Wiltshire Mammal Group
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Wiltshire Mammal Group Spring 2015 Welcome to the spring edition of the Wiltshire conducting work for / on behalf of the Mammal Group newsletter. We hope you group. enjoy this newsletter, and indeed, the recent BBC Wiltshire's Marie Lennon has been out events that the group has provided. A huge recording short mammal tit-bits for her thanks you to all, whether you have helped Natural History radio piece. The Natural organise the events or supported the group History segments will be on Wednesdays at by attending them! roughly 2:45pm. They are well worth a listen Notes from the Chair and will vary between mammals, birds and other taxa. With spring now well and truly set in there are We are now in our last year of the Wiltshire a plethora of mammals out and about. Mammal Atlas so are hoping for a big push Young are emerging and playing in the to fill in the blank spaces of the maps. To find open making it a great time to sit and out where your effort would make the watch. These often playful and charismatic biggest impact please contact us on creatures can reinvigorate anyone's interest [email protected]. in the natural world. It is a great time of the year to do some mammal surveys, with lots Lastly, but certainly not least, I am sure you of activity and vegetation at just the right would all like to join me in thanking height (long enough to make tracks / paths Catherine for all her hard work on the WMG easily visible but not too long that e.g. committee and particularly in setting up the stinging nettles are prohibitive). I encourage Wiltshire Hedgehog Project. Due to a each and every one of you to take a change in her work commitments Catherine mammal walk, whether it is along a river has stepped down from the committee but I looking for signs of otter and water vole or in am sure will still be seen at some of our a local park looking for signs of fox and events and we wish her well with everything badger. in the future. The Wiltshire Mammal Group is going through Reading University a period of reform currently; as a committee we think it necessary to put a constitution in researchers urgently need place formalising the group and many of the your help things we are already doing. A draft has already been circulated for comment and a Ben Williams final version will be put in place shortly. We Ecologists based at the University of Reading have also looked at our affiliation with the are currently conducting a project Mammal Society, which we have currently examining the possible impact of road suspended to release funds to go directly networks on hedgehog populations. It is into local mammal recording. We are also estimated that hedgehog populations in looking into the possibility of getting some parts of the UK have declined by insurance to cover members when approximately 20% in the last 20 years; the Peoples Trust for Endangered Species and To report any sightings or if you have any British Hedgehog Preservation Society say questions, please get in touch via this email: that hedgehogs are declining at the same [email protected] rate as other animals globally, such as wild tigers! One possible factor contributing to this National Hedgehog Survey decline is the fragmentation effect of major Ben Williams roads on hedgehog populations i.e. hedgehogs avoid crossing these major The second, and final, year of the National roads, leading to populations becoming Hedgehog Survey is now underway! Last more and more isolated from one another, year Wiltshire volunteers came joint first with which potentially makes them more the number of sites surveyed, let's see if we vulnerable to other factors such as habitat can be top again! More sites have been loss and climate change. Essentially, we are made available this year so hopefully there asking 'Did the hedgehog cross the road'? will be one near you. The survey is a great excuse to get out and about and contribute For this study they are looking to obtain to some valuable research. It is also a good genetic samples from hedgehogs in a zone way to hone those footprint ID skills. To find approximately 10 miles north and south of out more about the survey please visit: the M4 between Swindon and Maidenhead http://ptes.org/get- and M3 between Winchester and Bagshot. involved/surveys/countryside-2/national- There are two ways you can help! First, is hedgehog-survey/ collecting the bodies of hedgehogs that If you don't have the time to commit to the have been killed on the roads. If you spot a national survey why not use one of the dead hedgehog the research team would group’s footprint tunnels in your garden. be grateful if you could collect the carcass Even if you think you don't have hedgehogs and either i) store it in the freezer until they there is a good chance you do, provisional are able to collect, or ii) post it too them. work shows that people aren't always aware Second, they are looking for people who when they have hedgehogs. This data will have hedgehogs visiting their gardens, in the then feed into our Mammal Atlas! above area, and who would be willing to help by e.g. putting out food for a few nights. The hedgehogs will tend to poo nearby; this can then be used to extract DNA. One you notice the hedgehog droppings we would be grateful if you could collect one and either i) store it in the freezer until they are able to collect, or ii) post it too them. Please do not touch the poo, this is for Health and Safety reasons and to protect the genetic integrity of the sample; we recommend the use of a plastic glove, disposable spoon or plastic bag to aid in the collecting of the sample. Inky hedgehog prints left behind in a footprint tunnel – By doing any of the above you will be Kirsty Ackerman-Hall. helping important research that aims to have a positive impact on the hedgehog population in the area. A Hare Raising Day degree vision so will spot any predator approaching. Andrew Barrett There are many great opportunities for learning new skills in this world for all us mammal lovers. Groups and societies filled with knowledgeable people who run workshops are a great opportunity to get out, meet new people and learn new skills. I was lucky enough to find this event, local to me, during the Christmas break. The Wiltshire Mammal Group ran a Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus) survey workshop, which fell on a cold and very windy January day. The day began with a presentation by Mark A form in the crops - Andrew Barrett Satinet about the ecology of hare, ID skills and signs to look for when looking for them. Shortly after starting the survey walk we He also showed us other signs that might disturbed a hare only a few feet away, potentially get confused with hare, such as which got up and took off up the hill; the deer and sheep faeces. speed was marvellous and very exciting. This We split into two groups for the afternoon, was our first hare of the day, and we were one group with Mark and the other (my able to find the form from which it had group) with Gareth Harris and Lisa Wade, sprung. Throughout the survey we saw a total both regular surveyors who have worked a of 14 hare, most of them laid up on the south lot with the Wiltshire Mammal group. The facing slope catching the sun but out of the survey was to take place on two adjoining wind and which could only be viewed from grid squares on the Wiltshire Downs. across the valley, with binoculars. We also saw two groups of roe deer and a wide variety of birds. We finished the day gathered together in the farm yard comparing notes. Everyone had seen hares and had all enjoyed the day. Simon Smart is co-ordinating activities and getting landowners’ permission so we can do further surveys. This link is to the Wiltshire Mammal Group page with a PDF of instructions on how to conduct a hare survey. http://wiltshiremammals.wordpress.com/pu The team scan for Hare - Andrew Barrett blications/brown-hare-surveys/ Wiltshire Mammal Atlas Hare are nocturnal animals and during the day will lie up in a form. A form is a shallow Gareth Harris depression which looks like if you kneel in the Records round-up winter 2014-15 & Priorities mud. The hare lie in this so their eyes remain for recording in 2015 above earth, and they have a near 360 At the end of January, WMG submitted the gathering recent and historic bat data for 2014 mammal data to WSBRC, comprising; submission to WSBRC, and also to enable this to be included in the Wiltshire Mammal Atlas 2576 records from Living Record, of Project. This has resulted in the collation and which 1853 records were from North submission of several thousand bat records, Wiltshire, 723 records from South which will likewise make significant Wiltshire. These relate to the previous contributions to the atlas and our knowledge 12 months only, since records entered of these species in Wiltshire. to Living Record prior to this were submitted in January 2014. Records of note since the last newsletter A few hundred records from the RSPB (autumn 2014) Wessex Team, collected during the Red Deer – observations of this species course of fieldwork in South Wiltshire in continue to be submitted (often with 2014.