The Decline in Numbers, of British Mammals.

Badger very near the Etihad..

Weasel on clayton vale

Stoat on audenshaw reser ( wont see em if youve a dog in tow)

Fox all over supermarket carparks after closing.

Deer on ashton canal late last summer ( kershaw lane bridge)

Ive seen rabbits in piccadilly gardens when i was young...that mini ind est down pin mill brow was lifting with em...clayton vale was also lifting with hares

Rabbit nestled between fairfield & Reddish golf courses...not great numbrs though.
 
Alan Harper's Tash said:
Those pesky grey squirrels…
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That's one mammal that hasn't shown any form of decline.
I've walked in woods over recent years when this noisy creature has been the dominant sight and sound of the Air. I expect only The Goshawk and female Sparrowhawks...and Man ..have any relevant effect on their cascading population. And the pesky grey squirrels take a significant number of nesting birds eggs ...but silently, unlike Magpies who make a great racquet when they are pilfering ,and have humans hating them for it....whilst the same humans think the squirrel is lovely,with its nice bushy tail....
 
dennishasdoneit said:
That's one mammal that hasn't shown any form of decline.
I've walked in woods over recent years when this noisy creature has been the dominant sight and sound of the Air. I expect only The Goshawk and female Sparrowhawks...and Man ..have any relevant effect on their cascading population. And the pesky grey squirrels take a significant number of nesting birds eggs ...but silently, unlike Magpies who make a great racquet when they are pilfering ,and have humans hating them for it....whilst the same humans think the squirrel is lovely,with its nice bushy tail....
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I was meaning more it was the cause of the demise of the U.K. red squirrel.
 
PragueBlue said:
Used to see them (rabbits, stoats, squirrels, foxes etc) every day where I lived in North Yorkshire. That was only 6 months ago so doubt it has changed much.
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North Yorkshire has some fantastic countryside ,so I wouldn't be surprised if they are still plentiful up there tbh.
 
Mr Kobayashi said:
Unless you are out walking at night or part of a hunt party I doubt you'd see many foxes.

Same applies to Hedgehogs and Badgers.

Seen plenty of urban foxes, in Bristol and Somerset and one with a gammy leg and cub in Dulwich and tried to feed it dog treats.

Saw an urban badger running between front gardens last year, they are probably still living in that area but don't often walk that route at that time of night. Only so many areas within towns and cities where a badger can build a large set and remain undisturbed.
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I used to see the Red Fox often ,in daytime, both countryside arable land and cities back in the 80s.
I'd suggest they are a rarer sight now...
As for hedgehogs, they are definitely in decline .the roads up and down the land used to be littered with dead hogs killed by cars ,it was a very common sight....nowhere near as common now ...so I wouldn't agree with that point. I've seen no more than two in last two years albeit in urban ,not countryside settings..with a few more dead ones,but nothing like the numbers of say 40 years ago.

Just my own observations...

Badgers, I've prob seen more than most in the daytime, just by luck, early morning countryside, and urban settings ,as secretive as they are I've come across I'd say about 15 during daylight hours..

The 1st two i ever saw however was in a very sad scenario....I knew someone who was part of a shooting syndicate ( grey partridge and pheasant )in Leicestershire ( whymswold Repton ,A60 territory......and they " helped " farmers control the number of foxes on the land by setting down ,the now illegal,cruel snare traps....twice ,a Badger was caught in the snare and it's a two man job to release brock.....you can imagine how aggressive and vicious a trapped wild badger can be when your trying to release it....you can't really get much closer to a wild animal in those unfortunate scenarios,but what I remember most vividly about both incidents, was the second the animal was released/ free of the snare,the mind boggling speed this bulky animal shot off away into the undergrowth.....shit off a shovel springs to mind.

Talking of Badgers years ago the amount of dead animals by the roadside was very high...not such a common sight now, certsinly not by my observations...
 
BrianW said:
Haven't seen a hedgehog in years.
We used to get foxes. Not seen one in quite a while. Or seen their shit, the usual calling card.
We get rats though. I reckon they walk up the motorway from Old Trafford.
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I find it intresting how different posters have differing experiences.
Some mirror my own observations,others are adamant wildlife is still flourishing...
 
Plenty of deer in and around Chesham Woods Bury where i walk my dogs.
Can hear foxes at night and last year we (me and the dogs) bumped into a badger in there.
My dogs wanted to go at it but my recall of them is good so had them back on their leads in seconds.
It made some cute little noises as it wobbled off into the undergrowth
 
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PragueBlue said:
I guess it depends where you live. Perhaps flourishing in some places, less so in others.
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It does..but I've lived in many different locations over the years from ,built up cities to right out in the Derbyshire countryside ,notts,North Notts South Yorkshire, and always walked the land ,often with dogs , in many different settings with my eyes open,so to speak. I'm very good at spotting wildlife, prefer to walk alone ,with others conversation interrupts the concentration / appreciation / spotting ,imo
I always make a point of asking others what wildlife they see in their areas, or If folk go on holiday in this country I'll ask them what did they see...over the years I've taken great interest in what wildlife has been seen , so it's not just a random thread ,it's a life time of great interest...

I was out with a mate the other week taking his dog for a walk , he was talking ,and I suddenly stopped, asked him to be quiet....and pointed to two or three brown " shapes " in the corner of a field 100 yards away ....A small group of Roe Deer were relaxing ,un spotted ,lying down, almost perfectly camouflaged against the brown arable land ....they had seen us of course ,they were looking straight back at us ,ears alert...
My mate and his dog were oblivious until I pointed them out.
As I say ,I always like to be quiet when walking the land,def no mobile phone chat !

It does depend on where you live...but also how refined your spotting / identification is,imo.
 
dennishasdoneit said:
It does..but I've lived in many different locations over the years from ,built up cities to right out in the Derbyshire countryside ,notts,North Notts South Yorkshire, and always walked the land ,often with dogs , in many different settings with my eyes open,so to speak. I'm very good at spotting wildlife, prefer to walk alone ,with others conversation interrupts the concentration / appreciation / spotting ,imo
I always make a point of asking others what wildlife they see in their areas, or If folk go on holiday in this country I'll ask them what did they see...over the years I've taken great interest in what wildlife has been seen , so it's not just a random thread ,it's a life time of great interest...

I was out with a mate the other week taking his dog for a walk , he was talking ,and I suddenly stopped, asked him to be quiet....and pointed to two or three brown " shapes " in the corner of a field 100 yards away ....A small group of Roe Deer were relaxing ,un spotted ,lying down, almost perfectly camouflaged against the brown arable land ....they had seen us of course ,they were looking straight back at us ,ears alert...
My mate and his dog were oblivious until I pointed them out.
As I say ,I always like to be quiet when walking the land,def no mobile phone chat !

It does depend on where you live...but also how refined your spotting / identification is,imo.
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Very true. Coincidentally I happened to see 4 deer today when wandering a park here. No idea that there were even any there as I have been in that park dozens of times without seeing one.
 
PragueBlue said:
Very true. Coincidentally I happened to see 4 deer today when wandering a park here. No idea that there were even any there as I have been in that park dozens of times without seeing one.
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Wild Deer can be so illusive. So graceful, and secretive.
Often the only sign they are in an area is their droppings. I know they travel great distances at night. But during the daytime, I've happened across single deer quite unexpectedly,maybe because the wind was in the wrong direction for them,and I've often surprised the odd solitary deer with a dog off the leash,most noticeably at Moodgreen,just outside Eastwood Notts DH LAWRENCE country if you like..my pet Doberman completely surprised one on a hill one afternoon and took great delight in chasing it into the woods.....no chance of getting anywhere near it of course.
I'll always remember seeing my 1st wild deer. Boxing day 1985,Strelly woods Nottingham, I'd walked down a long path towards a conifer plantation of tightly planted trees and to my surprise came across a lone stag just at the edge of the wood. Again the wind must have been in my favour as the creature was taken by surprise, saw me, and effortlessly sped away,ghosting between the trees at speed ,I was completely blown away at how such a large creature could move at such speed amongst dense trees.....in 2 seconds it had disappeared.
Quite an astonishing sight ! Couldn't say what species it was...fleeting glance only...
 
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Marklr said:
I'll probably have a garden full of toads soon. We had thousands of tadpoles in the pond last summer. Bit of a mistake to be honest...
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I go fishing at a small lake above us, half an acre, and it is teeming with toads, the ground moves when they leave the water in June. Loads of newts in my pond from Feb to July. Frogs and toads will be out in a month or so
 
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