Mammals in peril
BRITAIN’S mammals are under threat. according to the Mammal Society, almost one in five species are at high risk of extinction. In a bid to reverse the trend, the society has drawn up a Red List to highlight those in most urgent need of help. Topping the chart are wildcats, now only found in Scotland, and the greater mouse-eared bat.
‘We are also very concerned about red squirrels, water voles, grey longeared bats, hedgehogs, dormice, Orkney voles, serotine bats and barbastelle bats,’ says Fiona Mathews, the society’s chair and professor of environmental biology at the University of Sussex.
The past 20 years have seen some success stories—prof Mathews notes 15 species have increased in number, especially carnivores such as polecats and badgers—but more must be done.
‘a range of different threats affect our mammals, but the biggest one is a loss of habitat—both in terms of area and quality,’ Prof Mathews explains. ‘There are opportunities to make farmland better for wildlife, with Brexit, but we also need to make sure that protection is given to species threatened by developments such as housing and roads, which risk splitting populations into units too small to be sustainable.’
Much hinges on getting a clearer picture of mammal population density and decline across the country. ‘We have poor information on many species, including some, such as the rabbit, which, although widespread, are thought to be in decline,’ says Prof Mathews. The public can play a crucial role in gathering this data. ‘People can help us by recording mammals they see, using our new smartphone app, Mammal Mapper. We’ve received records of more than 1,300 animals in the two weeks since we released the app.’ CP