Surveys

You’d suppose, given that Rudolph is traditionally a boy’s name, that Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer is male (or a bull, as male reindeer are known) but one thing – in fact, two – suggest otherwise… Girl power Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) are unique among deer species in that females, as well as males, grow antlers. Each …

Free advice available to farmers and land managers on how to maintain this iconic habitat throughout prime hedgerow management season and beyond This autumn and winter, wildlife charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) is offering free hedgerow management advice to farmers, landowners, and land managers across the UK. Following just six steps will make …

As Halloween approaches and the days shorten, the lights will come on a little earlier. It’s a feature of urban environments we often overlook, but for many species it’s the dark, and not the light, that’s home. Night and day Artificial light at night (ALAN) means fewer dark habitats, and while it makes our own …

Badgers and boars Male badgers are known as boars, and female badgers, as sows and, while wild boar and badgers are very different beasts, it isn’t hard to see a resemblance… Wild boar (Sus scrofa) belong to the group Artiodactyla (hoofed mammals with an even number of toes), along with deer. Badgers (Meles meles), on …

While we can do a lot to encourage wildlife in urban green spaces and improve the green health of our towns and cities, it’s also true that, for some, it can be a jungle out there. Without thinking, we can easily create unintentional hazards around gardens and allotments. Removing these can make these spaces a whole …

Taking part in surveys and making your garden wildlife friendly can make a real difference With extreme heat warnings and wildfires dominating the news in recent weeks, it’s easy to forget that local wildlife – from hedgehogs and hares to bats and badgers – may also be struggling with this summer’s harsh conditions. But, the …

Hazel dormice class licence CL10a, CL10b survey returns are due to be sent to Natural England from 4th January 2022. This year Natural England is introducing two changes which include new online forms and a £35 charge for continued registration (with exemptions for voluntary use for NDMP monitors). New online forms In October, Natural England introduced …

Supporter Kenneth Phipps sheds light on some of Britain’s smallest and often overlooked mammals. The British mainland has three species of shrew, common, pygmy, and water shrew, and all of these little insectivores have intriguing lifestyles. Shrinking shrews Common, pygmy and water shrews undergo a sudden reduction in body weight during winter. This isn’t due …

Guest author, Anna Shaw, looks at the importance of insects in the diets of mammals, and what we can do to stock up our garden larder. Insects make up a lesser or greater part of the diets of many British mammals. Badgers, hedgehogs, shrews and some voles and mice, for example, consume insects as part …

Neighbours, however good, don’t always rub along smoothly and sometimes the attentions of our wild ones can be unwanted. But lethal pest-control methods are often indiscriminate and don’t necessarily solve the problem. Kevin Newell, from Humane Wildlife Solutions, looks at the more humane and ecologically-minded alternative to discourage rats in your garden. Sadly, when someone …

Britain’s water voles are in trouble. The arrival of non-native American mink and loss of suitable habitat have led to them becoming one of our fastest declining mammals. The key to halting the decline and conserving this species is understanding where water voles currently are, where they are doing well, and crucially, where they have …

Rabbits: abundant, small to medium-sized herbivores – or as one account puts it, a little ungenerously, ‘food-chain fodder’. But there’s more to rabbits than food for foxes and stoats and buzzards. These unassuming grazers are landscape engineers, a talent that wasn’t appreciated until we almost lost them. Arriving in Britain Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), like their …