In 1896 Scottish naturalists and zoologists declared that the true Scottish wild cat had become extinct by the 1860s. What we see today is nothing more than a wild tabby cat. In this work the true history and destruction of wild cats from England, Wales (where hybrids clung on into the 1940s) and Scotland is explored and after decades of research the true look of the wild cat is revealed. The "English Tiger" and "Highland Tiger" truly lived up to that name.
Dogma is finally thrown out.
There is also a look at the "New Native Cats" ranging from Asian Golden Cats, Lynx, Puma and others and the evidence leading to their being so designated. No silly press or media stories just solid facts backed up by evidence. The author acted as an exotic species wildlife consultant to UK police forces from 1977-2015 as well as cooperated with university projects on the subject.
Island cats as well as feral cats their lifestyles and problems mare also covered .
Fully referenced and including maps, illustrations and very rare photographs -some never before seen in print- make this a book for amateur naturalists and zoologists.
The struggle against public ignorance when it comes to wildlife and attempts to study and conserve wildlife is ongoing. It is often made worse by things out of your control.
Yesterday I posted Otters -Post Mortems Are VERY Important and as usual shared a link to the Vale Wildlife Group, as well as Friends of the Western Slopes, Bristol Naturalist Society and Bristol Nature Network Face Book pages. In one case at the request of someone on the group. Then I received, one after another, warnings that the posts had gone against FBs community standards (it does not in any way shape or form).
Today I received another...
I am appealing again (not that you can actually talk to anyone on FB. But, if the fourth strike is upheld then my account, I am warned, will be suspended.
The problem seems to be caused by the fact that the groups can leave a post waiting for approval for many hours and that, FB seems to think, means it is spam of some kind. Of course I do understand that moderators need to consider and allow posts from anyone who has been a naturalist all his life, has been a UK police forces exotic animals advisor since 1977, has contributed to technical papers and written books on wildlife.
Sarcasm aside, FB allows people to show footage and images of wildlife, especially foxes, they have killed (illegally) and allow sex scammers and people pushing porn sites but those are, of course, not against the fictional community standards.
So will I be banned for promoting wildlife health studies and conservation?
A European otter (_Lutra lutra_) eating a fish. - Credit: Marc Baldwin
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Got involved, accidentally as is normal, in the matter of a dead otter cub in the North of England. The behaviour and its death raised concerns with the rescue involved and as they do microscopy work on hedgehog faeces they did the same with the otter cub.
To cut a long story short the rescue arranged with an Environment Agency contact to have the otter sent down to Cardiff University Otter Project.
Now the rescue sent me two microscopy photos and two video clips and I forwarded these to the excellent pathologist that carries out all the dead fox post mortems. He expressed an interest in carrying out a full diagnostic post mortem on the cub and I explained that the carcass was going to Cardiff. I learnt that Cardiff does not carry out full diagnostic PMs which I had not realised before nd are more interested in the genetic side of otters.
In fact, there is a very interesting article on that very subject:
Country-wide genetic monitoring over 21 years reveals lag in genetic recovery despite spatial connectivity in an expanding carnivore (Eurasian otter, Lutra lutra) population
Nia E. Thomas, Frank Hailer, Michael W. Bruford, Elizabeth A. Chadwick
Now, as I note, the pathologist in Bristol is top notch and far more thorough in his work than we had ever expected -in fact Cardiff has been known to ask for assists if they find anything.
Although the genetic work is very important it seems that there is little to no information on parasites, etc in otters because the work has not been carried out.
I can bore endlessly on post mortems and what we have learnt about foxes and the thing is those PMs are adding to the data because it was never carried out before -again, fox work has mainly been about DNA. With otters it is just as important to know what is going on and the general health of the population and so on.
What I am not saying is "Ignore Cardiff" -they do valuable work. What I am suggesting is that any dead otters be sent to Bristol for full diagnostic post mortems. Cardiff does not lose out in any way as they get what they need. In a way it is almost like getting constant head pains that nothing seems to stop so you get a choice to see your GP again or a neurologist (hint just in case -go for the neurologist).
The importance of seeing what is going on health wise with any population, especially one as restricted as otters, is not just going to add to what we know but help detect health issues in a local population and in some instances try to help stop those issues. Again, we are learning more and more about treating foxes in the wild without trapping, stressing, treating in a centre after a long journey then releasing than ever.
How do we treat lung worm in otters that could kill them or do we simply sit back and wait for them to die then do a post mortem and cross our fingers in the hope they will not all die off?
The emphasis is, again, on the fact that Cardiff does NOT lose out and that is very important. If I thought that sending otters to Bristol for PM would create problems and halt Cardiff's research then, however strongly I feel about the health and welfare issue here I would not suggest it. In fact, I have nothing to gain from this in case anyone wonders -I am a mammalogist specialising in canids, felids and mustelids and the last thing I want to do is jump into the otter ring.
So, please, if you find a dead otter, let me know and I can forward the details on who to contact so that we can get the post mortems and Cardiff also gets the data it needs.
And I apologise if I step on anyone's toes but I have always been hands on in wildlife work and upsetting people is not what I want to do.
In 2022 I learnt quite by accident that some tenants in the Staple Hill area of Bristol were using equipment purchased from Ebay and Amazon to create electrical fencing to deter otters from koi carp ponds. This is also going on in other areas with carp ponds.
I went through DEFRA who were utterly useless and did not seem to give a damn about the matter despite, and I quote:
"Otters are designated and protected as European protected species ( EPS ). EPS are protected under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017. It is an offence to: deliberately kill, injure, disturb or capture them."
So after the usual run around I contacted Bristol City Council Animal Welfare 🙄 Department and I was given the shrug and "nothing to do with us" (BCC just keeps on 'giving'). Despite otter deaths on one particular road the idea of fencing and an animal road underpass was "beyond council local policy" whatever that means.
My next port of call was the supposed be all and end all on these things -Natural England. I emailed, got passed along, ignored and then after further efforts to be a pest got this response in January but Natural England does not seem to give a ****.
"Hello Terry
"I have had an email from another colleague about your query which I thought might be useful for you. He has read the Natural England guidance that was on the facebook thread and had the following comment:
"Although this refers to development and habitat loss I think the people with the pond need to be careful how they mitigate against the otters to protect the pond. The extract includes ‘uses otter-proof fences to stop otters getting on to development sites’.
"He suggests contacting Natural England for a clear answer on what people are allowed to do to protect an established pond.
"I believe this is the quote in question.
"Avoidance, mitigation and compensation measures
Look for examples of avoidance, mitigation or compensation plans in the development proposal. The proposal could avoid:
· work on or near the water body and known otter habitat, including work to road crossings and culverts
· disturbance effects, for example, by leaving a buffer zone along a river
· night works
The size of the buffer zone along the stretch of water will vary depending on:
· how otters use the area
· the type of vegetation at the site
· the level of existing background disturbance
· the level of proposed disturbance
Where avoidance measures are not possible, mitigation measures could include designing the development so that it:
· retains otter habitats in the water body and bank
· uses otter-proof fences to stop otters getting into development sites
"Otters are highly territorial animals with large home ranges. Depending on the quality of the habitat and availability of food, males can range along rivers for 35km. Otters will continue to try and use routes if alternatives are not included in a mitigation strategy.
Contact Natural England
Natural England County Hall Spetchley Road Worcester WR5 2NP United Kingdom
Email
enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk
Telephone
0300 060 3900"
So I am now chasing NE up again. It is about time people began to learn to live with wildlife and find ways around problems without the use of devices that might harm wildlife.
Simple answer is "no" and the excuse of "we had no idea" will be the defence. Three times I have been called in when developers "Had no idea" that they were destroying an area with badger setts in and in one case they replaced vegetation and signs for workers to not enter area. As I pointed out to them it was that or reporting and prosecution (and very bad press)
Developer fells mature woodland that had bats and owls in area
How the plot used to look. The trees formed part of the large wooded garden of a property in Corfe Mullen, Dorset owned by an elderly man until he died last year - MAX WILLCOCK/BNPS
Villagers in Dorset have condemned the felling of 20 trees thought to have been the home of bats and owls as an act of “environmental vandalism”.
More than 20 mature trees were cut down in a single day in the garden of a house in Corfe Mullen in September, previously owned by an elderly man who died last year.
The plot had tall conifers, ash and oak, thought to have been over 100 years old. Residents have reported it to the police.
A survey of a nearby property had found three bat roosts, recorded after 2010, including evidence of Greater Horseshoe bats.
It is not yet known if a wildlife survey was carried out before the trees were cut down but it believed they were home to bats, owls and woodpeckers
How the garden looks now after the tall conifers, ash and oak were all felled in a day - MAX WILLCOCK/BNPS
The house, with its acre of land, had recently been bought by a developer when residents were woken at 7am to the sound of three excavators and tree surgeons starting work, bringing in lights as night fell and working until 9pm to clear the site.
Jackie Bonham, 55, has lived next to the property for 17 years and has described the shock of seeing the greenery destroyed.
She said: “Everyone is distressed and disturbed by this sudden and shocking development.
“I first knew about the work when my kitchen started shaking and all I could hear was chainsaws and machinery.
“As neighbours we expected some work to be done on the property but there was no planning application, so it came as a surprise to us all when we realised what was happening.
Gerrard Hayes and his neighbour Jackie Bonham, looking at one of his trees that got hacked before he brought a stop to it, standing on waste tree surgeons left behind - MAX WILLCOCK/BNPS
“We are all really upset, mainly for the wildlife who have lost their home and were not given a moment’s thought throughout the work.
“They completely destroyed an eco-system in one day and all the wildlife in it. It’s devastating.
“The previous owner, James White, loved his garden and it gave him life after his wife passed away. He would be devastated if he saw what it has become.
“On the day this policewoman came out and tried to ask them for any survey [of wildlife] and they said they’d email it through, a bat survey. They sent it the next day and it looked like a bit of paper they’d signed themselves.
“There’s bats in the area, so with historical evidence of bat activity it’s likely there are roosts nearby. When next door neighbours applied for planning permission on their garage they had to have a survey. Ten feet away they could take the huge conifer trees down with nothing.”
Local residents have been left devastated after developers turned a wooded wildlife haven into a barren landscape without warning - MAX WILLCOCK/BNPS
Neighbour and former soldier Gerrard Hayes, 83, said he went out to find one of his trees being hacked down before he put a stop to it.
He claims the work left the tree unsafe and alleges the tree surgeons tried to charge him £800 to fell it, even though they had caused the damage.
He said: “All I saw was a couple of workers starting to cut down my tree at the bottom of my garden that backs on to the site, I couldn’t believe it.
“They started cutting one side of the tree in my back garden before realising it was on my property and stopped.
‘Environmental vandalism’
“I told them they had left the tree unsafe and it could fall at any moment given a good gust of wind.
“They said I was liable if the tree killed someone and told me I’d have to pay £800 in cash in order for them to remove it, which I refused.
“My neighbour has told his children not to go near their shed in fear that the tree could fall on them at any time and severely injure them or worse.
Dorset Council said: “We haven’t received a planning application for the site. Land clearance would not be development within Dorset Council’s control and the trees were not subject to a tree preservation order.
“Damage to a protected habitat is a criminal offence and a police matter.” Dorset Police have been approached for comment.
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