiskadees, and are removed by an ongoing annual culling program carried out by the Conservation Officer, with 6,000 to 15,000 seedlings removed every year.
Jeremy Madeiros, Senior Conservation Officer (Terrestrial Conservation) Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources BERMUDA
The Nonsuch Expeditions was founded 20 years ago by Jean-Pierre Rouja in support of these ongoing efforts. Our mission is to participate in, support, and showcase the ongoing conservation and rewilding work taking place on Nonsuch Island, its surrounding waters, and the Sargasso Sea, whilst using Bermuda’s wide range of habitats (with Mangroves, Coral Reefs, Deep Ocean & the Sargasso Sea/High Seas, all within 30 min) as a field station for the development of conservation tech. Please Contact Us for more information.
These efforts include:
Development and ongoing updating of this (www.nonsuchisland.com) website for education, global outreach, and engagement.
Producing weekly film and blog updates throughout the 9-month nesting season for the past 15 years.
The 2005 Higher Ground Educational Film documenting the original Translocation Process
Designing and building the CahowCams (launched in 2010), from which over the past 13+ years 10’s of millions of minutes of video of the otherwise unknown underground Cahow nesting activities, have been watched by scientists, educators, and viewers from around the World (now in partnership with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology).
BioAcoustic reef soundscape and spawning aggregation studies with Cornell
Shipwreck and Coral Reef photogrammetry with UCSD
Studies of Sargasso Sea eco-systems as Ambassador to the Sargasso Sea Commission
“Message in a Bottle” Ocean Plastic Tracking Project with Arribada
“The Sound of Science” Bermuda Whale Song Project, with The Centre for Cetacean Research & Conservation, and Cornell University
Development of a Sea Grass monitoring platform under a UK Darwin+ grant with Arribada
Installation of an Ai rodent detection system using off-grid, wirelessly meshed camera traps and the cloud to recognize rodents when they first reach Nonsuch Island, with assistance from the Nature Conservancy.
Tracking Bermuda Petrels on the High Seas as part of the Bermuda Petrel Biomonitoring Project with global partners
Producing the first Reference Genome for the Cahow and follow-on population study with BioQuest powered by CariGenetics
Ocean Technology Development with Station-B, MIT, Woods Hole, URI, UCSD, etc.