Mark and Tania Anderson during an 8-km walk along the Blesbokspruit wetland and river in Gauteng Province on 29 December 2025
Mark D. Anderson is the CEO of BirdLife South Africa and a Mouse-Free Marion Non-Profit Company Director. As well as being Chair of the Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds: The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project Management Committee, he is one of the project’s most passionate supporters. Mark is also a public speaker of note.
On 16 July 2026, Mark gave an online lecture to 53 listeners in a monthly series held by the “Learn the Birds” Project, an initiative of a small group of keen birders and bird photographers and managed by Derek Keats. The written summary of his webinar follows.
“Marion Island is an important breeding island for 28 seabird species, including the Wandering Albatross, the world’s most iconic seabird. It is South Africa’s only Special Nature Reserve, an Important Bird & Biodiversity Area and a Ramsar site. Amongst the greatest threats to the ecology and conservation of Marion Island is the impacts of invasive House Mice. Ongoing increases in mouse densities, linked to the warmer, drier climate have depleted their main invertebrate prey, driving mice to attack albatross and petrels, including more recently adult Wandering Albatrosses. The Mouse-Free Marion Project, a collaboration between the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and BirdLife South Africa, aims to eradicate mice from the island and thereby facilitate the ecological restoration of this globally important site. The project is underpinned by research conducted at Marion Island, and elsewhere. In addition to the research, planning for the project must address a wide range of requirements, including financial, logistical, political, regulatory and legal preparations and stakeholder communications, all of which are vital to create enabling conditions for a successful eradication.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBZYjvQXvv4
“Conserving the Wandering Albatross – the World’s most Iconic Seabird: The Mouse-Free Marion Project”
Mark’s one hour and five-minute webinar, including a lengthy question and answer section, compered by Lynette Rudman and ably supported by Dr Liezl Pretorius, MFM Project Research and Reporting Officer, is now available on YouTube. During his talk two donations were made to the MFM Project, one from a Canadian listener. Do watch, learn, enjoy and share!
John Cooper, News Correspondent, Mouse-Free Marion Project, 31 July 2026
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“Dragon Rock” at the entrance to Ship’s Cove on Marion Island, photograph by Andre Botha
The Mouse-Free Marion Project is a registered non-profit company (No. 2020/922433/08) in South Africa, established to eradicate the invasive albatross-killing mice on Marion Island in the Southern Ocean. The project was initiated by BirdLife South Africa and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. Upon successful completion, the project will restore the critical breeding habitat of over two million seabirds, many globally threatened, and improve the island’s resilience to a warming climate. For more information or to support the project please visit mousefreemarion.org.
