Staff at Vincent Wildlife Trust have produced a range of free, downloadable resources on the work to conserve threatened mammals in Britain, Ireland and mainland Europe. Some have written books that can be bought online through NHBS.
After a close brush with extinction, the pine marten is making the headlines as it recovers its numbers in Britain and Ireland. It is time for renowned pine marten expert and enthusiast Johnny Birks to reacquaint us with this enchanting mammal.
This is an excellent little introduction and identification guide to 14 species of bat found throughout Britain and Ireland. Each species description covers roosts, food & feeding, breeding, status & distribution, and identification. Similar species are listed alongside each other.
The seventh edition features a redesigned style and updates the distribution maps for some of the species.
The small mustelids are characterised by their long thin body shape, which enables them to follow their prey down small tunnels and burrows. However, because of their similar body shape they can be difficult to distinguish from each other, especially when, as is usually the case, they are seen only briefly and in poor light!
The polecat is the ancestor of the domestic ferret but exactly where and when ferrets were domesticated is still uncertain. Given their close relationship, it is not surprising that it may be very difficult to distinguish them
in the field. The only reliable ways of telling polecats and ferrets apart is from close examination of the pelage and skull of a specimen and analysis of mitochondrial DNA. This leaflet gives the key distinguishing characters, identified by Birks and Kitchener (1999), that separate polecats, ferrets and their hybrids. The images are mainly skins supplied by the National Museums of Scotland.
The aim of this document is to set out a strategic, long-term recovery plan for pine martens in Britain. It follows on from a previous strategy produced in 2011 (Jordan, 2011), which outlined the practical work and research needed to restore and secure the future of pine marten populations in England and Wales up until 2020. We present a summary of what has been achieved so far and set out a continuing recovery plan for pine martens across Britain that maintains this strategic approach, while emphasising the importance of conserving recovering populations in Scotland.
Since 2015, VWT has been involved in pine marten translocations from Scotland for population restoration in Wales and, more recently, Gloucestershire. A primary consideration in these translocations has been to minimise the potential for negative impacts on recovering donor populations in Scotland. To this end, surveys and monitoring have been carried out to collect further data to inform the way in which current and future sustainable harvesting models are applied. Based on precautionary principles, VWT adopted a highly conservative approach to trapping and removals in the first instance. Data on indices of marten activity at donor sites to date suggest that this has proved effective, and population estimates derived from genetic analysis of non-invasively collected samples support the suggestion that only a relatively small proportion of resident animals have been removed. However, the sampling strategy could be improved to refine population estimates further and better inform the way in which donor populations are managed and conserved in the face of higher demand from other organisations in future.
