The Decline in Numbers, of British Mammals.

Not trying to steer away from British mammals but we have these remarkable little critters all over the place, beautiful to watch their speed and agility
 

Intresting short vid on Shrews Moles Hedgehogs and Bats.
The decline in numbersof the Hedgehog,is confirmed by the narrator, and the quoted figures ,since the year 2000 is substantial...

This video again highlights the largely, unknown vociferous feeding habits of The Water Shrew,a creature I don't think I've ever seen before.

The video also talks of The Moles habit of killing the Earthworms by a bite to their brain, before storing large numbers of their prey in underground chambers,to eat later .
Fascinating.
 
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Soon be time for The Brown Hare to begin their territorial disputes ( Males)
And then the "Mad March" Hare shenanigans where females ' box " with Males who make unwanted advances on them.

I was lucky enough to witness the territorial dispute ,one very early misty I morning on arable land in north notts a few years back.

To say it was intense is an understatement

It was like a game of chess..with about 6 Hares all crouched down ,3 on each side,with an equal pocket of space between them, facing 3 on the opposite side,at the top corner of a field. I observed about 100 yards away at the bottom end of the field .
Every so often a male would jump ,rather aggressively sideways ,down the line and crouch ,eyes fixed on his opposite number ,to be followed by another doing the same thing ,each time reverting to the silent stare off
This in itself was fascinating,...then ,one male would get up,leave the group,and run aggressively and purposefully ,at full pelt around the perimeter of the whole field ,passing me at the bottom end but not appearing to mind my presence .....it was a wild aggressive run which ended back at the original group,where after returning to its spot,the sideways leap would happen again....and then it was another males turn to do a lap at speed,and so it continued.


Never seen anything like it before or since.
 
Fat Chance said:
Clayton vale used to be full of em ^..early '70's
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The video you posted earlier on this thread ,filmed in 1963, showed very big groups of Irish Hares at Dublin airport. They were big creatures roaming around the airfields in packs,much like Antelope or Deer ,
amazing to see.,and completely unperturbed by the aircraft taking off and landing behind them.

I discovered decades ago that Hares love the flat open land of Airfields to live on ,as they know they are unlikely to be disturbed by man,and Amy land predator can easily be out run on level ground if spotted. ,the Hare being the fastest British mammal,reaching speeds of over 30mph ..


I used to do a lot of reading on Hares,often visiting the Natural History section of the Nottingham University library a great source of information. It was here i discovered that the Hare is the only British mammal which can run faster uphill than than on level surface , courtesy of its longer hind legs.

I remember one very old traditional book with the immortal line ;

" ..at night when the hare comes abroad '

I used to think of hares grabbing their passports and heading off to benidorm or Málaga ,lol
But of course the word abroad ,doesn't necessarily mean to travel to a different country ,but to simply to move from one spot to another ,change existence,to move.,

The books described how The Brown Hare spent much of its day at home living in it's form ..a scrape in the ground ,before going 'abroad' at night to feed.

I've spotted lots of Hares in broad daylight tbh ,mostly early morning,open countryside and open airfields.
Fascinating animal.
 
Sir peace frog said:
Studies estimate that UK cats kill between 160 and 275 million animals each year, including many mammals.,kill all the cats and wildlife would stand a chance
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Had a good think about this comment and I'm not quite sure ........there aren't that many UK mammals that a domestic cat can kill apart from rodents inc voles mice shrews and rats .

The domestic cat is no threat to Red deer fallow dear roe deer muntjac Red Fox badger Stoat weasel otter mink pine marten, hares, full grown rabbit , hedgehog or.. moles, which it will rarely have opportunity to catch …

So which mammals is this report referring to ? The Brown Rat shows no sign of decline . The house mouse diff species of vole and shrew ,prob are lower in numbers ..but what other mammals are cats destroying ? Grey squirrel?

The cat predation on birds of course is.. an entirely different matter .
 
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