Fox Numbers ARE Declining

 

I keep hearing the "so you say" when declining fox numbers are mentioned. This is no personal fantasy and there are a number of organisations who have noted the decline over the years. It is just a fact that 99.9% of people have no interest in looking up the data or even care about wildlife.

The British Trust for Ornithology looking at mammal monitoring during its survey noted https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/breeding-bird-survey/latest-results/mammal-monitoring

Three mammals have declined significantly: 

• Rabbit (67%)
• Mountain/Irish Hare (61%) 
• Red Fox (48%)

In the case of Red Fox, there is some regional variation in their decline; in the south-east and south-west of England, there are 25-year declines of 30% and 56% respectively, but in the east of England, there are signs of a potential recovery.

That East of England recovery is arguable. 

It has to be taken into account that the SE of England is more heavily populated and traffic heavier so the high number of losses to cars would, we assume, be higher and that is worrying based on the current death rate in just Bristol.

Our Fox Deaths Project is also showing the high number of foxes falling victims to pneumonia, leptospirosis and babesia. Cub deaths are assumed to also be high since nursing vixens killed by cars or other means would result starve.

Numbers of foxes in the countryside are declining because every night the 'big hunters' go out to shoot whatever they can and if the numbers they claim to kill (brag is more like it) then it is no surprise. 

At the current rate I have no doubt that in 20 years time even the town foxes will be in decline and only urban badgers will exist. The UK is "The Bloody Island" when it comes to wildlife.

Plastics and Wildlife

 Although not the cause of death two foxes that underwent post mortems as part of the Bristol Fox Deaths Project had plastic in their stomachs. We also know that one fox outside of our area died due to ingesting a rubber balloon.

We have photographs from fox feeders of "takeaways" they put out in plastic bags. I only wish those people could be prosecuted for endangering wildlife but this is the UK. Take a look at these photos. 

No one putting food in plastic bags for wildlife is an animal lover - this is moronic  in the extreme.

The problem of people throwing rubbish from cars is still there. People dropping litter on walks is still there. I have noted many people on "country walks" reporting discarded plastic carrier bags and any number of party balloons that have been released and fallen into woodland or park areas. I have asked how much they collected and been told "That's not my job -I was walking and enjoying myself" or even "I had the dog with me so could not pick anything up" which are pretty lame excuses.

But we live at a time when people on wildlife groups will note that they often drive past dead badgers and foxes but never report them "They're dead so of no interest" (despite a couple of those involved "Liking" my posts on dead badgers and foxes). 

We need this information to assess the wildlife losses (particularly of species in decline such as foxes and badgers) but we also need to be aware that every piece of plastic litter picked up can prevent an mammal/bird from swallowing it and suffering the consequences or getting material stuck around legs, heads and bodies requiring a trap and rescue that might fail -and the animals fate is....

So, please, please, pick up any plastic litter you see while out and about because it could prevent a mammal or bird death.

Thank You

Are Badgers Potential Burglars :-)

 People are always surprised that foxes can climb but they are known as "the cat-like canid"' and jumping walls and fences as well as climbing trees is a well known fox trait (or should be).

This ought to surprise a few out there. A lady from the West Midlands wrote:

"Being woken up in the night thinking someone’s trying to break into the garden with a noise of fences being climbed. I ran to the window to see what was happening only to be greeted by this!"

Badgers have the strength and claws to climb but few people get to see them do so and the fact that they can climb is never mentioned in wildlife books because for the last hundred years everything has just been copied from one or two sources and writers do very little research work or even field work on badgers.  Like foxes they are largely ignored and killed for unscientifi9c reasons.

I was once told how a couple were woken just after dawn and they could hear someone climbing the ivy that led to their bedroom window. The husband got his golf club and was ready to fight off the potential burglar. Things went quiet and the couple waited and then the husband moved to look out the window. His wife screamed as he fell back but then he started laughing.

"What?" his wife asked. The husband got up and sat on the edge of the bed giggling. Apparently as he looked out some two feet (60cms) from his face was a badger. The badger, he claimed, looked as shocked as he must have done and t6urned and shot down the ivy. His wife looked out the window to see the badger moving off into undergrowth.

So, foxes are good climbers. Badgers are good climbers. No other nocturnal visitors to worry about though, right?  Well, hedgehogs are also good climbers but they do tend to stay where the food is on the ground and as far as I can find out hogs have climbed to ground floor windows but not the dizzying height of foxes or badgers.

A "Green and Pleasant Land" But In Reality "The Island of Blood"

  We really have gone back to the 19th century.

Badgers became a protected species after centuries of melecide. Now, under that protection DEFRA and HMG is wiping the species out.

Foxes are being killed by the thousands on UK roads and hundreds are shot every month by 'sportsmen' for 'fun'. The fox population is now at a critical point and may face another extinction (there have been several).

True wild cats in the UK were also killed by the dozens -kittens and adults- as part of a felicide campaign that lasted until they were no longer here. Extinct. 

The solution for wild cats is to introduce European wild cats which, again, are not the true Old species but hybrids and we are introducing them to keep the wild tabby cat alive and roaming the countryside -with hundreds of shooters each week going out killing anything they please under cover of darkness (including pets)Native red squirrels were wiped out by the 1860s and...more were imported (as with the fox, hares, deer and other species to keep the shooting going.

And now this -the full article can be found here:

"Last-ditch attempt to prevent second UK capercaillie extinction

"The latest survey by the RSPB found just 542 Western Capercaillie surviving in Scotland last winter, a severe drop from the 1,114 counted in 2015-2016.

"The critically low number of birds has led the Cairngorms National Park to draw up an emergency plan to save the species, which has suffered due to recreational disturbance and poor summer weather, likely brought about by climate change.

Western Capercaillie could once again disappear from Scotland within the next two or three decades (John Fielding).

"Scotland was home to approximately 2,000 Western Capercaillie just 20 years ago, when its range stretched west to Loch Lomond.

"The remaining stronghold in the forests around Strathspey is under increasing pressure from dog-walkers and cyclists. Andy Ford, the Cairngorms' director of nature of climate change, said that mountain-bikers and ramblers had readily followed voluntary restrictions, while officials are now planning to reroute visitors away from the most sensitive areas.

"Western Capercaillie has already undergone an extinction in the UK. The birds existing in Scotland today are the descendants of birds reintroduced from Sweden in 1837, after the grouse had been hunted to extinction."

Oh well it must be the environment, right? Not people going out shooting these birds. Climate change is being used to swerve the blame away from the real problem -humans (who also caused climate change). There is also a falsehood here. The bird became extinct in 1837 and extinction is forever. All that has been done is import birds to be shot and killed and you cannot re-introduce a species because what you are importing are not the old British birds.

Who is going to watch these newly introduced species 24/7 and 365 days of the year because, like the imported wild cats, they are going to be killed off. Extinct in 1837 (during the 19th century "The Golden Age of Hunting") is extinct. The birds and cats should not be introduced because the UK is not animal friendly and the fact that His Majesty's (who loves to hunt and kill) Government in the shape of MAFF and its successor DEFRA just lost control many years ago when it came to badgers and now automatically pays bounties for cubs and adult badgers to be killed based on very bad 'scientific' data shows that we will lose the badger -it seems almost like a deliberate plan to eradicate the species.

We will loose the badger, the fox and the introduced species will not establish for long.

We should be called "The Red Island" to show that killing wildlife to extinction is still accepted and worst of all, a large number of the public do not care.

How To Repel Ants...WITHOUT Killing

 

I have written before about essential oils for repelling rats (a few years ago now) and this afternoon I went to get papers from a corner of the room and...big (BIG)black ants all over the table.

I DO NOT kill ants and they serve a useful purpose but when crawling over my face when i can sleep at night is not good.

How could I get rid of my little cousins without killing? What repels ants naturally?

• Mint. Plant mint around perimeter of your home to repel insects. ...

• Vinegar. Mix a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water in a spray bottle. ...

• Lemon Juice. ...

• Cinnamon. ...

• Cayenne Pepper or Black Pepper. ...

• Food-Grade Diatomaceous Earth.

Now I am always dubious but we had some essential oils peppermint so sprinkled some about 3 inches from the ants...within 5 minutes they had packed up and left. I just stared blankly but I have now found a way of keeping both colonies (back garden invading the kitchen and front just breaking and entering) out.

They now know that I have a weapon of mass smellyness

Did The Lynx Survive Until The 18th Century In The UK?

 

Pages

13

Binding

Saddle Stitch

Interior Color

Color

Dimensions

A4 (8.27 x 11.69 in / 210 x 297 mm)

£11.00

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/did-lynx-survive-until-18th-century-in-uk/paperback/product-r5nwpm.html?page=1&pageSize=4

For many the lynx (Lynx lynx) died out during the last ice age in Britain. However, the historical evidence shows that it continued until hunted to extinction during the Medieval period.

Over recent years many have claimed that the lynx in fact survived up to the 18th century -some state it survived later than that.

In this publication naturalist Terry Hooper-Scharf assesses the evidence and points to reports and other factors not widely known to draw a definitive conclusion on the subject

A Badger Out In Daylight -No Need To Panic

 Having posted a photograph of a badger seen out during the early morning (the person who photographed it wanted to alert residents to keep their dogs safe 😒) there was some concern expressed that the badger might need help.

The daytime badger photo that caused concern. (c)2023 Bristol Badger Group

One suggestion was that the badger had been ousted from the sett.

Another suggestion was that the sett may have been interfered with and the badger was escaping.

Another was that it might be starving.

In fact there is nothing abnormal about seeing a badger in the early morning or early evening especially in summer time. There are a good few photos of badgers in daylight and in the above (Bristol) case we do not know where the sett is but the badger could well have been returning to it.  

Above: a badger out during early evening (c)2023 Time Out With Nature

It seems to be that naturalists tend not to know themselves that, like foxes, badgers in what they consider to be a safe area will venture out into daylight. W. Kay Robinson who founded the once notable British Naturalists Association (1905), wrote in Britain's Beasts of Prey (1949) of the number of cases of walkers reporting being 'chased' by a bear in the woods and others also noted these 'bear' incidents. The 'bears' were of course badgers and I doubt they chased anyone unless it was a sow with cubs close by (even that would be unusual.  

(c)2023 respective copyright holder

The only time to be concerned is if you see that the badger is injured/bleeding or if someone is interfering with a sett or some sort of development in underway near a sett (it is illegal to damage or destroy a sett though we have caught a few contractors/developers trying this and pleading ignorance). If you see an injured badger contact your local wildlife rescue (in the Bristol region Secret World).  If you see a sett being damaged then contact the local police and RSPCA and explain what is going on.  With the developers we came across it was pointed out that they were breaking the law and it was explained that there was a big fine and, extremely bad publicity for the company and the area was left alone and some cover replaced over setts.