By Jose Nuñez-Miño

I am convinced that time is speeding up; the last few weeks have absolutely flown by. Our main focus since our last blog has been field work. The whole team has been working flat out. Pedro Martinez and the rest of the “Sociedad Ornitologica de la Hispaniola” (SOH; Hispaniolan Ornithological Society) team have completed surveys across two National Parks (“Loma Quita Espuela” and “Guaconejo”) in the northern part of the country – all thanks to the funding provided by the BBC Wildlife Fund. The end is in sight with the last few surveys in “Los Haitises” National Park which is proving to be really hard going – see the photos on our facebook group for evidence of this. The team in the north is about to be joined by a local MSc student (Claudia Llibre) who will be carrying out social surveys along with the SOH team to establish peoples perception of both species so that this can shape and direct our educational campaign in the area.

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by Rob Williams

After a couple of arduous weeks blazing trails along the steep, dense, cactus covered, slopes of the 12 ha offshore island, Maria Major, off the South East tip of St Lucia, the search begins for the endemic and implausibly elusive, Kouwès, or St Lucia Racer snake (Liophis ornatus).

The islet, managed as a Nature Reserve, is now the sole refuge for this snake once considered to be the second most common of the four extant snake species in St Lucia. Free from the rats, mongoose and other introduced predators that have extirpated the racer from the mainland, a little known population has (based on very few historic sightings) managed to persist in what could well be sub optimal habitat for this species.

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By Jose Nuñez-Miño

As we approach the end of 2011 its time to once again reflect on the year and look forward to the year ahead. This year really has really been quite amazingly productive despite some of challenges that we have faced. Our success has primarily come about through the increasing number of individuals that have been involved in the project at different stages throughout the year.

We have had a large team involved in the field work: Pedro Martinez, Ros Kennerley, Nicolas Corona, Jose Ramon “Moncho” Espinal, Sarah Hoy, Rocio Pozo, “Yeyo” Dionis Espinal, Yimel Corona, Anderson Jean, Enold Louis Jean, Timoteo Bueno and Jose Rafael de la Cruz. Huge thanks has got to go out to all of them, they have all contributed to our increasing knowledge of solenodon and hutia on the island of Hispaniola.

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By Jose Nuñez-Miño

Where have the last two months gone? They seem to have flown past and the lead up to Christmas is upon us. We have, as always, been very busy on all fronts over the last couple of months.
On the educational front we have had the first showings of the project infomercials (kids version in Spanish and full version in Spanish) at two very different schools – over 700 students in all have now seen them. The first showing was as at a remote rural school in Los Limones village near Los Haitises National Park. This did not simply serve to educate and inform local students about solenodon and hutia but was also an opportunity to train and empower Timoteo and Rafael (our two research assistants sponsored by the BBC Wildlife Fund) on their presentation skills. The aim is that they will take on educational campaigns of their own in the very near future. The village kids loved the infomercials and enjoyed finding out about solenodon and hutia – unfortunately many saw these species as damaging to crops but hopefully we have managed to change that perception.

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By Jose Nuñez-Miño

We are just recently back from our first expedition into Haiti where we were invited to join forces with the Darwin initiative project that is based out there. Our hosts, the Audubon Society of Haiti were amazingly welcoming and managed to get us to one of the most remote and beautiful corners of Haiti which is Massif de la Hotte in the south west. There are still some good (i.e. relatively untouched) areas of forest in this area although even in the brief time we were there we were witness to its destruction and removal. On one day we counted over 300 bags of charcoal and watched some of it being carried along the same treacherous routes we were using to get to the forest. The good news is that we did manage to see evidence of both solenodon and hutia in one valley we explored. There is undoubtedly a lot of work that can and should be done in Haiti. If we work together I’m sure we will be able to make a difference.

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By Jose Nuñez-Miño

It's been far too long since our last blog but then we have been incredibly busy on all fronts.

The team attended the VII Congress of Caribbean Biodiversity which was held at the “Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (UASD)” at the start of February. It offered us the opportunity to present and share our work with the wider scientific and conservation community from the Caribbean region. It was great to get to hear about other projects working in this part of the world and it was particularly exciting to see so many young people in attendance at the congress. It is the younger generation that we need to empower in order to continue all the ongoing conservation efforts that are going on.

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By Jose Nuñez-Miño

It’s hard to believe but the project has been running for just over a year. For us this year has flown by and we have achieved a lot in that time thanks to the efforts of everyone who has been involved. The British ambassador, Steven Fisher, kindly hosted a reception at his official residence in Santo Domingo to mark the first anniversary as part of the International year of Biodiversity. The reception was attended by a wide range of people across government, private business and many other different organisations/institutions. As part of the reception celebrations we put on a photo exhibition of the fauna of Hispaniola which then moved on to the festival of plants and flowers at the Dominican Republic (DR) botanical gardens and is now located at the Dominican Republic museum of natural history until the end of the year.

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By Matt Morton

Theodore "Lester" Jean Baptiste joined the Saint Lucia Forestry Department (Ministry of Agriculture) in 1976, working in the Department's Soufrière Range. He spent much of his working life in the rain forests of Saint Lucia. He retired in 1990 but his understanding of, and expertise in navigating, these mountainous forests was so valued that he continued to be contracted by the Ministry to assist with a number of wildlife projects. He was closely involved, on the ground, throughout the campaign to save the globally threatened Saint Lucia Amazon, a campaign that spanned over thirty years and has seen a remarkable, and very uncommon, recovery of this parrot's fortunes.

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By Joe Nunez-Mino and Rebecca Coe (ZSL)

One of the main themes that we have been focusing on since our last blog has been education. We recognize just how crucial it is to make as many people as possible aware of these two species, their habitats and our conservation efforts. This is particularly true for the younger generation. We have been very fortunate to have Dr Rebecca Coe from London Zoo education department join the project for three weeks to help us in our efforts. Her visit to the project has been a huge success but I will leave it to her to tell you all about it. There will be another blog update soon since there is so much else to tell you about in terms of our field work and all the other work we have been doing.

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by Joe Nunez-Mino & Pedro Martinez

Joe: An update on all our activities is long overdue, apologies to everyone following our progress. While I have been away in the UK, Pedro has been kept pretty busy here in the Dominican Republic exploring some new areas (something you can read about further down). While on the subject of exploring new areas, the project has now obtained permits to continue doing research at the nationwide level rather than being restricted to three of the national parks (which was the situation up until now) thanks to the support of the Ministry for the Environment and Natural Resources.

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