The Decline in Numbers, of British Mammals.

SamTheGuru said:
If you are getting into specifics, Beavers spends most of their time building dams and storm water blockages. Their highway network cannot keep up with the amount of blockages the put in to basic storm water systems. The thing with foxes, is they kill for sport; as any bird owner will tell you.

I think all of the mammals over the last few hundred years should be introduced and let natured take it's course. The worry is live stock. So if Grey Wolves were reintroduced then what do you do.
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Yeah I m fully aware Foxes kill for sport
So do humans !!!. What's your point ; )

Foxes are not responsible for the extinction of beavers bears lynx and many others in the British Isles ?

Complaining about foxes taking domesticated chickens and more than they can eat is like watching humans taking far too much food at a Buffett..and wasting much of it as they can't eat it. Just taking for the sake of it.... Foxes were here before Man.and it's man who put the chickens in such a tempting location ......interfering with the financial business of those who raise and ultimately kill their produce ..

What was your point again ? ; )


're introduction of species like grey wolf or lynx or even brown bear
Why would you do thst if Man will simply destroy them by hunting all over again .?

This will happen ,without a doubt , unless we are all confined to our 15 min cities like good citizens and have to pay to visit the country side if we go above allowance of one trip per month.
The elite will be doing the hunting...same as it ever was....
 
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Tuearts right boot said:
There could be one reason regards the lack of insects on the front of cars....more aerodynamic styling, maybe....
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I doubt it .

Does this new concept of aerodynamic styling apply to modern cars ?
If so drivers of older models would surely still see windscreen splattered with blood of insects crashing to their death......that's not the case though is it ? I drive old motors and it's been over a decade since the bloodbath insect windscreen were commonplace ,imo
 
shemnel said:
The insect issue is most certainly a joined up set of circumstances including urbanisation, prevalence of insecticide, lack of habitat, co loss of pollinators (and thus flowers etc), different climate and other species. The rise of chemicals post war is crazy. It's proliferation through the food chain has been felt, and will continue to be felt, for decades.
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I think there's more to it than that tbh.
Insects rely on the electromagnetic field to navigate
4g and 5g must surely interfere with this natural process,it speaks for itself. Imo the him of insectivores is now replaced by the ominous
hum of modern technology ....the decline of one is commensurate with the advancement and spread of the other .

No one wants to talk about the elephant in the room..

Memories of Biology classes at school and ,perhaps, simple common sense would point to future difficulties ahead ....the dearth of insect life,and in my experience , the decline in numbers of insect eating birds like song thrush and Blackbird etc etc go hand in hand...
 
dennishasdoneit said:
I doubt it .

Does this new concept of aerodynamic styling apply to modern cars ?
If so drivers of older models would surely still see windscreen splattered with blood of insects crashing to their death......that's not the case though is it ? I drive old motors and it's been over a decade since the bloodbath insect windscreen were commonplace ,imo
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I once saw a car with insects splattered all over the rear windscreen. I thought he'd been screwing it in reverse but it turned out it had been reversed onto a car transporter.. True story, honest.
 
idahoblues said:
Growing up in a small village in Northants, me and my friends knew every inch of the countryside for miles around. I think I saw just about every mammal in that area, we had fallow deer, Roe deer and those funny little Muntjacs. Still love traveling and looking for wildlife of all descriptions
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First time I saw a Muntjac I thought I was tripping, edge of a wood Moorgreen near Eastwood Notts,( Dh Lawrence country ) it just slid out of the trees/ bushes
I'd never seen anything like it before . The dog missed it ,looking the other way .. just as well...

Only seen a couple more since then ( early 2000s) but of course they are highly secretive like all wild deer,.

Going back to your early years in Northants, I bet you would struggle to find many collections of youths who are familiar with every bit of countryside around them ,too busy looking at iPhones etc
And yet your early interest in wildlife has led a lifelong interest? And resulted in some fantastic photos of wildlife being posted on BM ...prob highest quality pics by anyone tbh.

Where are the next generation of wildlife enthusiasts coming from ?

Incidentally I spoke to an old boy this weekend who grew u in Highlands of Scotland and retains to this day a passionate interest in The Scottish Wildcat which he has seen many times over the years,and actually participates in a conservation program for this incredible creature
It was a random conversation which turned into a fascinating one
How many opportunities do you get to speak to Scottish Wildcat enthusiasts?? That's two in a life time for me...I was buzzing.
This man had deep knowledge of all Scottish mammals having been born and bred in the highlands.

For my own part I have seen A Scottish Wildcat, in captivity at Riber castle Zoo( Matlock Derbyshire) ,mid 80s....I took a photo ,of a decidedly unhappy looking creature, the joy of seeing one had to be balanced by the absence of Freedom.....
 
SCEtoAUX said:
Plenty of rabbits where I live on the Somerset/Devon border. Loads of deer too, but they hide pretty well. Having said that, this one wandered into and ate our garden last year:

View attachment 144548

Have seen stoats and weasels out there too, but we like the hedgehogs best. They're safely hibernating right now, but we have at least half a dozen who we can identify, and were regular visitors from March to November (or thereabouts).

View attachment 144550

We are blessed with a great variety of birds too, including a resident Buzzard. Woodpeckers (Greater Spotted and Green) are rather lovely to see too, though they will attack bird boxes.

We certainly do out bit to help nature, but having only lived in this house 18 months I can't say if we have seen any decline.
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Thanks for posting.

Partc interested in what you say about Woodpeckers attacking the nesting bird boxes ...I'm acutely aware that many birds have feeding habits that most humans are not aware of...certain birds get all the bad names for egg predation ie magpies ,but so many other birds and mammals pilfer eggs and young beds.....given the chance.....
 
meltonblue said:
When I was living in Melton, we’d see urban foxes pretty much every night. I’ve moved to a village in Nottinghamshire now, we’ve got two bats that live in the garage, hedgehogs constantly in the garden (which my border terrier painfully realised he couldn’t eat) and an owl that visits a tree in our garden every night.

I was brought up in Shropshire in the middle of nowhere. That was amazing for seeing all forms of wildlife. Still remember the first time my now wife came to stay at my house in Shropshire. She couldn’t sleep as she thought she kept on hearing someone screaming, it was just a fox.

The difference in sounds even just to a village let alone a town is amazing.
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I agree the sound of foxes screaming can be a bit scary

The worst wildlife scream in this country tho ,imo
Is that of The Goshawk ....deep inside the nesting wood this scream is blood curling ,...think sexual assault and a woman screaming
Once heard never forgotten .
My only experience of this was a North Notts wood 20 0dd years ago daytime , and it stopped m in my tracks. Incredible.
 
shemnel said:
Otters are funny buggers - such great things to see, charismatic animals. They seem to be elusive and hold the 'wow' factor when someone tells you that theyve seen one. And then they just rock up and make a home in a town centre somewhere! they're funny like that. Kendal town centre had some for a while (might still do), and in Lancaster a pair have made a home on the busy university campus, making themselves local celebrities. Lovely animals.
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Great to hear.
We shouldn't forget about their cousins ..The Sea Otter ..
Has anybody seen one? ..I doubt their numbers are in decline !
 
dennishasdoneit said:
First time I saw a Muntjac I thought I was tripping, edge of a wood Moorgreen near Eastwood Notts,( Dh Lawrence country ) it just slid out of the trees/ bushes
I'd never seen anything like it before . The dog missed it ,looking the other way .. just as well...

Only seen a couple more since then ( early 2000s) but of course they are highly secretive like all wild deer,.

Going back to your early years in Northants, I bet you would struggle to find many collections of youths who are familiar with every bit of countryside around them ,too busy looking at iPhones etc
And yet your early interest in wildlife has led a lifelong interest? And resulted in some fantastic photos of wildlife being posted on BM ...prob highest quality pics by anyone tbh.

Where are the next generation of wildlife enthusiasts coming from ?

Incidentally I spoke to an old boy this weekend who grew u in Highlands of Scotland and retains to this day a passionate interest in The Scottish Wildcat which he has seen many times over the years,and actually participates in a conservation program for this incredible creature
It was a random conversation which turned into a fascinating one
How many opportunities do you get to speak to Scottish Wildcat enthusiasts?? That's two in a life time for me...I was buzzing.
This man had deep knowledge of all Scottish mammals having been born and bred in the highlands.

For my own part I have seen A Scottish Wildcat, in captivity at Riber castle Zoo( Matlock Derbyshire) ,mid 80s....I took a photo ,of a decidedly unhappy looking creature, the joy of seeing one had to be balanced by the absence of Freedom.....
Click to expand...
Flattery will get you everywhere
 
dennishasdoneit said:
Great to hear.
We shouldn't forget about their cousins ..The Sea Otter ..
Has anybody seen one? ..I doubt their numbers are in decline !
Click to expand...
I sometimes go to work on a small island north of Kodiak Island in AK, it’s an hour and a half boat ride to get there. We see hundreds of sea otters floating around on their backs just hanging out. They’re beautiful to see as our the puffins that will often fly alongside the boat
 
dennishasdoneit said:
First time I saw a Muntjac I thought I was tripping, edge of a wood Moorgreen near Eastwood Notts,( Dh Lawrence country ) it just slid out of the trees/ bushes
I'd never seen anything like it before . The dog missed it ,looking the other way .. just as well...

Only seen a couple more since then ( early 2000s) but of course they are highly secretive like all wild deer,.

Going back to your early years in Northants, I bet you would struggle to find many collections of youths who are familiar with every bit of countryside around them ,too busy looking at iPhones etc
And yet your early interest in wildlife has led a lifelong interest? And resulted in some fantastic photos of wildlife being posted on BM ...prob highest quality pics by anyone tbh.

Where are the next generation of wildlife enthusiasts coming from ?

Incidentally I spoke to an old boy this weekend who grew u in Highlands of Scotland and retains to this day a passionate interest in The Scottish Wildcat which he has seen many times over the years,and actually participates in a conservation program for this incredible creature
It was a random conversation which turned into a fascinating one
How many opportunities do you get to speak to Scottish Wildcat enthusiasts?? That's two in a life time for me...I was buzzing.
This man had deep knowledge of all Scottish mammals having been born and bred in the highlands.

For my own part I have seen A Scottish Wildcat, in captivity at Riber castle Zoo( Matlock Derbyshire) ,mid 80s....I took a photo ,of a decidedly unhappy looking creature, the joy of seeing one had to be balanced by the absence of Freedom.....
Click to expand...

I've seen Muntjac deers eating on the grass verges alongside motorways, when travelling on coaches.
 
Mr Kobayashi said:
Sea otters and marine otters are both endangered species so I would imagine they are.

I've seen a sea otter in an aquarium in Lisbon. Does that count?
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Your view on sea others appears to differ from Idaho blues post on the same species
Again ,intresting to hear diff views on the same thread...
 
dennishasdoneit said:
Yeah I m fully aware Foxes kill for sport
So do humans !!!. What's your point ; )

Foxes are not responsible for the extinction of beavers bears lynx and many others in the British Isles ?

Complaining about foxes taking domesticated chickens and more than they can eat is like watching humans taking far too much food at a Buffett..and wasting much of it as they can't eat it. Just taking for the sake of it.... Foxes were here before Man.and it's man who put the chickens in such a tempting location ......interfering with the financial business of those who raise and ultimately kill their produce ..

What was your point again ? ; )


're introduction of species like grey wolf or lynx or even brown bear
Why would you do thst if Man will simply destroy them by hunting all over again .?

This will happen ,without a doubt , unless we are all confined to our 15 min cities like good citizens and have to pay to visit the country side if we go above allowance of one trip per month.
The elite will be doing the hunting...same as it ever was....
Click to expand...
I think my original point was that we are completely hypocritical as a specie when we talk about protecting the environment and promoting natural habitat. Maybe it is due to the fact that we are running out of living space? I don't believe in any type of non meat movement either. I worked on quite a large incinerator project about 15 years ago where the ecological survey came back that there was no evidence of amphibians or reptiles. When I went there to visit for the first time, you could not move without accidentally stepping on a frog, a newt or finding a snake There were 3 badger setts that were identified which moved hell on earth! There were 2 late nesting birds that were found which cause the same delays, 1 dormouse (I never realised dormice often lived in trees, until this point), no bats were found (even though bats are literally everywhere). That is often the basis of ecological sign off on projects.
 
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