Today’s good news story comes from Mongabay.com and was sent to me by my correspondent Noelle Granger. Thank you, Noelle.

Former poachers guard Cabo Verde’s endangered sea turtles

by Sonam Lama Hyolmo

Former sea turtle hunters in Cabo Verde, off the coast of West Africa, have shifted to loggerhead turtle conservation work along the archipelago nation’s main nesting beaches. The change was propelled by 2018 legislation that criminalized killing threatened turtle species, Sonam Lama Hyolmo reported for Mongabay.

Rangers, around a dozen of whom used to poach or hunt turtles, now patrol key beaches where turtles lay their eggs, walking several kilometers each night during the nesting season, which runs from June to October. Turtle meat has historically been consumed in Cabo Verde and many other regions, creating a conflict between conservation needs and local customs. However, awareness campaigns and employment opportunities are helping to bridge that gap.

“I had turtle meat for personal consumption and never realized I could make a living out of conserving them,” Roni Nelson Batista Ramos, a ranger and camp coordinator at the Turtle Foundation, told Mongabay. “But now, I guard them against the poachers, and it’s motivating to see how these efforts have driven positive impacts for their conservation.”

Ramos and others monitor around 31 kilometers (19 miles) of coastline, patrolling the beaches on foot, and using drones and dogs for added assistance.

Roughly two-thirds of loggerhead turtle nesting activity in Cabo Verde happens on the eastern island of Boa Vista, which has seen a dramatic decline in illegal turtle hunting, according to the Turtle Foundation. In 2007, 1,253 female loggerheads were illegally caught on the island; by 2024, there were just 20. Over the same period, loggerhead turtle nests on Boa Vista increased more than sevenfold.

Cabo Verde’s loggerhead turtle population is the largest in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the third largest in the world, after Oman and southeast Florida.

Another four of the world’s seven sea turtle species roam the waters of the Cabo Verde archipelago: the green turtle (Chelonia mydas), the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), the Olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), and the critically endangered hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata).

Bycatch in fishing is another significant threat to sea turtles in the region. In 2024, the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) renewed a five-year allowance for 56 fishing vessels from Spain, Portugal, and France to fish in Cabo Verdean waters.

Read the full story here. Warning: some photos are disturbing

The good news in this story is that those who hunt turtles are now protecting them, benefiting both. Today’s John Ku talks about reversing trends. I hope you have a beautiful weekend.

Turning a New Leaf © 2026 by John W. Howell

Once there were hunters,

Who saw their game disappear . . .

They turned to help save.

Today’s good news story comes from Econews and was sent to me by Noelle Granger.

Thank you, Noelle.

A solar farm in southern England put 40 native sheep under 20,000 panels across about 30 acres to graze in winter, and the twist is that the flock didn’t just “mow the grass”, it helped protect wildflowers and pollinators while using the panels as a storm shelter, turning a power site into a two-job landscape called agrivoltaics

ECONews

At first, it sounds like a rural oddity. A solar plant places 40 native sheep near its panels, lets them graze through winter, and suddenly the field is doing more than producing electricity. At Westmill, the flock became part of a larger experiment in how clean energy, farming, and wildlife can coexist in the same landscape.

The lesson is simple but surprisingly important. Clean energy does not have to mean treating land as a blank sheet of metal and gravel. In practical terms, it can also mean wildflowers, soil life, pollinators, and yes, sheep using solar panels as shelter when the weather turns rough.

A solar farm built for nature

Westmill sits near Watchfield on the Oxfordshire and Wiltshire border in southern England. Its solar cooperative was formed to show that ordinary people can help build renewable energy, and its 30-acre site carries more than 20,000 panels that generate enough electricity for about 1,600 homes a year.

This is not just a power site with grass around it. The Westmill Sustainable Energy Trust, known as WeSET, was set up by the Westmill wind and solar cooperatives to promote sustainable energy through education, visits, and community projects.

Why sheep changed the field

The sheep were not brought in as decoration. They act like living lawn crews, eating a mix of plants and helping stop one aggressive species from overrunning more delicate wildflowers. That matters because a diverse field is better for insects, birds, soil bacteria, and fungi.

Westmill says the animals graze in winter, when they are less likely to disturb nesting birds and when the flowering plants that feed pollinators are not in bloom. It is a small timing choice, but that is where a lot of good land management lives.

There was another bonus hiding in plain sight. The sheep used the panels as protection from wind and rain, and the broad mix of plants helped them gain weight more effectively. For the flock, the solar farm was not an obstacle. It was shelter, food, and a quieter field.

What agrivoltaics means

The idea has a name, agrivoltaics. It means using the same piece of land for agriculture and solar power instead of forcing farmers and energy planners to pick only one. In everyday language, it is a field that works two jobs.

Can a solar farm also become a small nature reserve? To a large extent, Westmill suggests it can, but only when design and management come first. Planting wildflowers is a start, but the site still needs grazing, mowing, monitoring, and restraint to prevent one species from taking over.

The land question

Solar farms often trigger a familiar concern. Are panels taking land away from food? Westmill’s educational materials say about 44.5 million acres in the United Kingdom are used for agriculture, while about 44,500 acres are currently used for solar, meaning the solar footprint is still small compared with farming overall.

Solar Energy UK also reports that solar farms occupy less than one tenth of one percent of UK land today. Its 2024 fact sheet says a build out aligned with net zero targets would still put solar farms at about six tenths of one percent of UK land by 2050. That does not erase local conflicts, but it does put the scale in view.

Science backs a careful approach

Researchers are not saying every solar project is automatically good for nature. A 2025 Lancaster University review of 167 articles found both positive and negative effects, depending on climate, ecosystem, and the stage of the solar park’s life. In other words, location and management are not details. They are the whole game.

Professor Alona Armstrong of Lancaster University has helped lead work on agrivoltaics and solar park management. With Professor Piran White of the University of York, she helped develop the Solar Park Impacts on Ecosystem Services tool, which uses evidence to guide decisions on wildflower meadows, hedgerows, wetlands, soil health, and other habitat choices.

Better design from the ground up

Blending animals and panels also changes the engineering conversation. Once sheep are part of the system, a solar site has to think harder about cable protection, frame height, maintenance access, and hardware tough enough to handle real animals in real weather. That may sound simple, but simple details are often what decide whether a project works.

The result is a model that can be easier to maintain and more accepted by nearby communities. People worried about the electric bill may see the electricity. Farmers may see grazing space. Local residents may see fewer noisy mowers, less exhaust, and more life between the rows.

What Westmill shows

Westmill is not a magic fix for every solar debate. Some land should remain focused on food, some habitats need extra protection, and experts warn that poor design can still harm soil or wildlife. But the project shows that solar farms do not have to be single-purpose places.

At the end of the day, what it is trying to do is rewrite the field’s job description. A site can produce power, feed sheep, support pollinators, protect soil, and teach visitors what community energy looks like up close. That is a quieter kind of energy transition, but maybe a more durable one.

The good news in this story is that animals and technology go well together. Today’s JohnKu talks about co-existence. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Together by John W. Howell © 2026

Solar panel farms,

With sheep as cohabitants . . .