Conversations with local residents, land stewards, and organisations to hear their views on wildcats
156
Local Community Meetings and Talks
3
Interviews with community members and local experts
18
The Wildcat Project
Mae Ymddiriedolaeth Bywyd Gwyllt Vincent yn gweithio mewn partneriaeth gydag Ymddiriedolaeth Cadwraeth Bywyd Gwyllt Durrell ac Ymddiriedolaeth Coed Gwyllt i archwilio barn rhanddalwyr am ailgyflwyno’r gath wyllt i Gymru. Bydd yr astudiaeth ansoddol yn darparu llwyfan i randdalwyr gyflwyno eu barn ar gathod gwyllt a’r potensial ar gyfer eu hailgyflwyno i Gymru drwy gyfrwng gweithdai grŵp a chyfweliadau rhan-strwythurol. Defnyddir canlyniad yr astudiaeth i gyflenwi gwybodaeth ar gyfer penderfynu a ddylai’r tebygolrwydd o’u hailgyflwyno yng Nghymru gael ei archwilio’n fwy manwl.
Os bydd canlyniadau’r astudiaeth yn awgrymu bod posibilrwydd o fwrw ymlaen, ein bwriad hefyd fydd datblygu fframwaith priodol ar gyfer cydweithio parhaus rhwng rhanddalwyr yn seiliedig ar egwyddorion cyd-gynllunio. Beth bynnag fydd y canlyniad, gobeithiwn y bydd y gwaith yma’n darparu mewnwelediad defnyddiol i alinio projectau yn y dyfodol gydag anghenion a buddion preswylwyr, tirfeddianwyr, a rhanddalwyr eraill yn yr ardaloedd yma, gan ddatblygu’r sylfaen o ymddiriedaeth a chydweithio a sefydlwyd gan y Project Adfer y Bele diweddar.
Gwybodaeth bellach
Am ymholiadau am yr astudiaeth neu i wneud cais i gymryd rhan mewn cyfweliadau a digwyddiadau, cysylltwch â Max Henderson, Swyddog Project y Gath Wyllt, ar max.henderson@vwt.org.uk. Am fwy o wybodaeth am y project, darllenwch ein taflen wybodaeth am y project.
Vincent Wildlife Trust is working in partnership with Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and Wildwood Trust to investigate stakeholder perspectives on a wildcat reintroduction in Wales. The qualitative study will provide a platform for stakeholders to contribute their thoughts on wildcats and the potential for their reintroduction in Wales through group workshops and semi structured interviews.
The outcome of the study will be used to inform the decision on whether the prospect of a Welsh reintroduction should be explored in greater detail. If the study results indicate that there is scope to continue, we also aim to develop an appropriate framework for ongoing stakeholder collaboration based on the principles of co-design.
Regardless of the outcome, we hope that this work will provide useful insight to align future projects with the needs and interests of residents, landowners, and other stakeholders in these areas, building upon the foundation of trust and collaboration established by the recent Pine Marten Recovery Project in Wales.
This funding is being delivered by the National Lottery Heritage Fund on behalf of the Welsh Government.
Further reading
Report
A preliminary feasibility assessment for the reintroduction of the European wildcat to England and Wales
In early 2024, VWT’s Wildcat Project Officer, Max Henderson, began interviewing local businesses (including farming, field sports and forestry specialists), cat owners and conservationists as part of an 18-month social feasibility study to find out how people feel about the possibility of the wildcat returning to Wales.
If results, which are expected by mid-2025, indicate that it is appropriate to continue the discussion, participants will be invited to help set up further collaborative groups to investigate restoring this native species to Wales.
For enquiries about the study or to request to participate in interviews and events, get in touch with Max Henderson, Wildcat Project Officer.
Max Henderson
Wildcat Project Officer
Get in touch
Working in partnership
Carrying out a social feasibility study
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust is an international charity, with headquarters at Jersey Zoo in the Channel Islands, working to save species from extinction.
Wildwood Trust
Wildwood is a native species conservation charity established in 2002 to push the boundaries of innovative conservation and rewilding.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Welsh Government
Peoples Trust for Endangered Species
FAQs about wildcats
The wildcat is the UK's last remaining native cat and is currently only found in northern and eastern Scotland. Often mistaken for domestic tabby cats, wildcats are in general only slightly larger than a domestic cat.
Key features are their broad head and wide-set ears. In the winter wildcats have thick and long coats, which can make them look compact and stocky, however, their legs are typically longer than most domestic cats.
The look of a wildcat has subtle differences around Europe, but in general, their coat is a grey-brown colour with a well-defined, individual pattern of black stripes on the head, neck, and limbs, and a distinct line down the spine, ending just before the tail.
A notable difference between wildcats and domestic cats is that wildcats have distinctly bushy, blunt-ending tails with several black rings and a black tip.
Although the domestic cat is more closely related to the African wildcat (Felis lybica), European wildcat and domestic cats can interbreed resulting in hybrid offspring.
You can explore more about how to identify a wildcat through the Saving Wildcats project in Scotland, a project which is releasing captive bred European wildcats to the Cairngorms National Park.
The European wildcat was once found all over Britain, and - in ecological terms - was lost from Wales relatively recently. Most sources suggest it was lost around the 1880s, following centuries of hunting and habitat loss.
Increasing de-forestation in the 15th and 16th centuries, followed by extensive predator control activities throughout the 19th century are thought to have caused the wildcat’s extinction in Wales and England.
Below is a rough summary of the wildcat’s presence across Wales, according to historic and scientific literature:
Clwyd, Glamorgan, Gwent - Until early 1800s
Powys and Dyfed - Until mid 1800s
Gwynedd - Until late 1800s (some unverified records into the 1900s)
Yes, although once believed to be separate, the wildcats found in Scotland are the same species as the wildcat found in Europe.
The idea of a Scottish wildcat has been reinforced by the absence of wildcats from England and Wales for over a century.
Historically, in Wales, the wildcat appears to have had many different names, which in Welsh, include cath wyllt, cath y coed, cath goed, and cath fynydd. Other names such as the British tiger, British wild cat, Highland tiger, Celtic tiger, wood cat, forest cat, and more recently Scottish wildcat have also been used.
As part of efforts to raise awareness of the species’ historic presence in Wales, we’re keen to explore the wildcat’s place – both past and present – in the Welsh cultural landscape.
The European wildcat is classified as Critically Endangered in the UK.
Its last remaining population in Scotland is described as ‘Functionally Extinct’ by a report from the IUCN Cat Specialist Group in 2019.
Reintroductions into parts of its former range are being investigated as a way to improve the outlook for the species in the UK.
Research suggests that parts of Wales may be ecologically suitable for wildcats and therefore could provide an opportunity for the restoration of the animal as part of efforts to conserve the species across Britain. Without conservation interventions such as reintroductions, the species would likely become extinct in the wild in the UK.
As a native species, the restoration of the wildcat would also serve as a means to restore ecological function and complexity to the landscape by restoring a missing piece of the ecosystem. The restoration of species provides opportunities not just for ecological restoration but can also have significant social benefits related to increased nature connection and our experiences exploring wild places.
