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The December 2009 newsletter from the Merseyside and West Lancashire Mammal Group
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Welcome... ...to the first issue of the Merseyside & West Lancashire Mammal Group’s Newsletter. Send any comments to the newsletter editor John Dalziel at [email protected]
mwl mammal group focus
A big thank you to our hosts & the speakers, who made the launch of the 5 year Mammal Atlas Project such a success. Members of the public, along with the MWL Mammal Group Members, were informed of the ‘current state of play’ of Red Squirrels,
Water Voles, Bats (see next page), and Brown Hares, here in the northwest of England. Tony Parker, our MWL Mammal Group President, Introduced our experts and provided an overview of the 5 Year Mammal Atlas Project. Please encourage friends,
work colleagues, family etc., to support our project and to get engaged with the range of events on offer during 2010. See the back page of this magazine for further details of events.
Page 1 5 Year Mammal Atlas Project...
Page 2 Bats Facts about... Quiz
Page 3 Colouring Word Search Hedgehogs & Rat Poison
Page 4 Pink River Dolphins—article by Chris White
Page 5 International Section— a new species of Giant Rat
Page 6 National News by Tony Parker
Page 7 Mammal Atlas Update Spelling Scramble More Hedgehogs
Page 8 Contact Details Group Aims Events Calendar
Volume 1 Issue 1 December 2009
Contents...
“Successful Project Launch at the Treasure House Theatre, Liverpool World Museum”
Page 2
How do bats catch their prey in the dark? Bats are not blind but at night their ears are more important than their eyes. As they fly they make shouting sounds. The returning echoes give information about anything that is ahead of them, including.. • ...the size and • ...the shape ...of an insect and • which way it is going. This system of finding their prey is called echolocation – locating things by their echoes. Most calls are too high-pitched for us humans to hear, but they can be heard with a special instrument called a bat detector. Why not join us on…
May 2010 —Thursday 27th 8:00 pm Mere Sands Wood, Rufford Talk: Bats in the local Area followed by... Survey: Bat Survey using bat detectors.
What happens to bats at this time of year? Because there are few insects to be found in the UK during winter, British bats hibernate. They find a cool place, free from disturbance, sometimes a cave or disused tunnel, and tuck themselves away, often in a crack or crevice. Their heartbeat and breathing slow down and their temperature drops, so they use very little energy. So you have seen a bat flying during the winter! Yes as they do wake up occasionally, to move to a new site or look for food or water.
Going, going, going, going, going, going, going, going... UK bat populations have declined dramatically during the past century. Many of the roosting sites and feeding grounds that they need have been destroyed to make way for buildings and roads, or other changes in land use. Pesticides have not only killed many of their insect prey, but also some of the bats themselves. All British bats and their roosts are protected by law. It is illegal to harm or disturb bats, or deliberately alter their roost sites without first seeking advice - call the Bat Conservation Trust Helpline (0845 130 0228) for more information.
Bats need everybody’s help and protection.
BritishBats... Types of Bats... There are 17 species of bat living in Britain and Ireland, some of which are extremely rare. In fact, the greater mouse-eared bat,
until recently, was thought to be extinct in this country, but occasional individuals have been found hibernating in the South of England again.
Can you name the other 16 UK Bats
shown above? Answers on opposite page...
Page 3
Colouring…
Bat Type Answers: -
Lesser Horseshoe; Greater Horseshoe; Grey Long-eared; Brown Long-eared; Daubenton’s; Natterer’s; Whiskered; Brandt’s; Common pipistrelle; Nathusius’ pipistrelle; Soprano pipistrelle; Serotine; Bechstein’s; Barbastelle; Leisler’s and Noctule
ActivityPage...
Word Search...
National News Hedgehogs and rat poison… by Tony Parker
A team from the University of Bristol has shown an alarming rate of exposure to rat poison in a study population of British hedgehogs. Of 120 carcasses examined two-thirds had been exposed to poison. Although it is not known how the animals are being exposed to the chemicals, the high figure may explain the decline in hedgehogs in Britain. The RSPCA are urging caution in the use of rat poison asking people to consider the wider problems these cause and to use them responsibly.
Page 4
Article by Chris White... In August this year I joined a team of scientists and
photographers who were trekking into the jungle to find and photograph the Amazon’s elusive Pink River Dolphins.
Pink Dolphins are one of the rarest, most elusive and strangest of the world’s mammals. Little is known about them as their habitat is so remote they are notoriously difficult to study and scientists aren’t even sure why they are pink. Some argue that it is scar tissue from fighting males, some from a kind of dye in the water they live in and still others argue that the distinctive pink colour is from the food they eat but despite all the theories nobody is certain.
According to local legend, Pink Dolphins can take on human form and enter villages at night impregnating young women before returning to the river the next morning. More rumours hold that they seduce young men and lead them off into the river to their deaths. So with some trepidation we set out.
After hours of trekking through thick jungle, endless meals of tuna and rice, beautiful nights falling asleep to the sounds of the jungle and days of canoeing through the submerged forests, we arrived.
We arrived in a beautiful blue lagoon, surrounded by scarlet macaws, prehistoric hoatzins, giant capybaras, chattering monkeys and endless kingfishers darting into the water. In the bushes giant caimans slithered and anacondas lurked in the murky water.
Then, all of a sudden a head appeared. In a flash they were everywhere a pod of twenty or so of Pink Dolphins were leaping out of the water all around us. I dived into the water to get a closer a look and in an unforgettable minute I was swimming in the Amazon with Pink River Dolphins. Unfortunately this shortly came to end as a large anaconda decided to join in and I was wrestled into the boat. Nevertheless it was unforgettable to be in the water with these rare and beautiful creatures.
My trip to the Amazon was an unforgettable one and it has convinced me further of the need we have to protect this amazing environment before it is lost to logging companies or oil palm plantations. This will not happen if we refuse to act.
In fifty years Pink Dolphins may no longer exist and much of the Amazon may be wiped out so it is up to us to do what we can to prevent this from happening. Now.
PinkRiverDolphins-Inia geoffrensis... Pink River Dolphins...
Image under GNU license. Author windowlicker
Picture from Wikipedia
Habitat in blue
Image under GNU license. Author laurentmikhail
Page 5
InternationalSection...
Article by Helen Greaves…
Dear Fellow Mammal Lovers, I have pulled out this story from BBC Earth News. After seeing the BBC programme, Lost Land of the Volcano, I was interested in reading up a little more on the ‘giant rat’ they featured on one of the programmes… I hope you find it interesting too!
A new species of giant rat has been discovered deep in the jungle of Papua New Guinea. The rat, which has no fear of humans, measures 82cm long, placing it among the largest species of rat known anywhere in the world.
The creature, which has not yet been formally described, was discovered by an expedition team filming the BBC programme Lost Land of the Volcano. Like a number of other exotic species found by the expedition team filming this series, the rat is believed to live within the Mount Bosavi crater, and nowhere else.
Mount Bosavi is an extinct volcano that lies deep in the remote Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. The crater of the volcano contains pristine forest, where few humans have ever set foot. Even members of the Kasua tribe, who acted as trackers for the expedition, live outside the crater, which is 4km wide and has walls up to 1km high, trapping the creatures that live within.
Initially, the giant rat was first captured on film by an infrared camera trap, which BBC wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan set up in the forest on the slopes of the volcano. The expedition team from the BBC Natural History Unit recorded the rat rummaging around on the forest floor, and were awed by its size. Immediately, they suspected it could be a species never before recorded by science, but
they needed to see a live animal to be sure.
"This is one of the world's largest rats. It is a true rat, the same kind you find in the city sewers," says Dr Kristofer Helgen, a mammalogist based at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History who accompanied the BBC expedition team.
Then trackers accompanying the team managed to trap a live specimen.
The trapped rat measured 82cm in length from its nose to its tail, and weighed approximately 1.5kg. It had a silver-brown coat of thick long fur, which the scientists who examined it believe may help it survive the wet and cold conditions that can occur within the high volcano crater. The location where the rat was discovered lies at an elevation of over 1,000m.
(Continued on page 6)
Page 6
InternationalSectioncontinued… NewMammalSurvey...
Initial investigations suggest the rat belongs to the genus Mallomys, which contains a handful of other out-sized species. It has provisionally been called the Bosavi woolly rat, while its scientific name has yet to be agreed.
Other rodents, the group of animals that includes rats, grow to a bigger size. For example, the largest rodent of all is the capybara, which lives in or near freshwater in South America. It can grow up to 130cm long and weigh up to 65kg.
The Philippines is also home to a few species of cloud rat, which can reach over 2kg in weight. But of the true rats, which include urban brown and black rats that belong to the genus Rattus, few can match the new species.
The island, which includes Papua New Guinea and New Guinea, is famous for the number and diversity of the rats and mice that live there.
In 2007, an expedition to New Guinea led by Conservation International discovered another closely related giant woolly rat, which can weigh up to 1.4kg. It also belongs within the genus
Mallomys. However, that species lives in the Foja Mountains, part of the Mamberamo Basin. Over 57 species of true "Murid" rats and mice can be found on the island. The larger rats are often caught by hunters and eaten.
Photo of Giant Rat and the map were provided with thanks from
www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/bosavi-woolly/
(Continued from page 5)
New Mammal Survey… by Tony Parker
The Mammal Society has announced a new monitoring scheme for small mammals. The National Small Mammal Monitoring Scheme (NSMMS) relies on volunteers surveying an allotted 1km square using up to six different methods depending on their expertise. Survey methods include Harvest Mouse nest searches, bait-tube transects and small mammal trapping. Further details can be obtained from
call the Mammal Society on 02380 237874.
National News... Scottish Wildcat Project… by Tony Parker
The Cairngorms Wildcat Project has been launched, aiming to save the Scottish Wildcat from extinction in one of its last strongholds. Using an awareness raising campaign branded ‘Highland Tiger’ the Projects aims to encourage responsible domestic cat ownership i.e. increased neutering and vaccination in the national park area as well as supporting cat welfare organizations which neuter feral cats in the area. The Project will also work with landowners to ensure Wildcat-friendly predator control and that the population and degree off hybridisation and disease are monitored with the input of land managers and the general public.
Grey Squirrels moving north… by Tony Parker
With an estimated 120,000 Red Squirrels remaining in Scotland the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) has expressed concern at the news that Grey Squirrels have been seen as far north as Pitlochry and Braemar in the Cairngorms National Park. It seems that the greys are moving along the Dee, Tay and Don rivers towards the Highlands. The SWT believes that a cull of all Grey Squirrels north of a line between Argyll and Angus is the only way to save the native Red Squirrels.
Page 7
Spelling Scramble... MammalAtlasUpdate...
“Hedgehogs - why can't they just share
the hedge?"
Article by Daniel Flenley... After our successful and stimulating Atlas launch event, our
attentions have turned to four main areas from which to glean the all-important records that make an Atlas.
Firstly, there are the various field events planned for next year, which will see us out, about and finding mammals.
Secondly, there are records from Group members. Hopefully, the field outings and general Atlas hullaballoo will inspire us all to go and track down plenty more wild mammals in our spare time. If you've read the minutes of the last Group meeting, you may remember that current distribution maps of our local mammals are on the agenda for next time. This will help us identify gaps in our knowledge:
“Is a certain map square blank for wood mice because there are none there, or because nobody's ever bothered reporting the thriving population from that area?”
Records from the general public should be very useful for covering gaps in urban areas. To encourage Dr and Mrs Oggins at Number 47 (not to mention everyone else) to submit records, we are planning to start a garden mammal survey in 2010. The project, which will help build and enthuse our membership, should also make media headlines - 2010 is International Year of Biodiversity.
Finally, there are plenty of large (and not quite so large) organisations which we suspect have sets of mammal records somewhere in a company database or filing cabinet. These range from…
• golf clubs to gun clubs, • colleges to councils, and • Knowsley Safari Park (less the giraffes) to pest control
services, the Police and the Ministry of Defence. One of my jobs as a recorder is to contact all these bodies
and ask them if we can use their records (if they keep any) for the Atlas. To date, I've had 10 replies, some positive, some negative, from 54 enquiries. Thankfully, I haven't yet been shot, arrested, poisoned, attacked by baboons or hit with golf equipment.
Things are happening, but there's a long way to go: we'll need to keep working to make sure that when all is said and done, we can be proud of our Atlas!
Page 8
President of the Merseyside & West Lancashire Mammal Group... Tony Parker (Mammal County Recorder)
General enquiries... Contact Tony 0192 572 6986 (home) 0151 478 4363 (work) [email protected] Aims of the MWL Mammal Group The aims of the group are… • To promote an awareness of
the wild mammals of the Merseyside and West Lancashire region and work in partnership with other like minded organisations and individuals, where appropriate
• To promote a greater understanding of the ecology of the mammals of the Merseyside and West Lancashire Region
• To promote the conservation status of mammals and their habitats in the Merseyside and West Lancashire region
• To acquire a greater understanding of the distribution of the mammals of the Merseyside and West Lancashire Region
Membership enquiries... Christine Dalziel [email protected]
EVENTSCalendar2009/10 January 2010 — Saturday 23rd 10:30 am Treasure House Theatre, World Museum Liverpool Talk: History of British Mammals — Derek Yalden
February 2010 —Saturday 20th 10:00 am T.B.C. - possibly Ormskirk or Liverpool A.G.M. followed by Talk: Alien Invasives & Threats to mammal biodiversity
March 2010 —Saturday 13th 9:00 am 4 Lane Ends Mission Hut, Bickerstaffe L39 0EY (nr. Little Chef) Survey: Brown Hare Survey
April 2010 —Saturday 17th 9:00 am Location T.B.C. Training: Water Vole Training — Helen Laycock
May 2010 —Thursday 27th 8:00 pm Mere Sands Wood, Rufford Talk: Bats in the local Area followed by... Survey: Bat Survey
June 2010 —Saturday 12th Clore Natural History Centre, World Museum Liverpool Talk: General Recording Techniques and Mammal Surveys General Meeting:
July 2010 —No planned meeting Taking part in Survey: National Mammal Surveys and Atlas
August 2010 —Saturday 21st 9:00 am Ainsdale NNR, Off the coast road at railway bridge PR8 3QW Trapping: Small Mammal Trapping Session — Alice Kimpton
September 2010 —Friday 17th setting traps- Saturday 18th 9:00 am collecting traps Croxteth Country Park at rear of hall Trapping: Setting and collection
October 2010 —Saturday 2nd 9:00 am—noon Merseyside BioBank, Court Hey Park Training: Small Mammal Trapping
November 2010 —Saturday 13th Clore Natural History Centre, World Museum Liverpool Talk: Badgers General Meeting:
December 2010 —Saturday 4th 10:00 am Martin Mere Trip & Lunch: Martin Mere (Entrance Fee)
Further information available at http://mammalgroup.org.uk
