BBC News reports environment minister Lord Goldsmith says the damage grey squirrels and other invasive species do to the UK’s woodlands costs the UK economy £1.8 billion a year. The bizarre-sounding plan is to lure grey squirrels into feeding boxes only they can access with little pots containing hazelnut spread. These would be spiked with an oral contraceptive.
The Independent reports people have always been suspicious and fearful of bats so we needed little encouragement to point the finger their way. Some media outlets have even called for a global genocide of all bats. Of course, all this recrimination is a defence mechanism that stops us having to look closer to home. It’s a shame we’re so quick to judge because bats are wonderful, fascinating creatures. They have been on Earth for more than 50 million years – far longer than humans – and there are more than 1,400 different species of them, meaning around 20 per cent of the world’s mammal species are bats.
The Independent reports the largest grey seal colony in England is expecting a major baby boom of 4,000 new arrivals this year, the National Trust has said. Rangers monitoring the colony at Blakeney National Nature Reserve in Norfolk are having to rethink the way they count the numbers of pups born at the breeding ground due to how much it is growing.
Grey seals photo by Dick Knight under creative commons.
The Independent reports wild wallabies only live in Australia don’t they? Wrong. Wallabies are here in the UK, and they are becoming increasingly common.
In recent years, feral red-necked wallabies have been seen bobbing along dark stretches of road in Kent, scampering into towns in Devon, fighting police in St Ives, and patrolling the graves in London’s Highgate Cemetery. But now, researchers at University College Dublin used public records and media reports to reveal there were almost 100 wallaby sightings in the UK over the past 10 years.
Red-necked wallaby photo by Wildlife Wanderer under creative commons.
THE TIMES reports the actress is campaigning for an end to the detonation of submerged bombs during the construction of wind farms, after fears that the blasts deafen marine mammals. She has joined with conservation charities to say that this approach is “crazy”. A vast quantity of live explosives still lies in the seas around Britain, many dumped by Nazi bombers that failed to find their targets.
Bottlenose dolphins photo by Gregory “Slobirdr” Smith under creative commons.
BBC News reports people living in rural Lincolnshire have a key role in helping stop illegal hare coursers, police have said. Reporting from the community has helped keep numbers down, as has the use of police drones and the what3words app to help pinpoint accurate locations.
Figures show there were 873 incidents during the 2018/19 season and 1,043 incidents in 2019/20.
The Daily Telegraph reports metaldehyde is being banned after campaigners said it poses a threat to hedgehogs and toads. The poison is very effective in killing gastropods but not only reduces prey for animals which eat slugs and snails, such as hedgehogs and toads, but can build up to toxic levels in those animals, as well as pets and birds if eaten. Wildlife campaigners have pushed for a ban for years but after a legal challenge from the slug pellet company plans for legislation were put on hold. These have now been revived.
The Guardian reports “ghost hedgehogs” are starting to appear on roadsides in Dorset to highlight the plight of hedgehogs killed by fast-moving vehicles. The hedgehogs, made of white-painted wood, are being put up by the Dorset Mammal Group after one small village, Pimperne, reported more than 20 squashed hedgehogs on its roads in just one year. It is hoped that the spectral hedgehogs, like the ghost bike memorials where cyclists have lost their lives, will encourage motorists to slow down and drive with more care.
Hedgehog not squashed photo by Gillian Thomas under creative commons.
The BBC reports a rodent-eating predator seems an unlikely hero for the red squirrel. But conservationists in Wales are being encouraged by news the native pine marten may be helping their cause. Research from Queen’s University in Belfast suggests that numbers of red squirrels are on the increase in areas where pine martens also live. The reason given is that pine martens prey on grey squirrels far more than they do on red squirrels.
Red squirrel photo by Mrs Airwolfhound under creative commons.
The Guardian reports the government’s badger cull is being expanded to 11 new areas of England including parts of Oxfordshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire so that more than 60,000 badgers can be killed. Conservation groups said the expansion was a betrayal of trust after the government this year pledged to phase out the badger cull, intended to reduce bovine TB in cattle, after a scientific review cast doubt on its efficacy.
Badger photo by Sally Langstaff under creative commons.