Despite the difficult weather conditions, at the end of December 2021, winter survey of the Dalmatian pelican took place in Ukraine. It was organized simultaneously with similar surveys in other Eastern European countries. This year’s results give hope: three and a half times more pelicans are left to spend the winter in the Danube Delta than last year.

The arrival of 20 more kulan on the Tarutino Steppe is part of a long-term reintroduction programme. The animals will fill an important ecological niche and enhance biodiversity.

3 red deers and 3 fallow deers settled on the Ermakiv island in the Danube Biosphere Reserve as part of the partnership between Rewilding Ukraine and Feldman Ecopark. Animals will complement the natural grazing on the island and promote eco-tourism in the region.

At the beginning of November, the work on restoring the connection of the Staronekrasovsky floodplains in Ukraine with the Danube River was completed. For the first time in many years, the Hromadsky canal has become flowing again, which will bring Staronekrasovsky floodplains back to life. The work, carried out by the Izmail Department of Water Management, Rewilding Ukraine and the Center for Regional Studies, is the first step towards restoring the Lung, Safyany and Katlabuh lakes.

On September 25, the unique Tarutino steppe hosted the ethno-eco festival “Tarutino steppe” organized by Rewilding Ukraine and its partners Borodino Territorial Community and the Center for Ethnographic, Rural Tourism and Family Recreation “Frumushika-Nova”. The guests of the festival ate deliciously, had fun and got acquainted with the culture and nature of the region.

During the fourth Southeastern European Pelican Census simultaneous measures were taken in many European countries to count two globally endangered species – Great white and Dalmatian pelicans. In Ukraine the counts took place on May 15-21 as part of the “Pelican Way of LIFE” project, being implemented in our country by Rewilding Ukraine in cooperation with the Danube Biosphere Reserve (DBR).

A herd of 40 Konik horses has just been released onto two islands in the Ukrainian part of the Danube Delta. Following the translocation of 23 animals to the island last year, this new group will further enhance wild nature through their grazing and aid the development of nature-based tourism.

At the beginning of December, 4 red deers and 12 fallow deers were released on the Ermakov island in the Danube Biosphere Reserve in Ukraine as part of a rewilding partnership between Rewilding Ukraine and the island’s concessioners, Ermak Ltd. The mission of animals is to complete the composition of large fauna in the Danube Delta, diversify the natural grazing process on the island and to promote the development of ecological tourism in the region.

In July 2020, three young owls born earlier this year at the Odessa Zoo were released in the Ukrainian part of the Danube Delta into the Danube Biosphere Reserve. This was the second phase of the owl reintroduction program to the Danube Delta, lead by Rewilding Ukraine together with partners. Two birds were tagged by GPS transmitters, to track how they would move around the delta.

At the end of May, a field expedition organized by Rewilding Ukraine to conduct scientific counts of the Dalmatian pelican and a photo mission took place in the Ukrainian part of the Danube Delta, as part of the “Pelican Way of LIFE” project. The counts were conducted by Maxim Yakovlev, an ornithologist at the Danube Biosphere Reserve, who has been photographing nature and the inhabitants of this picturesque region for more than 15 years. He was assisted by zoologist Alexander Gaidash.