Are There Naturalists? Are Bristol Wildlife Groups Interested in Field Work?

 We have in Bristol thousands who are members of the Bristol Naturalist Society, Bristol Nature Network and many area wildlife groups. For five years I have posted and asked for volunteers or assistance in wildlife work in the City and County.

I have posted the results of the 2022 and 2023 Bristol Fox and Badger Deaths Register that gives an idea of losses of those two large mammals in our area. I have even outlined some of the findings from the post mortems carried out under the Fox Deaths Project and updated on wildlife health issues from Avian Influenza Virus affecting our area and possible cross-infections.

I have asked whether, to preserve bodies of foxes that need post mortems carried out, anyone has free freezer space (I know there are a good few taxidermists in the area who have freezers for their work).

The lack of responses or interest, apart from a couple of "Likes", has been overwhelming. Foxes and badgers are important parts of our ecosystem and since I set up the new Bristol Badger Group in 1994, taking over from the group that became defunct in 1992, I have monitored badger health as best I can and have catalogued setts and areas where setts are located. The number of volunteers to take part in surveys or monitor badger setts on a regular basis has been zero.

The best reporting of sick, injured or dead foxes come from the public or the Lost and Found Pet groups who have been amazing.

In fact, if it were not for the work of Sarah Mills in going out and checking foxes suspected of being injured and trapping when necessary and successfully treating mild to severe mange in situ to avoid stressing the animals we would have a massive loss in the fox population -in the 1994/1995 mange outbreak we were left with an estimated 4% of the urban fox population -96% of foxes had died out.

Whether it comes to checking whether a dead badger on the roadside is a sow with now orphaned cubs nearby or vixen with cubs in a similar position this all needs checking and naturalists have always done this. We cannot have badgers undergo post mortem because of the Health and Safety Executive restrictions but they do need checking. And foxes need checking to see whether they qualify for the study -jaundice, etc being something we are looking at as well as other diseases and viruses. Foxes or otters need retrieving quickly and storing in a cold place until they can be submitted because Bristol City Council refuse to help and in fact hinder as much as possible (you would need to ask them why) and will collect a dead fox very quickly when they know I have been told about it.

That calls for a network, however loose-knit, of people who can check and photograph dead foxes, badgers and otters and then check foxes to see whether they might be of use to the study. Cold storage is then a problem for any bagged up fox.

Pretty birds, butterflies, etc are all well and good but foxes and badgers are not just photo-opps. Even the British Trust for Ornithology after its mammal survey suggested that the fox needs to be Red Listed as endangered.  Hedgehogs are not recovering superbly as they are still dying on roads and in gardens for various reasons (most to do with humans). Foxes are dying at an alarming rate on Bristol roads and when I stated that we needed road over/underpasses at certain blackspots the response was, again, silence when we should all be joining together to ask our elected authority to get something done.

If wildlife groups are simply social clubs with no active interest than the social drinks evening or insects/wild plants then it should be made clear.  If you use the word "naturalist" it comes with certain expected obligations. Yes, naturalists like myself are a dying breed and there have even been papers written on the matter. No university or college has a department concerned with natural history or wildlife and in a City the size of Bristol that seems ludicrous. 

Wildlife work does not pay. It can involve working out in cold and wet weather but it adds to our knowledge and even churn up some exciting finds. Sadly, my request for reports of muntjac deer in and around Bristol only solicited two responses but how wide spread they are is important to know.

Are groups serious about studying wildlife and surveying?  Are groups interested in the larger mammals of Bristol whether badgers, foxes, otters or muntjac -can we carry out surveys on them?

I think I can guess the responses to this and yet I cannot believe that I am the only field naturalist left in Bristol! 

Discuss. Decide. We can get things done and find out more or just plod along.

Read This 

Why are Naturalists Disappearing

https://infinitespider.com/naturalists-disappearing/

"NO! Domestic cats are NOT part of our natural wildlife and ecosystem." Really?

 

"This evening, I watched a local TV news item about cats roaming. The vet mentioned 'hunting'.....(presumably for birds, wood mice, amphibians, slow worms and basically any creature that moves within their own natural habitat). A garden designer then goes on to claim that domestic cats are 'part of wildlife'.

"NO! Domestic cats are NOT part of our natural wildlife and ecosystem."

someone else:

"Totally agree. I quite like cats, but little kitty is responsible for millions of dead wildlife then goes back to its warm home with all the cat food it needs."

oh, and a third who decided to insult the garden designer:

"Dear garden designer, you need desperately a brain designer"

Why, why, why do people on "wildlife" groups insist on making outright incorrect statements as though they are facts?  Anyway, I decided that the comments (not the insulting one) needed a response:

"Without being argumentative (honestly) cats have been part of our ecosystem for a very long time. 

"We had the original wild cats (no, not the wild European tabby promoted today but the real one) that humans wiped out and survived through interbreeding with domestic cats brought to Britain before and also during the Roman occupation and this continued for over a thousand years and in the 18th century writers noted that if it were not for feral cats breeding with wild cats the wild cat would have died out "centuries ago". 

"Cats were not pets even in the Medieval period as they were working animals used to keep down rats and mice. "pets" only really started in the late 18th-19th centuries and we have feral cats today that keep down rodents -in fact even cities in the United States use feral cats rather than rodenticides now. 

"The estimate of cats killing "millions" of wildlife each year is faulty in that someone sits down and decides that there are "X" number of cats in a street and so an exaggerated number of cats is given. Then they assume that because someone saw a cat carrying a bird it killed it. So all of the cats in that street and in the country killed at least one bird. 

"I observe domestic cats and studied wild cats and ferals since 1980 and I can tell you that even feral cats do not have the claimed kill rate of a domestic (in fact feral cats are not included in estimates). 

"So, yes, we have had cats descended from the North African wild cat (the grand daddy of all cats) in our ecosystem for well over 1000 years and in that time they have not wiped out species. Humans have wiped out cats, foxes and so many other species but that doesn't count of course. So, yes, cats are a part of our ecosystem."

A previous post on this subject can be found here:

https://foxwildcatwolverineproject.blogspot.com/2021/06/are-cats-really-killing-millions-of.html

People who are moderators or admins on Face Book social media groups should not voice their own opinions based on newspaper reports of studies or even accept those studies without questioning the data.

In Hong Kong similar reports led to cats kept as pets only being allowed out if walked on harness and lead. A good idea. But pet cats in cities and towns are killed regularly by cars. Keeping cats as indoor cats is not cruel it simply requires them having toys and climbing structures -my old cats were all rescue and lived to be 27 and in the early 20s and they were very happy and never bored.

Indoors your cats are safe.  But -but- outdoors they are not all slaughtering hundreds of wildlife species each year -some of the species they are supposed to be killing are not even spread across the whole of the UK so their being wiped out is a fiction.

Facts not personal opinions

Apparently one of the original posters "Cannot let this go" and cited one cat that had killed some wildlife a year or so before and wanted my counter figures to the "study" and basically my credentials to comment.  my response was as follows:

"over 4 decades of studying cats. I am recognised as an "authority" on the subject and have even been an official consultant. I do not just go by my field work but also talking to other naturalists and people such as Cat Protection League and so on and so forth.

"As I pointed out you CANNOT counter guessology which is what those figures were and I am not the only naturalist to question those figures.

"One cat kills a bird. "We'll say that there are six cats in that street so that is 6 birds killed. We'll say every street in that town has 6 cats and each kills a bird" and that is not science it is guessing.

"Study feral cats who have to hunt and kill to survive and they are not slaughtering everything in sight. Yes you will get cats occasionally that just have the hunt/kill instinct. But it is complete and utter nonsense to say mammals and birds are dying off because cats are killing them.

"By the 1860s humans had killed off the old British fox species, wild cats, red squirrels and in some areas hare and deer and the list of mammals made extinct by humans is huge. Imported animals from Europe were then killed off for 'fun'.

"Last year drivers in Bristol killed (only the ones reported) 264 foxes and cubs. 56 badgers and deer, pet cats, rabbits. Shooters go out every night and kill wildlife (and we know stray pets) for 'fun'. Even the British Trust for Ornithology has called for the fox to be Red Listed. We are killing badgers to such an extent that they are heading for eventual extinction -250,000+ in the cull and 100,000 a year across the UK. Humans have made species extinct by the score and m,ore are on the verge of dying out now -not because of cats but humans.

"A fictional number uses cats to scapegoat them for human activities. If you come up with figures you need to have done the work to gather that data.

"I have seen two cats carry off birds that died smashing into windows. One carried of a jackdaw that was hit by a car. Someone sees those cats and "They killed those birds!" That "study" was by people who were sat in a comfortable office and played about with figures that newspapers and people loved but naturalists scratched their heads over.

"If cats are killing so much wildlife why does that wildlife still exist? Why are there still frogs, newts, blackbirds, sparrows and other species. Some cats just cannot be bothered if a bird lands near them or a mouse runs by -I have seen that on a number of occasions yet those cats would be counted amongst the killers.

"If you are an admin or moderator on a wildlife group you have to show both sides not personal opinion. There are people out there who love these stories because they hate cats and they feel what they do justifies the horrors they commit on pet cats.

"A wildlife group should state "according to a study that has its detractors" and not offer the study as fact.

"I cannot change your personal opinion but it is the responsibility of naturalists to present facts or offer up counter arguments so that members of the public get a fair idea of what is going on.

Update

To clarify for those who did not read this post properly; I am fully aware of Island Impact when a species such as cats or rats are there due to human stupidity but it also has to be noted that humans also visiting those islands had an impact in killing wildlife (the cat did not kill the Dodo for instance nor the Falkland/Malvinas Island Wolf) for fun and food-stock. However, each location has to be treated and studied individually not be subject to a wide-ranging statement.

As I noted in The Red Paper 2022 vol. Felids there are wild cats on Mediterranean islands that have been there centuries -wildlife still exists. There are feral cat colonies in southern Europe that are taken care of by locals but still large numbers and yet, apart from rodents, the wildlife is still there.

Australia is a continent where the humans are just kill crazy and I have posted about this before but if you are over run with rats, mice and rabbits then the predator (foxes, cats and dingoes or feral dogs) will take care of the numbers. But poisoning, snaring, shooting and clubbing as well as electrocuting the predators and then having to use (amongst other things) flame-throwers to kill off mice...that shows a basic lack of any sense. What kills the predators is also killing other species. There is a reason naturalists called it "The Red Continent".

The UK, or Britain as it was known once, has wild cats large and small in its ancient to historic periods (lynx and wild cat lasted the longest before humans did their thing). During the Bronze age period traders brought with them the North African wild cat or its more tame cousin. The Romans then brought their working cats -to keep down rodents- and all of these had individuals that went feral and by the late 1700s it was recognised by naturalists that had there not been feral-wild cat inter-breeding then the British wild cat would have died out at the same time as the lynx.

Summing up 40+ years of study in a social media or blog post is not possible. My books contain all the information and references you will ever need. All I can say is that after a thousand years of feral/domestic cats wildlife is still here and it is a two-legged species causing the extinctions -proven fact

Killing Badgers Officially For Money -Fine. Try Saving Orphaned Cubs -That's Illegal.

 

Based on very bad science and politicians in the pockets of farmers and private estate owners, 250,000 plus badgers have been killed. Over half the population and...still bovine TB as hunts ride across fields and no one looks at bad animal husbandry. Over 100,000 badgers are killed on roads each year and we have no idea about the number killed illegally by 'sporting' shooters, snares, poisons and so on.

Now the government is extending culls and quite openly stating the intention is to "eradicate" (wipe out) badgers from areas of the countryside.  Badgers in this country survived when the Old foxes and wild cats and many other species did not. Are we going to kill badgers then import more "as required"?  

Badgers are heading for extinction and here is the huge joke; they have been a "protected species" since the 1970s! Yes, you look at a badger the wrong way you'll get prosecuted. But if you shoot or gas or even club them to death when you haven't killed them outright that's fine. Collect your blood money and go home.,

We have just had a situation where a lactating badger sow was killed on the road in Bristol and apart from the total and utter silence and lack of or offers to cooperate from wildlife groups to search for possible cubs I also got an insult for my efforts.  I also checked with DEFRA about searching for any sett with cubs that needed rescue: "Badgers are a protected species in the UK and it is illegal to tamper or search a sett. If that is done we will prosecute" and I responded "But DEFRA can pay for 250,000 plus to be killed?" the call kind of ended at that point.  

But that is the insane situation in the UK and the government and DEFRA has to take full responsibility for this mess. You can be paid to officially kill and wipe out badgers but orphaned badger cubs rescued will get you prosecuted.

Saving orphaned badger cubs is illegal.  That in itself shows that the government policy is to eradicate all badgers. Not surprising when a Tory government supports hunting and there is a King who is a big blood sport fan and partakes when he can.   

So after 4 hours I think it was I may as well have just sat back and done nothing. People in this country need to get off of their asses and try to help save and conserve wildlife not just sit gormlessly watch TV. Then again, I doubt the "great British animal loving public" actually gives a flying shit for wildlife.

Sit back and look at your children and remember to tell them what you did to try to save UK wildlife when they are older.... "I was watching TV and eating pizza. Nowt to do with me. Sad though."

The war on wildlife and the environment has been won by the developers and politicians

 

Over the years I've made connections with various people and some even in Bristol City Council (though the "bosses" don't know that. I rarely ask them to check things for me but after a blank refusal to respond to four emails on wildlife under/overpasses I asked someone to see if anyone was working on the response.

Apparently, some people at BCC think of me as a "pain in the ass". Well, score 10 for me. I was told that "It's always been this current council and Mayor's stance that if they do not respond people will go away or if they do respond it is on something that does not address any of the questions put to them".

Oh I am so 'shocked'.

Here is the thing that shows why voters need to get written guarantees from people they elect. The Mayor Marvin Rees and Bristol City Council call themselves champions for the environment yet they continually lie about keeping green spaces safe, they allow the use of rodenticides and even of allotments, they cut down trees, dig up hedgerows and knowingly connive with contractors and developers to 'not know' about badger and other wildlife habitats.

In fact, BCC has been thuggish to the extent that they have now committed wildlife and environmental crimes (Yew Tree Farm) out of plain malice.

Why the hell will Bristol groups trying to save green spaces and sites of scientific interest from the council and developers not unite and do a mass protest outside the council house and get press/media coverage to embarrass Rees and BCC???

Worse still is the fact that the current Labour council have committed far more environmental damage and destruction of wildlife habitat and the Green Party has simply allowed it to do so as the Green candidates I spoke to were all intent on building and getting more businesses in Bristol and were flummoxed by my questions on the environment!! The original Green Party of Germany should never be considered as similar as they DO consider the environment which is why they carry a lot of political clout.

If the voting public just cannot be bothered with the environment and wildlife issues then their elected representatives will not. The UK can be symbolised by what is going on in the City and County of Bristol and I am fed up of trying to explain what needs to be done and trying all I can behind the scenes.

The war on wildlife and the environment has been won by the developers and politicians while the public are too busy with soaps and reality TV.

Terry Hooper -About

 

Born Bristol, England  June 1957

Naturalist and author set up the Fox Study in 1976 which later became The British Fox and Canid Study which still continues work on current foxes as well as long British fox types.  The Fox Deaths Project is focused on the City and county of Bristol and has been yielding unexpected information on disease, etc.  Hair gathering from foxes around the UK is taking place to hopefully submit for a DNA analysis project.

Specialising in wild canids and felids, Terry has looked at existing, threatened or extant species particularly from Japan and Hong Kong and the work has been incorporated into The British Fox and Canid Study.  He is also credited as observing the first raccoon dogs in Lippe in the 1970s.

In 2021 the British Canid Historical Society was set up to look at various aspects of foxes.

From 1977 until (officially) 2016 Terry was an exotic species consultant specialising in felids and advising UK police forces via the Exotic Animals Register (EAR) as part of the Partnership Againgst Wildlife crimes. During this time he contributed to various technical papers and helped University of Wales Swansea and its Exotic Cat Group which presented findings to the Eastern Cougar Foundation Conference on the evidence regarding large ‘exotic’ cats in the UK.

 

Papers and Books

1. A Method For Grading Sightings Of Non-Native Cats: Application to South and West Wales, UK: Professor Alayne Street-Perrott, Alaric B. Smith Exotic Cat Group University of Wales Swansea and Terry Hooper-Scharf Exotic Animals Register.

Proceedings of the 2^nd Eastern Cougar Conference, Morgantown, West Virginia, 2004  

2. Exotic Cats In Britain: An Historical Perspective, Professor Alayne Street-Perrott, Alaric B. Smith Exotic Cat Group University of Wales Swansea and Terry Hooper-Scharf Exotic Animals Register, Proceedings of the 2^nd Eastern Cougar Conference, Morgantown, West Virginia, 2004  

3. (Contributor) Survey effort and Sighting Probabilities for Non-Native Cats in Carmarthenshire, Professor Alayne Street-Perrott, Alaric B. Smith Exotic Cat Group University of Wales Swansea, Swansea Geographer 2004  vol. 39

4. The Biography of Perceived Encounters with Pumas and Other Exotic Cats in South and West Wales, UK; Alayne Street-Perrott, Alaric B. Smith Exotic Cat Group University of Wales Swansea and Terry Hooper-Scharf Exotic Animals Register. 2004

5. Felids: Wildcats, Ferals and Hybrids, Terry Hooper-Scharf. Vale Wildlife Group, 2000

6. UK National Wolverine Population and Evidence, Terry Hooper-Scharf, Vale Wildlife Group, November 2000

7. The Red Paper: Foxes, Fox-Domestic Dog, Hybrids, Arctic Foxes, Wolves, Jackals and Coyotes: An Extensive Study of Vulpes vulpes in the United Kingdom and Releases/Escapes of Non-Native Canids; Terry Hooper-Scharf.  Black Tower Books, 2011

8. The “Girt Dog” of Ennerdale: Hyena, Thylacine or Escaped Exotic Cat: A Naturalist’s Assessment of the Evidence. Terry Hooper-Scharf. Black Tower Books, 2018

9. The Red Paper: Canids (2010)

10. The Red Paper 2022: Volume 1 Canids

11. The Red Paper 2022: Volume II Felids

12. The Current Threat To UK Fauna And The Introduction Of New Fauna Species April, 2022

13. Did The Lynx Survive Until The 18th Century In The UK? May 2023

14. The Scientific Need For DNA Testing Of Old Wild Cat and Old Fox Specimens February 2024

15. The Extirpation of Wild Cats and Introduction of New Wild Cats To Britain March 2024

Various other unlisted papers and articles 2000-2024

Terry also applied his knowledge of the natural world to look at subjects ranging from gorillas and other primates as well as 18^th -19^th centuries mysterious predators in France, the UK and Ireland.

Can The Development and Destruction of Bristol's Green Spaces Be Stopped?

 

We are repeatedly seeing Bristol City Council and its elected officers breaking the law for the sake of development and profit -the Yew Tree Farm environmental/wildlife crime being the latest. 

I have heard from people over the last 4 years alone of areas surveyed for conservation where badger setts and fox dens are located (Lockleaze)  and Council contractors move in to dig up the area despite locals pointing out the setts/dens and the fact that it was cub season. Interfering or destroying a sett is completely illegal and damaging or digging up a fox den particularly in cub season is illegal.

I have tried to step in when trees were being cut right back with crow nests in them and was told by the council; contractors to "**** off" and phoning the council I was told "contractors have surveyed the area and do not talk to the public in that way". Winterstoke Road once had thick heading next to the park there and in the middle of nesting season it was dug up -the council stated that no nests were in the hedges which was an outright lie.

I have stepped in to advise on two occasions when developers began to clear areas around established badger setts despite a survey having been carried out and had it not been for locals in both instances getting in touch those setts would have been destroyed. Both sites were then fenced off so no more 'accidental' work could be carried out there. 

The council has shown that it is definitely not championing the environment and under Marvin Rees it has allowed rodenticides to be used on Council allotments (illegal) despite protests from other allotment tenants -in fact they gave two fake names to myself and some of those tenants of officers who would deal with the matter. I found out, as did others, that those council officers did not exist.

The fight by people to keep green field sites and sites of scientific interest in the City is one the council will attempt to win. A promise from the council, even on paper, is meaningless and there are plenty of examples of that. A green site with trees and great views are the site developers want because those homes can be sold at a high price because of the views and area.

There is only one way to try to stop this behaviour. Embarrass the mayor and city council with bad publicity. "Good faith" is gullibility.  If each of the groups attempting to preserve/save their areas united that makes it far more difficult for the council and developers to get away with dirty tricks.

In the years up to the 2000s large protests outside the council house/city hall attracting press and media made councillors listen. The threat of  voting for more honest people curtailed a lot of bad behaviour and to be honest unless these groups unite then one by one the council and developers will pick away until they get what they want.  Never expect an easy ride as there is big money involved and not just for the local authority.

Here is what Danic Priest wrote on the Change.org petition:

Yew Tree Farm is Bristol’s last working farm and a designated site of nature conservation interest. Sadly on Thursday February 22nd, contractors have ravaged the landscape, slashing through ancient hedgerows and trampling species-rich meadows. The desecration witnessed is an affront to nature. This wildlife haven faces further desecration as Bristol City Council plows forward with plans to extend the South Bristol Cemetery onto these protected fields.

 Despite the outcry from Avon Wildlife Trust and the discovery of dormice, a legally protected species, the relentless march of destruction persists. 

We stand at a crossroads where the preservation of Yew Tree Farm's ecological tapestry hangs in the balance. Join us in demanding an immediate stop to the wanton destruction of Yew Tree Farm before more irreparable harm befalls this natural treasure.

https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-destruction-of-yew-tree-farm

Ashton Vale & Bristol Wildlife Group f 1994

For those interested

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/315237280619688