Feasibility Study
A preliminary feasibility assessment for the reintroduction of the European wildcat to England and Wales
Species Wildcat
Facts about wildcats
- English/Welsh names: European Wildcat/Cath Wyllt/Cath Goed/Wood Cat
- Scientific name: Felis sylvestris sylvestris
- Number of young: 1-7 (average 3 kits)
- Diet: Mostly rabbits and hares, but will take small rodents such as voles and a variety of bird species
- Habitat: Woodland, farmland and marginal grasslands
Distribution and status
The European wildcat, commonly referred to as the ‘wildcat’ or locally the ‘Scottish wildcat’ is the last native felid to Britain.
Once present throughout Britain, due to a combination of factors including historical persecution, habitat loss and declines in rabbit numbers (its primary prey) its range is now restricted to areas of Scotland. The exact distribution and status of the wildcat in Britain is not clear, due to its elusive nature and the difficulty in separating hybrids from pure wildcats on sight. However, its distribution is approximately north of the Central Belt, with known 'strongholds' in NE Scotland and Ardnamurchan. The wildcat is currently classified as Critically Endangered in the Red List for Scotland.
The wildcat is similar to the domestic tabby cat, which it can interbreed with producing hybrid offspring. The wildcat is slightly larger and with a blunt bushy tail with distinctive black rings that are not joined together, and a black tip. Due to the visual similarities to domestic tabby cats, a pelage scoring system is used to determine whether a cat is a wildcat, a probable hybrid, or a tabby cat.
The average size of the head and body of a male wildcat is 59cm, the average female is 54cm. Tail length can range from 26cm to 33cm. On average, adult males weigh over 5kg and females 4kg.
Wildcats prefer a mosaic of woodland and grassland, connected by scrub or hedgerows, where large numbers of voles and rabbits are present.
Wildcats are extremely rare and elusive; they are solitary and are mainly active at night. Their home ranges from 1-27 km2 depending on habitat type and quality. Unlike feral domestic cats, which often exist in large colonies near human-inhabited areas, wildcats are solitary animals. Each cat occupies a large territory, generally avoiding areas of human activity.
Wildcats have a strong preference for rabbits and rodents where available, but will also eat other small animals such as birds and amphibians as a smaller part of diet.
Wildcats are skilled stealth hunters, with excellent sight, hearing and sense of smell, as well as highly sensitive whiskers. Their diet varies according to local abundance. Rabbits are the favoured prey of wildcats, but when or where rabbit numbers are low, voles and mice are probably the next most important food source for wildcats.
Scottish wildcats are largely solitary but are more sociable during the mating season, which occurs from January to March.
Wildcats have one litter per year with an average litter size of three kittens. The kittens are born blind but covered in fur and weigh around 135g. Their eyes open at 1-2 weeks old, and the mother brings prey to them from as young as 3 weeks old, but kittens are fed milk for several weeks. Juveniles stay with their mother until they are 5 months old. Females reach sexual maturity at 12 months and males at around 9 months.
Small, isolated populations of wildcats unable to find suitable mates to breed with, and individuals attracted to human settlements for rodent prey, have bred with domestic cats in some places, leading to hybrids.
The main threat to Scottish wildcats is genetic extinction due to hybridisation with feral cats, domestic cats and existing hybrids.
They are also at risk from:
- incidental harm from predator control activities
- feline disease
- road collisions
- fragmentation or disturbance to habitats through development or changes in land management.
The wildcat is a European protected species and is fully protected under the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 (as amended).
VWT's work on wildcats
Wildcats used to be found throughout mainland Britain but, as was the case with many of our native carnivores, the population underwent a steep decline through the 19th and early 20th centuries due to loss and fragmentation of its woodland habitat, coupled with hunting and predator control. Today the wildcat is extinct in England and Wales, and on the verge of extinction in Scotland. A recent review of the status of the wildcat in Scotland concluded that its recovery would only be possible with the support of reintroduction projects.
Feasibility studies
Vincent Wildlife Trust (VWT), in partnership with Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and Wildwood Trust, has carried out a feasibility study of the potential to re-establish the native wildcat to the most appropriate parts of its former range. The research involved a detailed assessment of the biological and social feasibility, as well as an assessment of potential risks and benefits. This is part of a UK-wide strategy for the species and complements work being carried out in Scotland.
Research
In 2019, a PhD study began at the University of Exeter, funded by Vincent Wildlife Trust and Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, to investigate social attitudes towards the species in England and Wales, as well as some of the practicalities of re-introducing European wildcats.
Wildcat Project
In March 2024, VWT was awarded funding from the Nature Networks Programme to complete a Social Feasibility Assessment to explore the possible future reintroduction of the European wildcat to Wales.
Active projects
Wildcat Project
During 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 and and involving them in decision making and recommendations for the next steps.
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.
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.
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.
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)
