Bristol City Council Want To Dig In A Badger Sett Area UPDATE

 APHA and Natural England will take up to 8 days to respond. Bristol City councillors named and holding cabinet positions are all using the old "We cannot reply if you are not in our ward" trick. They all know and have been informed by email and their responses show they have been made aware of the facts so no ducking the issue.

The leader of BCC is also aware so if people in this area are concerned they need to get in touch with him asap Monday morning.

Councillor Tony Dyer is the Leader of Bristol City Council as of May 2024, representing the Southville ward. You can contact him via email at Cllr.Tony.Dyer@bristol.gov.uk. For general council enquiries, call 0117 922 2000 or email customer.services@bristol.gov.uk.

Despite last year's battle to stop a £400K land sell off by Bristol City Council  which resulted in the sale being cancelled I was informed yesterday that a digger was now on site. Bristol City Council tends to ignore notifications and phone calls are never responded to.

In this case I have suggested that any digging starts it should be reported as a wildlife crime since we have no idea how far spread underground setts are and this is cub season. I have removed the exact location for wildlife safety but here are the emails sent out.

​SM-APHA-Customer Advice;​enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk​

Hello.

Despite previously carrying out a survey and informing the relevant members of Bristol City Council that a planned development sell off of land was a long established badger sett area (pre 1970s) and that sell off having been cancelled (knotweed is also prevalent in the area) I was informed on Friday 20^th March that a digger had been moved onto the badger area to "excavate foundations for Bristol City Council".

I have contacted BCC (email attached) senior leaders and explained, again, that digging would disturb badgers (how far underground from setts their tunnels run we do not know) especially as it is now cub season. BCC tends to ignore these notifications and I wanted to make sure that other agencies were aware of what is planned.

My thanks in Advance

Terry Hooper

Bristol Badger Group f 1994

​Councillor Ed Plowden;​Councillor Martin Fodor;​Councillor Heather Mack;​Councillor Susan Whittam;​nick.hibberd@bristol.gov.uk;​Councillor Tony Dyer​

Hello.

Last year there was an attempt to sell off land at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx despite the evidence provided by local residents and I submitted the same evidence to BCC.  The area also has knotweed.

On Friday 20^th March it was reported that a digger had been moved onto the site and the driver when challenged told residents that he was there to "uncover foundations for Bristol City Council "to look at".

I will be forwarding details to Natural England as well as DEFRA to ensure that this activity is noted as I assume that the council has not had any wildlife surveyor check for location of badger setts near to the dig site. Also this is cub season so any such activity can cause great distress to  badgers with cubs.

Badgers and their setts (tunnels, chambers, and entrances) are strictly protected in England and Wales under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, making it a criminal offence to damage, destroy, or obstruct access to a sett, or to disturb a badger while it is occupying one. 

• Exclusion Zones: As a general rule, a 30-metre buffer zone should be established around active badger setts, where no heavy machinery or excavation work should take place.
• Work Distances:
• < 10m: Only hand tools/light work.
• < 20m: Light machinery/digging.
• < 30m: Very heavy machinery.

I have advised locals that since they and Bristol Badger Group have previously identified the area as a long established badger site and informed Bristol City Council of this that if if any work takes place near to setts it is reported to Avon and Somerset Police as a wildlife crime in progress.

I hope BCC will refrain from any digging work especially in cub season.

Terry Hooper

Bristol Badger Group f 1994

Hedgehog Status Needs Upgrading in UK

 

On the first night I moved into Risdale Road in Ashton Vale I saw a hedgehog -biggest one I ever saw but was killed a few weeks later by a car. I moved to the current address in 2004 and I have posted regularly on the hedgehogs here.

Last year we were down to one hog and no young as in previous years. Every night the camera is out and no sign of a hog anywhere. I asked my neighbours and they have seen none.

The hope is that, after a lot of private building work along the lane which created a rat problem, the hogs have moved on although they had been nesting in my neighbours and my garden away from the work.

The hope is that the less than likeable council "pest controller" who was putting out rodenticide as not the cause of the demise.

While people reporting hedgehogs seems to make people think hedgehogs are back and the population growing that is a false idea. Hedgehogs are still Red Listed and building development ignoring them as well as cars etc has meant their status is not good.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) should alter the status to Critically Endangered (CR)

Why It Is Important To Have Access To Data on the 1994/1995 Mange Outbreak

 People ask why it is important to find out whether Bristol University Mammal Study Group under Prof. Stephen Harris released mange into the Bristol fox population. 

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s I never came across a fox with mange. It was not unknown but fox watchers treated as they could. Suddenly 1994/1995 and foxes are dropping all over the City with mange. Only 6% of the urban population was left.

There are problems here.  

1.  I cannot track down of widespread mange in foxes outside the City.  

2.  It was stated that a fox the Uni team were tracking "suddenly" left Bristol "for no apparent reason". A couple weeks later it returned as mysteriously with mange.

3.  One tracked fox with mange would return to its former territory so you might expect a mange outbreak in one area and slowly spread out. This outbreak of mange hit the entire fox population and this is extraordinary and I can find no literature citing similar examples.

I wrote to Prof. Harris. I emailed him and even tried phoning him between 1997-2002 and never got a response to simple and polite questions. Over the phone I was told my message would be passed on. Nothing. In 2013 I again wrote a polite letter to Prof. Harris and...nothing.

Based on geographical and other obstacles as well as territorial behaviour I estimate that mange would need to hit north, south, west and eastern parts of the City to cause such an outbreak.

I wondered whether the weather might be a factor; weather in South-west England and the wider UK during 1994/1995 was notable for a transition from a very wet, stormy winter into one of the hottest and driest summers on record. The 12-month period from November 1994 to October 1995 was the warmest recorded in the Central England Temperature (CET) series, dating back to 1659.

Could that have been a factor? No idea since any records on the outbreak are not open to the public or naturalists.

There are too many unanswered questions and the truth -based on what is recorded- is that no one involved in Bristol University's fox study noted or mapped the spread of the outbreak but simply counted dead foxes.

All these questions SHOULD raise concerns amongst animal lovers or naturalists but it seems I am the only person who would like facts. Incidentally the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF) and its successor Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) who SHOULD have had an interest in such an outbreak both told me that they had "nothing in the records" about the 1994/1995 outbreak.

Maybe I am just paranoid?

Did A University Release A Mange Fox Into Bristol?

  To start with; this is not an accusation but notes on rumours Bristol University will not respond to.

(c)2026 respective copyright owner

I have repeatedly asked Bristol University for access to its now defunct mammal group (led by Prof. Stephen Harris) papers on foxes. I either get silence or am told that I do not qualify for such access. The British Fox Study started in 1976 and continues today which, obviously, is far longer than the Bristol Uni study.

Most of the old Uni study data featured in books by Prof. Harris but a great deal remains archived (IF we believe what has been written).

Who funds Bristol University ?

• UK Government & Research Councils: Funding for research and infrastructure comes through bodies like the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Medical Research Council (MRC), and Research England.
• Tuition Fees: Income from UK and international student fees, managed through student finance systems.
• Endowments & Donations: The university holds numerous endowment funds established by benefactors, which are invested ethically to support research and scholarships. Approximately £70m held in endowments.
• Alumni & Philanthropy: Support for research and entrepreneurship is provided by donations from alumni and friends.
• Industry Partners: Research grants and collaborations with external commercial organizations. 

My interest lies in the fact that over a period of 10 years I have received emails/messages from

 people who worked at or were connected with Bristol University. Each one notes that "it was

claimed" that the mammal study introduced mange (which killed approximately 95% of the Bristol

urban fox population.

The Mammal Group noted that for an "unknown reason" one of their radio collared study foxes 

suddenly left the City.  And "suddenly" it re-appeared and had mange which was studied as it 

spread throughout the fox population.  Each of the people who contacted me stated that this was work 

funded by a UK government office to see how fast a disease/virus *such as rabies) could spread

throughout urban fox populations.

I asked Bristol University to refute the claim and release any data gathered on such a major

outbreak that almost wiped out foxes in the City. They have refused on every occasion which, 

obviously, means that the rumours and suspicions continue. 

WHY the silence?