Conservation + management + research + education Nonsuch Island Living Museum

Project Objectives  To restore a representative sample of ’s pre-colonial and floral/faunal communities Nonsuch Island has been  To provide a self-sustaining refuge for restocked with native and endangered native & endemic species endemic species since 1962.  To help educate school-age groups It has become renowned and members of the public about internationally as one of the Bermuda’s natural heritage. most successful examples of  To provide a venue for research environmental restoration Photos by: Jeremy Madeiros and recovery. Landing by permit only. Summary Nonsuch Island is one of Bermuda’s most isolated offshore islands, and is part of the Castle Harbour Islands Reserve. At 16.5 acres, the island is elevated and topographically diverse enough to support a range of habitats and plant communities.

The island has an unusual history, being Nonsuch has been the site of a used variously as a quarantine hospital, a translocation project to establish a scientific research station, and a prison. It nesting colony of the endangered was the rediscovery of the supposedly Cahow, or Bermuda . The first chicks from this colony fledged in extinct Cahow on nearby smaller islets in 2009 and 2010. the 1950s that resulted in the Government Replanted endemic forest cover on Nonsuch Island. declaring all of the offshore Castle Islands, including Nonsuch, as a Nature Reserve.

Since about 1960, the island has been the site of an ongoing environmental restoration project started by Dr. David Wingate. Over 10,000 native and endemic plants have been planted over the island to The buildings on Nonsuch Island were create a number of vegetative communities Species found on Nonsuch include the endangered Skink built in the 1860s as part of and habitats. One of the primary habitats, and the Longtail or White-tailed Tropicbird. a quarantine station. covering much of the interior of the island, is endemic upland forest consisting of The Nonsuch species such as Bermuda Cedar, Natural History This Project is funded by : Olivewood Bark and Bermuda Palmetto. Camp is held in June for senior Department of Conservation Services Today, Nonsuch Island hosts many native school students Bermuda Zoological Society and endemic plants and , including from across Bermuda. Ascendant Group of Companies over 160 pairs of nesting White-tailed Tropicbirds or Longtails, The critically endangered Bermuda Skink, and the Contacts: large intertidal West Indian Top Shell. More recently, Bermuda’s National , Jeremy Madeiros the Cahow, has been re-established as a GOVERNMENT OF BERMUDA Terrestrial Conservation Officer nesting species on Nonsuch, using the Ministry of Public Works translocation of chicks to the island. Up to (441) 293-2727 Department of Conservation Services 60 school and other groups are given [email protected] guided tours of the island every year.