Mammals in Wiltshire
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Mammals in Wiltshire Second Edition Version 1 (3rd March 2017) Editors: Gareth Harris & Purgle Linham March 2017 Wiltshire & Swindon Biological Records Centre, Wiltshire Mammal Group & Wiltshire Bat Group Acknowledgments All maps were produced by WSBRC and contain Ordnance Survey data © Crown Copyright and database right 2017. Wiltshire & Swindon Biological Records Centre are thanked for all their support throughout this project, as well as their historic and ongoing support to Wiltshire Mammal Group and Wiltshire Bat Group and Wiltshire’s recorders. Purgle Linham is thanked for her expertise in producing the maps in this publication. The key contributors and authors of the species accounts are acknowledged and warmly thanked; Chloe Delgery, Ben Welbourn, Ben Mitchell, Rosie Jackson, Jasmine Walters, Kathryn Hand, Jenny Bennett, Ben Williams, Grace Elwood, Paul Wexler, Adam Harper, Lis Weidt, Andrew Barrett, Jim Mullholland and Keith Cohen. We are grateful to Professors Fiona Mathews and Patrick Dillon for sharing their thoughts in the foreword. The Wiltshire Natural History Publications Trust is thanked for financially supporting this project. With huge thanks to the many recorders and mammologists who contributed data, information, expertise and enthusiasm. This is your Atlas! Front cover; brown hare on chalk downland © Nick Tomalin In memory of Anne Cozens – Wiltshire mammologist who contributed considerably to our understanding of mammal populations in South Wiltshire and North Hampshire. Fondly remembered. Passed away, 2015. Mammals in Wiltshire, 2 nd E d . V1_20170305 II About us Wiltshire & Swindon Biological Records Centre Wiltshire & Swindon Biological Records Centre (WSBRC), based at Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, is the county’s local environmental records centre and has been operating since 1975. WSBRC gathers, manages and interprets detailed information on wildlife, sites, habitats and geology and makes this available to a wide range of users. This information comes from a considerable variety of sources including published reports, commissioned surveys and data provided by voluntary and other organisations. Much of the species data are collected by volunteer recorders, often through our network of County Recorders and key local and national recording groups. Wiltshire Mammal Group Wiltshire Mammal Group is a volunteer-led recording group, comprising a mix of professional ecologists and keen enthusiasts, which supports a variety of mammal projects across Wiltshire. It coordinates several projects (such as dormouse monitoring schemes, the hedgehog project, brown hare surveys and owl pellet analyses) and offers support to other organisations and groups in Wiltshire running their own projects. Launched in 2002 the mammal group continues to grow and support mammal conservation across Wiltshire. Wiltshire Bat Group Wiltshire Bat Group is also a volunteer-led recording group, comprising a large membership of professional ecologists and keen enthusiasts. Bat group members coordinate a series of projects in the county, many of which are long term monitoring and survey programmes, such as the Savernake Forest bat project, Cotswold Water Park Bat Initiative, hibernation counts and swarming surveys of the Bath & Bradford-on-Avon bat Special Area of Conservation and the Trowbridge woodlands Bechstein’s bat study. Bat group members promote and undertake research and surveys on sites across the county and in recent years have transformed our understanding of bats in Wiltshire. Citation Harris, G. & Linham, P. (2017). Mammals in Wiltshire. Second Edition. Wiltshire & Swindon Biological Records Centre, Wiltshire Mammal Group & Wiltshire Bat Group. March 2017 Version This document is version 1_20170305. The version number will be updated with future updates. Mammals in Wiltshire, 2 nd E d . V1_20170305 III Contents Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................... II About us ................................................................................................................................................. III Citation ................................................................................................................................................... III Version ................................................................................................................................................... III Contents ................................................................................................................................................. IV Foreword ................................................................................................................................................. V Preface ................................................................................................................................................... IX 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1 2. The Species Accounts .................................................................................................................... 11 Rodents: Order Rodentia ...................................................................................................................... 16 Rabbits and hares: Order Lagomorpha ................................................................................................. 40 Insectivores: Orders Erinaceomorpha and Soricomorpha .................................................................... 45 Bats: Order Chiroptera .......................................................................................................................... 59 Carnivores: Order Carnivora ............................................................................................................... 117 Ungulates: Order Perissodactyla and Arteriodactyla .......................................................................... 136 Escapes & exotics ................................................................................................................................ 150 3. General references & further information ................................................................................. 155 Appendix ............................................................................................................................................. 156 Mammals in Wiltshire, 2 nd E d . V1_20170305 IV Foreword Many of Britain’s most iconic species are mammals. It is no coincidence that hedgehogs, seals, badgers and foxes feature large in the advertising campaigns of many organisations: they capture the attention and love of the public in a way that outstrips most other wildlife. So how can it be that so little is known about the distribution and conservation status of British mammals? There is no equivalent of the systematic monitoring programme for birds. There is not even a British ‘red list’ to highlight the most threatened species, meaning that mammals lag behind vascular plants, butterflies and even fungi. This lack of information is partly a quirk of history – The Mammal Society and other interested groups never received the large injections of cash required to pay for the staff needed to initiate and support formal monitoring programmes. However, it also reflects the difficulty of actually observing many mammal species, particularly those that are small or nocturnal. In my own experience, I have yet to spot an otter on the small river at the bottom of my garden, despite the copious spraint that the blighters leave to taunt me! Mammal recording depends on dedicated volunteers, committed to not only observing wild mammals and their signs, but also to sharing the data they collect with others. There is also a huge amount of ‘back-room’ effort that goes into verifying records; without this quality control, an Atlas such as this one would not be possible. The Mammal Society is currently pulling together information from across the country to make a National Atlas, a task that would be completely impossible without the help of local recorders, county recorders and data verifiers. Some people question the need for atlases, but understanding the distribution of species is vital for both local and national planning and policy decisions. Atlases also enable future change to be tracked, enabling us to understand better the impact of a multitude of pressures – ranging from climate change to urbanisation – on our wildlife. Wiltshire is a special place for mammals. When I recall my 10 years in the county, I think of surveying for water shrews in Urchfont, battling to stop the yellow-necked mice invading our house in Corsham, seeing brown hares almost daily around Highworth, monitoring water voles on Caen Hill Locks, Devizes, and a having host of first encounters with bats: barbastelle at Savernake Forest; Bechstein’s at Green Lane Wood, Trowbridge, and greater horseshoe bats at Bradford-on-Avon. And yet, I have much trepidation for the future. The pressure from development on many key sites seems almost overwhelming; and any glance at aerial images on the internet shows the extent to which the landscape is being fragmented by urbanisation. This Atlas is a crucial step in putting mammals on the map – not only by showing important regions for priority species – but also by illustrating the diversity present within the county. So hats off to all who have contributed.