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Countryman
Diary - April 2008
An extremely rare leucistic white deer has
been spotted by staff of the John Muir Trust on the west coast
of Scotland. The last recorded wild, white stag in Britain was
shot by poachers in October last year on the border of Devon
and Cornwall.
Fran Lockhart, Partnership Manager for the
Trust, saw the beast while on a field trip. “It was amazing
to crawl up so close to such a magnificent looking animal. He
looked almost ghost like next to the group of young red stags
that he was mixing with.”
White deer are potent figures in the mythology
of many cultures. The Celts considered them to be messengers
from the otherworld. They are closely identified with unicorns
and their appearance is said to herald some profound change in
the lives of those that encounter them. Fans of C S Lewis’s
Chronicles of Narnia will be very familiar with the white stag
that the children in Narnia hunt deep into the forest only to
find themselves back in their own world again.
White deer are often mistakenly thought to
be albinos. In fact their unusual condition is caused by leucism,
a rare genetic pattern that causes a reduction in the pigment
in the animal’s hair and skins. Unlike albinos who have
characteristically red eyes, deer with leucism have normal colouring
in their eyes.
The John Muir Trust is keeping the details
of the whereabouts of this animal secret after the last recorded
white stag in the wild was shot by poachers for its trophy head. “I
am thrilled to know that there is a white stag roaming free out
there in the Scottish Highlands and that I was privileged enough
to be able to spend an hour observing him,” said Fran. “We
will be watching this animal with interest particularly as he
will be reaching his full potential in the next couple of years.”
Happy Ratty
Wildlife Trusts throughout the country are
celebrating the news that the water vole has finally received
full protection from the law under new proposals announced by
Defra. The recommendation for full protection was made as part
of the Review of the Wildlife and Countryside Act in 2002. However,
it has taken six years to reach the Minister for the Environment
and to be accepted by Defra.
It will now be against the law to intentionally
kill a water vole or to intentionally, or recklessly, damage
or disturb the places they use for shelter or protection.
The Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust coordinate
a Water Vole Recovery Project for the three counties and members
are delighted by the news. The project, funded by the Environment
Agency and British Waterways, was launched in 1998 with the aim
to conserve water voles in the area. Remaining strongholds include
the Kennet and Avon Canal in Berkshire, the River Chess in Buckinghamshire
and the Oxford Canal in Oxfordshire.
Project officer Julia Armstrong said: “This
additional protection for water voles is great news and the new
legislation will be an extremely valuable tool in helping the
Water Vole Recovery Project to protect water voles within
Berks, Bucks and Oxon.”
Mink threat
In North Wales a major initiative to save water
voles has been launched after experts warned that they could
become extinct there in the next ten years. Workshops are being
held for land managers, shooters, wardens and other conservationists
in Gwynedd, Anglesey and Conwy to learn about trapping mink by
using mink rafts, a sophisticated mink-trapping device. Mink
are an introduced and highly predatory species which represents
the main threat to water voles and other native wildlife where
the habitat is suitable.
A scheme to eradicate mink on Anglesey, which
has one of the most significant populations of water voles in
Britain, is now being extended to the mainland to try and prevent
mink from crossing the Menai Straits, before moving across North
Wales.
In Conwy, existing water vole populations are
being protected by maintaining their mink-free status through
the use of mink rafts, supplied by Conwy Council through the
Conwy Habitat Improvement Scheme. Mink rafts are floating platforms
moored on rivers and still waters, which contain a clay ‘tracking
cartridge’. Once mink tracks are detected, the cartridge
is replaced with a live capture trap. Once mink are removed water
vole tracks will appear on rafts which are a good indicator of
successful mink removal.
Butterfly hopes
The Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) is starting
work on a £44,100 project spread over the next three years
to help protect one of Britain’s rarest butterflies. The
money will be spent on habitat management work at the charity’s
Dunsford nature reserve to boost numbers of the high brown fritillary.
The site is the only colony of the butterfly
left in the Teign Valley and one of only fifty sites in the country
to support this rare insect. It has seen the greatest decline
of any of the British butterfly species over the past few decades.
The work will focus on management of bracken
to increase the numbers of violets, the food plant of the butterfly’s
larva, along with the cutting back of scrub and the opening up
of the reserve’s woodland glades. The money has been awarded
by Biffa through its Biffaward fund, a multi-million pound fund
which awards grants to community and environmental projects across
the UK.
Hope they been washed
I should have known better than to challenge
Countryman readers. Last month I asked, tongue in cheek if anyone
still wore a sweater that was more than thirty years old…
The record so far is 52 years old, worn by
Ronald Locke of Haslemere. More from him and others in the next
issue. Meanwhile, see also this month’s letters pages.
Paul Jackson |
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