Another
semi fictional piece of journalism based on no real knowledge just a
press hand
out https://uk.yahoo.com/style/10-wildlife-invaders-costing-us-162326506.html
I
will deal with the relevant points as we go along. Basically,
all of these "problems" are man created so let's get that
one out of the way for a start.
Grey
squirrels are a familiar sight in the UK, but don’t have many fans
- Getty
Invasive
alien species are now a £4bn problem in Britain, with more than
2,000 critters and fungi killing trees en masse, causing structural
damage to buildings, and prompting clean-up campaigns running into
millions of pounds. The extent of the destruction has been revealed
in a new report funded by the Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra),
which found that the cost of invasive non-native species (INNS) has
risen by 135 per cent since 2010.
“We
already knew the costs were huge,” says René Eschen, senior
scientist at the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International
(CABI) and lead author of the study.
Still,
the scale of the findings – which include an average of 12 new
species taking root here each year – have come as something of a
“surprise”, Eschen admits. The report adds that ‘there remains
a significant gap in our understanding of the size and nature of the
economic impacts of INNS… and assessment of the costs are needed to
prioritise investment in prevention, intervention and management.’
Here are
the 10 most damaging species currently plaguing Britain:
Hymenoscyphus
fraxineus (ash dieback)
Although
there is currently no cure for ash dieback, it is hoped that a small
percentage of the UK’s ash trees are genetically resistant to the
disease - PA
This
tree-killing fungus wasn’t present in Britain at the time of the
last report, yet “all of a sudden, it has become by far the most
expensive species [where damage is concerned],” Eschen explains. An
Asian import that arrived in the UK in 2012, it tallies £883.5m in
annual damage (close to four times the second place saboteur) via
major clean-up costs around railways, roads, and other public land.
The
disease kills 80 per cent of trees infected, with initial signs
including blackened or dead leaves, twigs and live shoots acquiring a
purple tinge, and diamond-shaped lesions where older branches join
the tree’s trunk. There is currently no cure, but it is hoped that
between one and five per cent of the UK’s two billion ash trees are
genetically resistant to the disease, meaning they could survive and
produce dieback-resistant species in the future.
Japanese
knotweed
Japanese
knotweed needs to be treated by professionals - Getty
Introduced
as an ornamental garden plant in the mid-19th century, Japanese
knotweed generates around £246.5m of repair work annually, growing
through cracks in areas such as pavements, walls and fences, damaging
lightweight structures such as garages and conservatories, lifting
pipework, and blocking drains. England is the worst affected country
in the UK, accounting for over 80 per cent of cases.
One
2012 study found that its presence reduced a property’s price by
between 5 and 15 per cent. Spraying or injecting the stems (with
approved herbicides) can get rid of the problem, though it typically
takes three years to treat, at a cost of £1,000-£5,000 for a
domestic garden. However, Government
guidance advises
that you don’t attempt to treat knotweed yourself unless you have
the appropriate skills and experience, as certain chemicals, for
example, require a certificate of competence for use.
Rabbits
They
might look cute, but rabbits can cause a huge amount of damage to
plants, trees and shrubs - The Image Bank RF
The
costliest species in 2010 – causing more than £260m a year in
damage to crops – Britain’s rabbits are now not quite as costly,
according to the latest report, mainly because viral infections have
reduced the size of the wild population. But around £170m in damage
is still caused by rabbits each year in the UK. Introduced as pets by
the Romans 2,000 years ago, their grazing can kill a number of plant
species as well as trees and shrubs (if the bark is gnawed).
The Royal
Horticultural Society (RHS) warns
that ‘killing rabbits will rarely give more than a short-term
reduction in numbers,’ and advises wrapping part-chewed trunks in
black polythene to help the area to callus over (along with other
rabbit-proofing measures, such as fences), and the use of animal
repellents including aluminium ammonium.
Comment: Here
we have a problem in that some historians claim that the Normans
brought rabbits to the UK in the 11th century. Others argue Roman
times. Whichever, after 2000 or 1000 years these are now a native
species and to constantly still refer to them as an "invasive
species" is to constantly call yourself a fool. The
biggest problem is that feral domestic cats will kill rabbits as a
food source. However, the biggest hunter of rabbits is the fox and
even in the old records it is noted that foxes would bypass easy to
take poultry in order to hunt rabbits and when rabbit numbers decline
so do foxes. We also have hawks, buzzards and eagles that will take
rabbits.
The
common factor between foxes, cats and birds of prey is this: humans
kill all of them and when you take out the predator the
prey animals increase in numbers -as Australia has found with its
idiotic policy of feral cat and fox killing resulting in an explosion
in the rodent population (mice and rabbits). One day it may sink in
to the thick heads and they will realise that predator = prey
("pest") extermination. Work with nature not make excuses
to kill it.
Rats and
mice
Rodents
cause some £84m of damage in England each year - iStockphoto
Edible
dormice (Glis Glis) were brought over by the Rothschilds in the early
1900s, brown rats first came to the UK on boats in the 18th century,
while house mice arrived on trading vessels during the Stone Age.
These rodents are most commonly found in homes, gardens and
woodlands, and can cause major damage, often posing a fire hazard by
tearing up drywall and insulation, and exposing and chewing through
wires. England’s rodent-related damage is three times higher than
the rest of the UK, at a total cost of £84m annually. Pest control
is vital here and expense depends on the size of the problem; a rat
exterminator call-out starts at around £50.
Comment: Again
we have a situation where some facts are off. Why did pre 18th
century householders have cats to get rid of rats and mice if the
rats never arrived until the 18th century? Again, established species
like the rat and mouse are no longer "invasive species".
But we have the human created problem handled rather stupidly.
Huge
amounts of rodenticide are used officially and stupidly in many cases
by house holders who have no idea of what they are doing. Hedgehogs,
badgers, foxes, domestic pets and even owls and other birds of prey
suffer and die from secondary rodenticide poisoning which, by and
large, is not killing off rats or mice.
On farms
and in towns and cities the rat and mouse is the common prey for
foxes and feral cats as well as owls. In the United States some
cities have stopped using rodenticide on rat populations as it is not
effective and the secondary dangers are there. How have they started
to combat rats? Firstly, urban foxes and in some cases coyotes are
taking the rats in numbers. The other method -as in Baltimore and
Chicago- is to use feral cats that are caught (those that can be
rehomed are) but too wild are given health checks and vaccinations
and then relocated to areas with large rat populations. Apparently it
works. Who could have guessed.
Idea: stop
killing the very animals and birds that will reduce the rat problem
Cockroaches
Cockroaches
are mostly found in commercial premises where food is handled, and
can spread disease - Alamy
The two
main types of cockroach found in the UK are the German and the
Oriental species, which confusingly hail from southeast Asia and
the Black Sea respectively. The £70m worth of damage cockroaches
inflict on the UK each year is borne by humans, rather than land or
property. They are a significant public health risk, carrying
diseases such as salmonella, gastroenteritis and dysentery, and are
most commonly found in commercial premises where food is handled,
mostly restaurants. Pest control, via chemical killers and bait
traps, can eradicate the problem.
Deer
Deer
can cause significant damage to trees and crops - iStockphoto
Only two
of the six species found in the UK are native: the red and roe deer.
Fallow, sika, muntjac and Chinese water deer all come from other
shores. Deer can cause substantial damage to woodlands via ‘fraying’
– where males rub bark from the main stem of a tree, leaving it in
tatters – ‘thrashing’ (males whipping low branches with their
antlers), and ‘browsing,’ when they cause damage to tips and
shoots while feeding. Their eating and trampling through crops is
especially expensive in the east and south west of England (where
cereal crops are planted), with the total annual destruction coming
in at £63m. For domestic land, the RHS recommends netting or high
fences. As many as 350,000 deer are culled each year on private land.
Comment: Yes,
allegedly (no one officially monitors this so let's say that some
figures can be "padded out" by certain people). It is also
interesting that deer are killed on land where there are no crops. In
the past in conversations with estate owners and managers I was told
that game keepers are told to shoot any deer -just as they are told
to shoot red squirrels and "dispose of badgers on the quiet".
Deer in
some parts of the UK were hunted to extinction along with other
species and the solution, as always, was to import more from Europe
so that hunting could continue. "Officially" there is no UK
predator to take down deer although police, farmers and others will
note that deer are found that have been taken down by large cats
(such as puma and lynx that are in the UK and that is known
officially -see Red Paper 2022:Felids).
"Management"
of deer, or as they like to call it "harvesting" need not
involve killing even if that spoils some persons' 'fun'.
The
number of deer species imported into the UK by landed gentry to fill
their private menageries and estate grounds where they roamed freely
hit a peak in the 17th century and even some dates for when muntjac
deer were first introduced are a tad "off". Again, these
are all human created problems and we now have to live alongside the
various species and bad land management does not help -looking at
fencing, etc as employed in Europe is a viable option although
killing being 'fun' it seems preferred to spending money to protect
"valuable crops".
Grey
squirrel
Britain’s
grey squirrels could be subjected to birth control on public land,
according to the Squirrel Accord - iStockphoto
In
1876, grey squirrels were brought to Britain from North America as an
ornamental species to populate the grounds of stately homes. By 1930,
however, the level of damage they wreaked – including stripping
bark from trees, creating ‘open wounds,’ and destroying maize and
fruit crops – was identified, and the practice swiftly stopped.
Previously described by conservationist
and broadcaster Chris Packham as
Britain’s “most unpopular non-native invader,” the population –
and the havoc it causes – is most pronounced in England (though
Northern Ireland sees double the cost of the damage carried out in
Wales and Scotland). The CABI study puts the total bill at £40.5m,
though a 2021 report from the Royal
Forestry Society warned
that disturbed timber, lost carbon revenue and tree replacement will
cause £1.1bn in costs over the next 40 years. In the garden,
squirrels can be deterred by artificial birds of prey, like owls and
falcons, and the damage they do managed by caging fruit trees and
pots. For public land, there is a Squirrel Accord, made up of 41
leading conservation and forestry organisations, government agencies
and companies, which is considering various measures, such as birth
control.
Comment: 1876?
That is way off. Grey squirrels were in private collections well
before that time and far from having very few "fans" the
grey squirrel is quite popular although they can cause damage they
are, after all of this time, a native species and there are some
'facts' that need noting.
The Grey
is often cited as the squirrel that killed off Red squirrels. This is
nonsense and, again, humans trying to find another scape goat. By the
1860s humans and hunting had wiped out the Old British red squirrel.
More were imported. Killed o0ff more were imported and some of these
imports may have carried diseases and red squirrels have faced and
still face extinction. The Grey moved in to towns and cities where it
was adaptable enough to live -the Red squirrels having been poisoned,
shot or snared out of existence.
Grey
squirrels "kill and eat young birds and destroy birds eggs".
This is one that the bird watching fraternity loves to throw out as a
reason why Greys should be exterminated while the "lovely"
Red squirrel should be preserved. Red squirrels have the same dietary
habits as Greys and will rob birds nests the same way the Grey does.
The Red
squirrel is, even as a 'protected species' (which means nothing on
the Blood Island) , trapped and shot on private estates and in
forestry for damaging tree bark, etc. as the trees are "commercial"
and therefore of far more importance and value than wiping out
another species.
And don't
think badgers are not killed on private estates along with birds of
prey.
Varroa
mite
We all
know the importance of honey bees, but it seems the varroa mite
didn't read the email - Alamy
Infestations
of varroa mites, originally found in eastern honey bees in Asia,
deplete bee populations, which costs the UK £22.5m each year. When
the mites attach themselves to bees, their foraging performance is
much reduced, meaning they can’t help to pollinate the 70 species
we rely on them for, for food. They can also cause the entire
breakdown, and death, of bee colonies. (An infestation last year
triggered a bee lockdown in New South Wales, Australia, during which
time no honey bees could be moved across the state.)
Monitoring
hives, buying mite-resistant honey bee stock, installing small-cell
honeycombs (in which it is thought mites struggle to reproduce) or
introducing brood breaks (where there are no babies in the nest) can
help to clear out early-stage infestations.
Box tree
moth
London
is particularly prone to box tree moths and their voracious appetite
- iStockphoto
Accidentally
introduced to the UK from southeast Asia, box tree moths can
rapidly overwhelm hedges, eating the plants and leaving a brown
skeleton in their wake. Capable of laying hundreds of eggs (larvae)
when they find a bush, swathes of caterpillars then chomp at their
new environment – a £15.4m defoliation issue that is especially
bad in London. Checking box plants often from early spring can
prevent the population from growing, according to the RHS; pheromone
traps and pesticides may prove necessary for infestation control.
Green
spruce aphid
It is
possible to treat green spruce aphids with pesticides, says the RHS -
Alamy
Native to
continental Europe, the green spruce aphid (or elatobium abietinum)
is a sap-sucking insect that takes to spruce trees during late autumn
to spring, causing discolouration and needle loss. This reduction in
needles affects the volume of timber trees produce. Treatment to curb
this £14.5m desecration isn’t possible with larger trees (as the
whole thing must be treated), but for smaller plants, pesticides
should be used in late August or September, according to the RHS,
“with a further treatment on a mild, dry day in early February.”
Five
species that could be next to invade our shores
Asian
hornet
Don’t
have nightmares... - iStockphoto
Of the 19
alerts issued by the Non-Native Species Secretariat (NNSS), the vespa
velutina is the biggest potential threat to Britain, capable of
killing off insects like honeybees (thereby damaging other native
species). They spread rapidly in France in 2004, and a number of
sightings have been recorded in the UK since 2016. Vigilance is
strongly encouraged around major ports in southern parts of England
and Wales, particularly during April to November when they are most
active (they peak in August/September).
Water
primrose
Despite
its benign appearance, the water primrose can raise the risk of
flooding - iStockphoto
South
Africa’s native ludwigia grandiflora has been found in some parts
of England and Wales. Having already become a serious pest in
countries such as France, where it causes a reduction in native
species in water, it also raises the risk of flooding.
Purple
pitcher plant
This
bog-dwelling visitor from North America has been found growing wild
in England and Scotland - iStockphoto
The
carnivorous sarracenia purpurea is a bog-dwelling plant native to
north America, where “it outcompetes native bog vegetation, may
impact on invertebrate communities, and disrupts [the nutrient
cycle],” according to the NNSS. Twenty suspected sites where it is
growing have been found in England, along with two in Scotland.
American
lobster
Our
native lobsters could be at risk from these invaders - Alamy
These
US and Canadian imports could harm UK lobster stocks, say the NNSS,
by carrying disease, competing for resources, and interbreeding. UK
guidance is to record suspected sightings of the homarus americanus,
and retain them for collection from the Marine
Management Organisation.
Carolina
fanwort
These
aquatic plants could post a threat to our native species - Alamy
A few
populations of the cabomba caroliniana, originally found in South
America and southern parts of North America, have made it to south
east England. While these have yet to become invasive due to the
climate, the NNSS warns that they could have “potentially large
impacts on native aquatic communities and may also affect
aquaculture, damage equipment, and impede recreational activities.”
************************************************************
One has
to wonder who is furnishing all the estimates of damage since in the
past some data has come through members of pro hunting groups such as
the Countryside Alliance and the Game &
Wildlife 'Conservation' Trust (the latter despite its name is a pro
hunting group) as well as big pest control companies. All of these,
obviously, have a vested and biased interest in exaggerating damage
and animal numbers.
Invasive
plants can be a great problem but here we can look at native plants
that are seen as dangerous
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wild-plants-dangerous-invasive-and-protected-species
According to DEFRA: "Common
ragwort (Senecio jacobae) - the most dangerous injurious weed, and
the most commonly reported." And yet, on three occasions I
reported a wide area of ragwort to the local environmental office and
was told to "report it to the land owner"!! Reported
on other occasions as being in gardens people were told to put on
gloves, dig the ragwort up and burn it. The attitude always seems to
be "Yeah, your problem not ours" and these are the people
responsible for monitoring and dealing with invasive plant species??
Interestingly,
back in 1997 I had a man from the local DEFRA turn up on my doorstep
along with a colleague (the quiet type who was obviously there "in
case of trouble") and informed me that a colleague of his had
twice passed my garden and noted that I had an "invasive
species" plant that was out of control and he was there to issue
me with a warning that they intended to have the plant removed and
destroyed and he was there to check it. Apparently, the "invasive
plant" were my willow hedge that I was allowing to grow out more
as there were nesting birds. No apology although I did recommend a
good book on plants and shrubs for his colleague.
Plants
aside, we need to start realising that we are in the 21st century and
not the 19th. We are in a period where habitat and environmental
destruction are so common most people just ignore it. A "nation
of animal lovers" is a falsehood. The UK is almost as
destructive ("to protect wildlife" of course) as Australia.
It is Blood Island pure and simple and in 20-25 years time badgers
and foxes as well as other species will be a thing of the past or
extremely rare. Badgers are already being "culled" and
killed by cars in numbers that may well see a sustainable population
a thing of the past and foxes are declining in numbers.
Until
the UK has a government with real interest
in conserving nature, protecting wildlife and the environment the
future is bleak.
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