BBC Wildlife - Now You See Me

YOUR GUIDE TO A WILD SUMMER

NOW
YOU
SEE
ME...

THE CLEVER
SCIENCE OF
COLOUR-
CHANGING
ANIMALS

August 2021 | Vol. 39 No. 09

HARVEST WHY WE WILDLIFE
FESTIVAL NEED TO EAT
RANGERS
Celebrating Britain’s INSECTS
smallest mouse Supporting the
unsung heroes of

conservation



All in a day’s work...

Cover: Panther chameleon by Andy Rouse/naturepl.com (Controlled conditions); harvest mouse: Klein & Hubert/naturepl.com (controlled conditions); This page: Marcus Westberg What does your World Ranger Day (p66). These are
working day look nature’s first responders, and yet many
like? I know I’m don’t even have basic equipment and
extremely lucky with training. “We need better working
mine – I get to chat conditions, recognition, security, pay and
to experts all over the world about all legal support,” says Marcelo, adding:
kinds of fascinating wildlife, and then I “But I’d never dream of giving up.”
work with a lovely group of talented and
creative people to make this beautiful They get shot at, stampeded, bitten,
magazine you’re holding. And mostly, I poisoned and infected, all while often
do so surrounded by home comforts – earning a very meagre salary. I’m sure
I’m never far from good coffee! we all doff our caps in their direction –
although I daresay they’d rather have
For Marcelo Segalerba, a Brazilian improved conditions and pay.
ranger, it’s a very different story. “A major
challenge of my job is simply returning Paul McGuinness
home alive,” he tells Sarah McPherson Editor
in her eye-opening feature celebrating

Follow us A ranger’s day might
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Harvest mouse: K e n & Hubert/NPL (contro ed cond t ons); fish: Co n Marsha /A amy; toad: A ex
Hyde; rangers: Adam Keifer; Kingfisher: Kevin Elsby/Alamy; illustration by Harry Tennant


August 2021






4 BBC Wildlife



The people
behind our stories

August 2021

WILD MONTH 62 Why we need to eat insects COVERSTORY ALEX HYDE
The award-winning wildlife
12 Seven species to spot COVERSTORY Our appetite for protein is a problem for photographer explores the Sefton
the planet – bugs could be the answer Coast. “It’s incredible to me that this
What to look out for in August dynamic dune system flourishes so
66 Wildlife rangers COVERSTORY close to such centres of industry,”
17 Nick Baker’s hidden Britain
Meet the people putting their lives on he says. See p44
The spider that sports an ‘eye horn’ the line to protect the environment
LALY LICHTENFELD
18 Along a canal OUR WILD The co-founder of African People
WORLD
Mike Dilger takes us to the towpath & Wildlife has been working to
to see water voles, dragonflies and pike 82 At home protect the livestock of the Massai
people. “These communities have
22 News Natural history TV, books and more an incredible amount of tolerance
for large mammals roaming through
The Government is set to introduce 86 Your photos their backyards,” she says. See p28
Highly Protected Marine Areas 88 Feedback
AMY JANE BEER
26 Truth or ction? Your letters and Tales from the Bush “Woven from living strips of leaf blade,

Do animals change their accents to fit 91 Puzzles harvest mouse nests are beautifully
in, like we humans? camouflaged” says the naturalist. She
REGULARS finds out how the public are helping to
27 Mark Carwardine
6 In focus record their wherabouts. See p38
The conservationist considers
New Zealand’s hedgehog conundrum Brittlestar, swift and wildebeest MARK WATSON
The comedian on his love of
28 Meet the scientist 74 Behind the image kingfishers and why their habitat
needs saving. “They are magnificent
Laly Lichtenfeld on resolving Trafficked lizards in Australia birds,” he says. “I love the dramatic
human-wildlife conflict in Tanzania way they swoop down for their food.”
76 Q&A
FEATURES See p98
Are any animals bulletproof? Why do
30 The dam busters blue and great tits hiss? BBC Wildlife 5

Man-made obstacles on rivers are 98 Mark Watson
a menace to aquatic wildlife. Can
we start to free our waterways? The comedian shares the story
of how he came to love kingfishers
38 Harvest festival COVERSTORY

It is difficult to find the UK’s smallest
mouse, but citizen scientists are on
a mission to track them down

44 Photo story: Dune bugs

From tiger beetles to satin moth
caterpillars, the vast dune system
along Sefton Coast is full of treasures

54 Now you see me... COVERSTORY

Discover how chameleons,
cephalopods and fish
change colour – and why

August 2021



Òscar Miralpeix IN FOCUS | Star attraction

This kaleidoscopic mix of colours and shapes is a small
brittlestar draped over the venomous spines of a fire
urchin, and was photographed during a night dive o
the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. The brittlestar is an
echinoderm, closely related to starfish, and a scavenger
on coral reefs. As it feeds away on debris – which
helps to keep the reef spick and span – it is a orded
protection by the formidable weaponry of its host.

Nikolaos Fokas IN FOCUS | Winged wonder

Regular summer visitors to Europe from Africa, pallid
swifts nest on cli -faces and buildings and can feed, drink
and even mate on the wing. This individual was captured
in Athens, Greece, its swooping aerial display punctuated
by high-speed dives into the water to catch invertebrates.
Pallid swifts have paler plumage than their common
cousins, along with blunter wings, stubbier tail forks and a
lower-pitched version of the ‘ssrrreee-ssrrree’ call typical of
this family of joyful acrobats.



Will Burrard-Lucas IN FOCUS | Rain dance

When the rains arrive at Liuwa Plain National Park, Zambia,
it’s the cue for Africa’s second largest wildebeest migration
to begin. Vast herds move into the area, taking advantage
of the rich grazing available in a seasonal wetland paradise.
With the drumming of hooves and the snorts and grunts
of some 45,000 animals, there’s a visceral quality to this
spectacular wildlife event.



WILDMONTH
Flowers are blooming and butter ies and bees are on
the wing. Don’t miss August’s wildlife highlights.

By Ben Hoare

Hermansen/Wild Wonders of Europe/NPL 1 | GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL and arguably most thuggish, gull
ironically gets a much better press. The
Here come the gulls great black-backed gull (pictured in the
foreground) may be intimidating – it is
With the British media’s traditional silly the world’s largest gull, with a hulking
season in full swing, you can be sure physique, meat-cleaver bill and longer
of stories about aggressive ‘seagulls’, wingspan than a buzzard – but it keeps
featuring harassed tourists and outraged itself to itself and seldom visits urban
locals calling for the chip-stealing, areas. It patrols seabird colonies alone,
pavement-fouling pests to be culled. A scanning for undefended chicks, which it
2017 study found that in summer the swallows whole. Another favoured feeding
number of gull articles soars; seven times technique is to mug adult birds coming
as many appear in August compared to ashore with beaks or crops full of fish.
May or June. Yet these beleaguered birds The victims usually give up their catch.
are merely taking advantage of food we
carelessly provide. (There’s no such thing FIND OUT MORE
as ‘seagulls’, either. They’re just gulls.)
BTO gull research:
Two species in particular attract bto.org/gull-tracking
people’s ire: the herring gull and its
smarter, yellow-legged close relative,
the lesser black-backed gull. Both are
conspicuous, both increasingly seen
in city centres. However, our biggest,

ONLINE

TWEET OF
THE DAY

Michaela Strachan on great
black-backed gulls.

WILD AUGUST Burdock: Colin Varndell; butterfly: Oliver Smart; stoat: Alan Williams/naturepl.com

2 | GREATER BURDOCK August 2021

Sticky situation

Related to thistles, burdock is an
impressively sturdy plant that grows
rapidly. Once foraged for its edible root,
it is today often considered a weed. In
summer, burdock produces thistle-like
purple flowers, with a ball of viciously
hooked spines below each flowerhead.
This prickly structure, called a burr,
contains the seeds. If a mammal
brushes past, the spikes latch onto its
fur and the seeds are dispersed. In
1941, the super-sticky burr famously
inspired a Swiss engineer, George de
Mestral. His invention? Velcro.

FIND OUT MORE

Spot it in the wild: wildlifetrusts.org/
wildlife-explorer/wildflowers/
greater-burdock

3 | CHALKHILL BLUE

Celebrate the blues

August is peak season for blue
butterflies, with six of the UK’s nine
regular breeding species on the wing.
Chalkhill blues are habitat specialists –
to see them, visit a chalk downland in
southern England managed for nature.
There are also isolated colonies in the
Midlands and Norfolk. Focus your
search on sheltered areas where the
microclimate at grass level is warmer.
Mark Cocker, in his book A Tiger in the
Sand, describes how these baby-blue
butterflies gather in sunny spots,
“their wings opening and closing like
so many pale winking eyes”.

FIND OUT MORE

British butterflies: ukbutterflies.co.uk
and butterfly-conservation.org

14 BBC Wildlife

WILD AUGUST

4 | STOAT

Starting out

Young stoats born in spring are now
splitting up to hunt for themselves, after
relying on their mothers’ hunting prowess
throughout the summer. They are perhaps
unlikely to catch many adult rabbits – the
favourite prey of stoats – but naive baby
rabbits and small rodents had better watch
out. As well as finding enough to eat, the
newly independent stoats must dodge
everything from foxes to tawny owls, grey
herons and pet cats. Few survive their first
winter, which is why stoat litters are so
large, with up to a dozen kits.

FIND OUT MORE

Stoat blog posts and videos: robertefuller.
com/diary/tag/stoats

August 2021 BBC Wildlife 15

WILD AUGUST

5 | COMMON CARDER BEE combing (‘carding’) plant hairs and 6 | BELL HEATHER
pieces of grass over their brood cells.
Comb-overs Unlike many other bumblebees, they Purple haze
don’t build their nests underground,
These delightful little bumblebees but tucked among moss or tussocky Swathes of heather look stunning
vary quite a lot in colour, though grass, or hidden under hedges. this month. The hardy shrubs turn
usually have ginger fuzz on their entire moors purple, especially
thorax, with cream and black FIND OUT MORE on estates managed for grouse
stripes on their ‘tail’. They are shooting. Of the three widespread
among our most abundant summer British bumblebees: species, bell heather wins hands
bees, flourishing in gardens and bumblebeeconservation.org down for knockout visual impact. It
allotments, as well as in all kinds is an intense magenta, much bolder
of other grassy places. Their name than the mauve of its relatives. The
comes from their curious habit of flowers, which hang in bunches,
are bell-shaped with four prongs
7 | MINKE WHALE around the rim. They produce Bee & whale: Genevieve Leaper; heather: Laurie Campbell
copious nectar, so hum with insects.
Welcome whales Bell heather prefers drier areas than
other heathers, such as wooded
Whale watching has taken off at a lowland heaths and coastal clifftops.
few locations around Ireland and
northern Britain. July to August is GET INVOLVED
probably prime time for encounters
with minke whales, the most frequent Download monthly wildflower spotter
large species in this part of the world. sheets: plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-
Normally seen singly, the 7–10m- wild-plants-nature/spotter-sheets
long cetaceans come here to hunt
herring and sandeels. Their name is August 2021
pronounced ‘minky’, hence the (rather
cruel) nickname ‘stinky minkes’.
In his memoir Cottongrass Summer,
Scottish conservationist Roy Dennis
writes: “I prefer to use ‘lesser rorqual’
than commemorate the name of a
long-gone Norwegian whaler.”

FIND OUT MORE

British and Irish cetaceans:
seawatchfoundation.org.uk

16 BBC Wildlife

WILD AUGUST

Hidden

N

Eight legs, eight eyes
and a body bristling
with all manner of
hairs and knobbly bits
– so far, so normal for a spider.

But, if it wasn’t for Walckenaeria NICK The purpose of
acuminata’s diminutive size BAKER Walckenaeria’s
(less than 3mm) we would all
have heard of this miniature Reveals a fascinating ‘eye horn’ is still
monstrosity. A word used in the

best possible and original taste, world of wildlife that a mystery.

for this spider is of no harm to we o en overlook.
anything bigger than a thrip.

It is a spider that doesn’t this spider – well, the adult over obstacles, or using it like
a stag might use its antlers
WALCKENAERIAconform to anything you might male anyway – bucks the trend to display to females, or as a
club in combat. None of these
have seen anywhere else in ACUMINATA somewhat and knowing they really stack up in my view, both
the spider world. Look a spider are common and widespread because these eyes don’t see
very well and only males have
in the ‘face’ and, while you’ll is enough to make you look the eye stalk.

struggle to see features that you closely at every money spider The clues to its possible
purpose may come from
can relate to, most spiders at you see from now on. studies on another money
spider species, Hypomma
least have eyes (usually eight) Overall, it resembles bituberculatum, which is nearly
as odd. The males have a
and a couple of these are where other spiders of its family, couple of glossy, bean-shaped
swellings on the top of the front
eyes might be expected to be with a dark, shiny body and part of their body and it seems
that these are surrounded by
positioned. An adult male orange-red legs, but lean in a glands that exude a liquid the
female finds attractive. So,
Walckenaeria is very different. little closer and you’ll notice when in the grips of passion,
she holds onto the bumps with
It belongs to the dwarf or something strange. Slap bang her fangs while supping up
these mysterious secretions.
money spider group, of which in the middle of its head is
It is possible that the cephalic
there are 270 species in the a bizarre protuberance. protuberance of Walckenaeria
may act in a similar way – an
UK – that’s 40 per cent of all D I D Y O U Looking a bit like a extreme form of ‘love handle’,
perhaps? Or it could serve to
British spider species. KNOW? unicorn’s horn and aid in the dissemination of
pheromones. Still, nobody has
The double challenge of this The swollen ends of twice as high as the actually witnessed the mating
group is not just their tiny male spiders’‘palps’ rest of the spider, of this tiny, widespread spider,
so for now the purpose of
size, but also that they are very (appendages near the this turret can only Walckenaeria’s ‘eye horn’
remains a secret that is yet
difficult to tell apart, without mouth) deliver sperm amaze and instigate to be revealed.
considerable knowledge and a to the females.
an internal monologue NICK BAKER
is a naturalist, author and TV presenter.
powerful microscope. However, of questions in those

lucky enough to meet one.

How does it work? And what

TOUGH LOVE does it do?

The sex life of spiders is a rather kinky a air... A closer look still and it will
be noted that towards the very

I ustrat ons by Peter Dav d Scott/The Art Agency Male spiders run the risk of with a silk-wrapped nuptial gift top, looking like a pin head

being injured, or even eaten, in (pictured) – something else for on the top of a very bent pin,
face-to-face mating. So, many her to get her fangs into. Some is a swelling, which houses
will disarm their often- even tangle her up in a ‘bridal two pairs of glassy eyes. The
larger partners by remaining four of its optical
pinning back her veil’ of silk – or, more contingent are clustered around
flag-like head extreme still, tie her up another bulbous swelling about
appendages completely. There is halfway up.
called also evidence that
silk produced by the

chelicera. male holds appeasing So, what is it used for? There

Others will pheromones to set the have been many theories, such

distract her right mood. as enabling it to see its prey

August 2021 BBC Wildlife 17

MIKE DILGER’S

WILDLIFE WATCHING

ALONG A In his series of great places to watch wildlife in the UK, the star of BBC One’s
CANAL The One Show this month heeds the call of canal towpaths, with their rich
abundance of plant, animal and aquatic life – from king shers to water voles.

Forming a network of some habitat may have been doomed altogether, are the same. Location also plays a key
3,800km in length, the canals had it not taken on a new identity. part, with canals in southern England
that criss-cross the UK have and the Midlands often nutrient-rich, or
the superficial appearance of Canals have slowly transformed into one eutrophic, by nature. These contrast with
constrained streams or rivers. But of our most natural of unnatural habitats.
crucially, a lack of strongly flowing water These entirely human-made waterbodies those in north-west England, whose
and consequential absence of currents and have been reinvigorated, not only as an Pennine-derived waters tend to have
bankside erosion means the aquatic habitat important component middling levels of productivity, while
of the canal has far more in common with in the leisure the oligotrophic waters of the Scottish
standing water and ponds than it does with travel industry, but Highlands’ Caledonian Canal have the
other, natural watercourses. also as a haven for lowest nutrient levels of all.
wildlife struggling
Canals were first conceived by the elsewhere in the wider Still waters
Romans as a means of transporting countryside.
goods, but it wasn’t until the height of the Unsurprisingly, canals have become
Industrial Revolution that construction Of course, the water one of the most important habitats
really took off. But since the 1960s, with the quality, the amount of for macrophytes – large aquatic
advent of rail transport and road haulage, boat traffic and how the plants – with species such as rigid
canals have slowly become redundant as banksides are managed hornwort, spiked water milfoil and
a method of moving cargo. Indeed, the will ensure that no the rare floating water plantain all
two canal stretches
moving their main headquarters to
18 BBC Wildlife
August 2021

WILD AUGUST

C ockw se from top eft: John Bent ey/A amy; N k Gou thorp/A amy; Dav d Burton/FLPA/Minden; Clockwise from top left:
A amy; Pau van Hoof/Bu ten-bee d/M nden/A amy; Jonathan Ashton/A amy the Shrewsbury and
Newport Canal; our
native kingfisher can BBC Wildlife 19
be seen darting along
banksides; the Rochdale
Canal crosses the
Pennines with the help of
91 locks; water voles are
active during the day; the
floating water plantain;
look out for brown hawker
dragonflies on canals from
now until September.

these waterways. Invertebrates abound,
and a rich diversity of dragonflies,
aquatic beetles and molluscs can be
encountered in many canal systems at
this time of year. And in those areas
where recreational boat traffic is limited,
meaning the water is less turbid, fish
such as perch, tench and pike, and
charismatic vertebrates including water
voles and kingfishers may also make an
appearance.

Canals are also about much more than
just the water, as they are frequently
accompanied by strips of woodland,
scrub and grassland. Operating as
linear habitats, often in association with
marginal plants along the banks, this
mosaic of towpath vegetation doubles as
a wildlife corridor linking other isolated

August 2021

WILD AUGUST

sites often surrounded by a hostile sea of have also found canals very much to CHOICE LOCATIONS
agriculture or urban sprawl. their liking, with invasive mink, signal
crayfish, New Zealand pigmyweed and 1
Like virtually every other habitat in the parrot’s feather all able to use and abuse
UK, canals face pressures that threaten the interlinking networks for facilitating 2
the very wildlife that makes them such a dispersal to pastures new. 34
valuable commodity. Poor water quality
remains a constant issue, while excessive For those keen to sample some ‘canal- 5
siltation in canals without boat traffic ophilic’ wildlife, towpaths make this
may initially result in a loss of open a far more approachable habitat than 1 Caledonian Canal in the Scottish
water, before pushing the habitat into a many rivers or streams, which might
swamp community. Non-native species be harder to access, or susceptible to Highlands runs for about 95km, with
wildly varying water levels. Fisherman, short stretches of man-made canal
Towpaths make this a with their sit-and-wait approach, are linking up a number of scenic, natural
far more approachable often rewarded with the best views of lochs through the Great Glen.
habitat than many kingfishers. But perhaps the best way
rivers, which might be to appreciate this idyllic habitat is to 2 Rochdale Canal was opened in 1804
harder to access. take to the water itself, with canoes,
paddleboards or narrowboats offering and was the first trans-Pennine canal. It
the most immersive experience of all. runs from Manchester to Sowerby Bridge,
West Yorkshire, and is home to water
SPECIES TO LOOK OUT FOR voles and kingfishers.

Water vole Pike, also known of summer. The patrolling 3 Montgomery Canal, known locally Alex Mustard/naturepl.com
as northern pike, males have a distinctive
More frequently heard are very common flight patten, as their long as ‘The Monty’, contains several Sites
than seen, this charming in our waterways. glides are interspersed of Special Scientific Interest along
waterside mammal will with bursts of rapid but its length, with the stretch in Wales
often escape with a ‘plop’ poor and slow-flowing shallow wing-beats. also designated as a Special Area of
into the water when canal, the floating water Conservation due to its aquatic plants.
sensing disturbance. plantain is best identified Pike
Plump and with a rich by its rosettes of egg- 4 Newport Canal in Shropshire
brown pelage, its large, shaped leaves, which Often reaching around a
rounded head should are connected to other metre in length, the pike provides a link between the Shropshire
help distinguish it from plantlets by aquatic has a voracious appetite Union and Shrewsbury canals. After
the brown rat. Vastly runners. Its solitary white for other fish, frogs and falling into disrepair, it is now being
reduced in numbers due flowers then rise above even the occasional restored to its former glory.
primarily to predation by both vegetation and water, unwary water bird. With
invasive American mink, with a distinct yellow basal golden-green bands 5 Basingstoke Canal traverses both
spotting a water vole will spot clearly visible on and spots marking its
be the highlight of any day each of its three petals. greenish-brown body, Hampshire and Surrey and is considered
walking on a towpath. this apex predator one of the most biologically diverse of
Brown hawker of canals is perfectly all waterways. Twenty five species of
King sher camouflaged for dragonfly have been recorded and the
Immediately identified by lurking unseen in the Greywell Tunnel hosts one of the largest
No larger than a sparrow, its brown-tinted wings, aquatic vegetation. winter bat roosts in the UK.
the bright orange and this distinctive and
iridescent blue plumage large dragonfly is often Take a dragonfly guide
of our native kingfisher a common fixture along with you, such as Britain’s
makes it one of our most many slow-flowing water Dragonflies: A Field Guide to
instantly recognisable bodies during the height the Damselflies and Dragonflies
birds. Often seen whizzing of Great Britain and Ireland
straight and low over the (Wild Guides, 2018) by Dave
water, the key to catching Smallshire and Andy Swash.
the rapid fly-by is to listen
for its shrill ‘chree’ or August 2021
‘chee-kee’ whistle.

Floating water
plantain

Very localised along
stretches of nutrient-

20 BBC Wildlife

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

A FORCE
FOR NATURE

Jordans Cereals is working to keep the Amazon
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WHETHER IT’S DONATING to animal to help prevent. So far, the company has powerful teeth, are able to open
charities, making small changes in our helped plant 35,000 Brazil nut seedlings the fruits once they fall to the
garden, or simply cutting down on our to support the Bolivian Amazon’s Brazil forest floor. In fact, agoutis can open
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To find out more about what Jordans Cereals
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WILDNEWS By

SIMON BIRCH,
STUART BLACKMAN,
MEGAN SHERSBY
and CLAIRE VAUGHAN

KEEPING YOU UP TO DATE WITH THE BIG NATURE STORIES

Alex Mustard/naturepl.com “The UK has
some of the most
widlife-depleted August 2021
seas in the world.”

22 BBC Wildlife

The Atlantic grey seal is
just one of a vast array
of marine species that
could benefit from the
increased protection
of English waters.

MARINE

Government plans

New Highly Protected Marine Areas will ban all damaging activities.

G roundbreaking Government plans It is hoped that the newly protected areas will
to introduce a new class of increased increase the number, diversity and size of fish,
protection for the seas around England are as well as enabling the ‘spill-over’ of species to
being hailed as a major victory by wildlife and surrounding areas, which would help to restock
environmental campaigners. the seas and benefit commercial fisheries.

Following the independent Benyon Review, The restoration of the marine environment is
an introductory series of five Highly Protected also crucial in the fight against the climate crisis,
Marine Areas (HPMAs) are set to be designated as healthier seas support more plankton, which
by the Government next year, with the aim of absorb carbon and lock it away.
restoring the depleted marine environment.
“Highly Protected Marine Areas will be vital
“This new type of marine protection will be to transforming our existing broken network
the gold standard for rewilding parts of the of Marine Protected Areas, where all forms
sea,” said Joan Edwards, director of policy at the of destructive fishing are still allowed to take
Wildlife Trusts and a review panel member. place,” said Chris Thorne, oceans campaigner
at Greenpeace UK. “They can restore habitats,
“This is an historic moment and we’re certain revive fish populations, breathe life into
that HPMAs will help our seas become healthier struggling coastal communities and help us
and that degraded underwater habitats will be tackle the climate emergency.”
better able to recover.”
While the Government has yet to announce
HPMAs are areas of the seabed and sea where where the first HPMAs will be sited, Joan
no human activities can take place. They will Edwards commented that: “HPMAs should be
supersede the existing Marine Protected Areas designated in each regional sea, in both inshore
that currently cover about 40 per cent of the and offshore English waters, encompassing a
seas around England and that have had a mixed range of habitats so that experts can study how
record for their effectiveness. different ecosystems recover when pressures
are reduced.” Simon Birch
“This special form of protection is vitally
needed. Decades of overexploitation and FIND OUT MORE Read the Benyon Review into
pollution have left our seas damaged, with the
result that the UK has some of the most wildlife- Highly Protected Marine Areas: bit.ly/2TRn5uM
depleted seas in the world,” said Edwards.

August 2021 23

WILD NEWS

Grey wolves are viewed
as merely a menace

to livestock by some.
Below: white-tailed deer

are frequently hit by
cars in Wisconsin.

ECOLOGY

Wolves make roads safer

The presence of the top predators reduces
road tra c accidents in the USA.

T he recolonisation of old haunts yielding an economic benefit that is
by grey wolves across Europe and 63 times greater than the costs of verified

North America is apparently having the wolf predation on livestock,” write the

unexpected effect of making roads safer. scientists behind the study.

That’s the finding from a new study But what exactly are the predators

showing that the predators reduce traffic doing to make the roads safer? Firstly,

collisions with deer to the they eat deer, and fewer deer Jennifer Raynor of Wesleyan
University in Connecticut, who led
point that the economic gains DID YOU means fewer collisions. Indeed, the research, says that human hunters
vastly outweigh the costs of any the analysis showed that deer use similar routes to access deer and
therefore also scare them away from
livestock losses. KNOW? numbers stop rising once roads. “However, most of the hunting
season is compressed into a single
Wolves were hunted The USA is home to wolves move into an area. weekend, so the scale of the effect is Wolf: Linda Freshwaters Arndt/Alamy; deer: Michael Tatman/Alamy
almost to extinction in the about 18,000 wolves, However, the effect occurred much smaller than wolves that affect
USA (excluding Alaska) two-thirds of which are even in areas with very small deer behaviour year-round.”
by the 1960s. But legal in Alaska. In Europe, wolf populations, suggesting
protection allowed them to there are about 11,000, that controlling deer numbers She also suspects that similar effects
start reclaiming lost territory distributed amongst is only part of the story. are playing out as wolves recolonise
from the 1970s. The new Europe: “I feel confident that wolves
research gathered data on the 28 countries. The scientists think wolves would reduce collisions through the
change the behaviour of population channel anywhere that
wolves reduce ungulate numbers.”
rates of deer-vehicle collisions deer by their mere presence.
Stuart Blackman
(DVCs) as packs recolonised the state “Wolves use roads, pipelines and other
FIND OUT MORE PNAS: bit.ly/3AD207O
of Wisconsin, where DVCs cost almost linear features as travel corridors, which

$200 million per year, not to mention the increases wolves’ travel efficiency and the

associated human casualties. kill-rate of prey near these features,” the

“We show that, for the average county, scientists write. The result is a “landscape

wolf entry reduced DVCs by 24 per cent, of fear” that keeps deer from the roads.

24 BBC Wildlife August 2021

CONSERVATION Tasmanian devils
are strictly
Tasmanian carnivorous
devils ravage and will predate
little penguin on frogs, fish,
population on insects – and little
tiny island penguins (inset).

On one small Australian island, the loss of 3,000 allowing little penguins to re-establish
plan to save one species has little penguin breeding populations.
come at a great cost to others. breeding
Introduced Tasmanian devils pairs is a major A spokesperson for the Tasmanian
have devastated populations of blow.” government said: “It was acknowledged
seabirds, including a colony of Additionally, a study and accepted at the time [of introduction]
little penguins. published last year showed that the devils that little penguins were likely to
had contributed to the loss of short-tailed be affected by predation, however,
Tasmanian devils were shearwater colonies, which were also anticipated impacts were an accepted
introduced to Maria Island in predated on by feral cats and introduced conservation trade-off for insuring the
2012 as an insurance population common brushtail possums. Endangered Tasmanian devil against
that was geographically isolated The criteria for removing the devils extinction.” Megan Shersby
from others, and free from the was met in 2016, but the mammals have
contagious and fatal devil facial remained on the island. Conservationists FIND OUT MORE
tumour disease. However, a government hope they will be captured and relocated,
survey now shows the population of little BirdLife Tasmania: birdlife.org.au/
penguins is low, while conservationists locations/birdlife-tasmania
say the colonies have disappeared.

“We are seeing increasing frequency
of threats to penguins in mainland
colonies,” says Eric Woehler, convenor
of BirdLife Tasmania. “These offshore
islands are refugia for penguins and
other seabirds and shorebirds, so the

Frog: Antoine Fouquet; penguins: Tui De Roy/naturepl.com; tasmaninan devil: Suzi Eszterhas/Minden/NPL NEW SPECIES DISCOVERY The narrow- IN NUMBERS
mouthed frog
Zombie frog family has a 550
new member.
WHAT IS IT? giant sequoias – the world’s
It’s an underground-dwelling FIND OUT MORE largest tree – have been
frog, and one of three new planted in Brecon by the
Synapturanus species. The call of Zoologischer Anzeiger: One Life One Tree project.
the male can only be heard during bit.ly/ZombieFrog
or after heavy rainfall. To find the 100
animals, scientists need to dig
them out of the ground using their years ago the Plumage Act was
bare hands (usually getting soaked passed, banning the import of
in the process). It’s this rather eerie exotic bird feathers. It came as
scenario that has given rise to the name a result of campaigning by the
Synapturanus zombie.
RSPB’s Emily Williamson.
WHERE IS IT?
All three frog species are found in an 30%
incredibly biodiverse region of South
America known as the Guiana Shield. rise in the number of people
The scientists believe there may be six submitting sightings of
times as many Synapturanus species
than have been described so far. MS moths last year, according to
data from the National Moth
August 2021
Recording Scheme.

BBC Wildlife 25

WILD NEWS

MARINE

Sharks’ loss is whales’ gain

B iologists have stumbled upon “We decided to generate an ocean species rather than coastal
evidence of a mysterious mass 85-million-year-long record of ones were hardest hit; other fish
extinction of sharks 19 million fish and shark abundance, just groups were largely unaffected.
years ago, which may have cleared to get a sense of what the normal
the way for the evolution of variability of that population The cause of the mass die-
modern whales. looked like in the long term,” off remains a mystery, but it’s
she said. “What we found, one from which they have not
“We happened upon this though, was this sudden drop-off recovered. The biologists suspect
extinction almost by accident,” in shark abundance.” that it set the stage for the
said Elizabeth Sibert of Yale subsequent evolution of other
University. She and a colleague The event wiped out 90 per large ocean predators such
had been looking at historical cent of individuals and 70 per as whales. SB
shark populations by studying cent of species (more than
the occurrence of shark ‘scales’ twice as many as disappeared FIND OUT MORE
(called dermal denticles) 66 million years ago when the
buried in sediment. infamous asteroid struck). Open Science:

bit.ly/3hGtReD

Millions of years
ago there were
many more
sharks around.

TRUTH OR FICTION? WATCH A PRESS conference following the English. (Well, it’s probably more polite Caribbean reef sharks: Shane Gross/naturepl.com; tamarin: Thomas Marent/Minden/NPL
signing of a prominent British footballer than just shouting.)
Animals by a European club and you might be
change their fortunate to witness a fascinating – not to But it’s not only humans who feel the
accents to t in mention hilarious – linguistic phenomenon. need to modify their accent according
The player in question is likely to answer to the social situation in which they
Humans are known questions with a distinct, generic European find themselves. Research published
to adapt their accent accent, with the result that they sound in the journal Behavioral Ecology and
according to social something like a Dutch person speaking Sociobiology shows that tamarin monkeys
situations, but do in Brazil do something rather similar.
animals too? Red-handed
tamarins speak While red-handed tamarins range
WANT TO the lingo of across much of the Amazon, Critically
COMMENT? Email pied tamarins. Endangered pied tamarins are found only
wildlifeletters@ in a small area near Manaus. When red-
immediate.co.uk handeds enter their territory, something
strange happens – they modify their calls
to match those of their new neighbours.

The researchers suggest the behaviour
serves to ameliorate conflict between two
species that compete for similar resources.
Intriguingly, only the red-handed tamarins
modify their calls in this way, and it may
be no coincidence that they seem to be
gradually outcompeting the pieds where
their respective territories overlap. SB

26 BBC Wildlife August 2021

WILD OPINION

MY WAY OF THINKING

MARK CARWARDINE

The conservationist discusses the tricky problem faced by New
Zealand when it comes to the harm caused by non-native hedgehogs.

While we are Sto native wildlife). Should we play with dealing with these invasions) and
fighting to save The reason it caused that figure is trebling every ten years.
our rapidly a furore? Hedgehogs God and kill all
dwindling Some animal welfare groups argue
hedgehog are cute. the hedgehogs that no animals should be culled under
population in any circumstances. After all, it’s not the
Britain (down from 30 million in the The prospect of to protect fault of the hapless hedgehogs – we are
1950s to fewer than 1 million today), hedgehog eradication ground-nesting the ones who shipped them to a new
conservationists in New Zealand are has highlighted a country on the other side of the world.
trying to get rid of them.
tricky dilemma. birds? T If only we could ship them all back
The difference, of course, is that Should DOC play to Britain. That’s what we’re doing in
hedgehogs are native to Britain, but the Outer Hebrides. Seven hedgehogs
they are ‘accidental tourists’ in New God and kill all were introduced to the Uists in 1974 to
Zealand, shipped out to remind control garden pests, but they bred like
homesick settlers of their gardens back the introduced rabbits and preferred to gobble up the
home (it’s an irony that they are now eggs of ground-nesting waders – with
two-a-penny in New Zealand, while hedgehogs to protect native wildlife? devastating results. Unfortunately,
most of those gardens back home it took 13 years to move just over a
haven’t seen a hedgehog in years). Is it okay to cull one species to save third of them (2,441 hedgehogs) at
a cost of £1,097 each. Just imagine
In the good old days, New Zealand’s another? Is the survival of endangered how much it would cost to relocate
native birds, reptiles and insects lived untold thousands from New Zealand
the life of Riley, safe in the knowledge species more important than the lives to Britain (not to mention all the
that there were no predatory mammals logistical and biosecurity challenges).
to eat them. But then settlers arrived of individual animals?
and unleashed a menagerie of hungry But what is the alternative? Leaving
ferrets, stoats, weasels, rats, cats, dogs, It’s a conundrum faced by introduced predators to run amok is
possums – and hedgehogs – into this clearly not a viable option. Neither are
innocent land. Kakapo, kiwi and all conservationists around the world. non-lethal measures, because they
the other home-grown inhabitants inevitably result in a far-from-pristine
– completely unprepared for the Alien species – plants or animals mosaic of fenced enclosures. Culling
onslaught – were sitting ducks. Their isn’t good because it requires killing
populations plummeted, and many intentionally or accidentally introduced each generation over and over again
species disappeared altogether. – the killing never stops. So the most
into a place that was never part of their humane solution is eradication.
Centuries later, New Zealand’s
Department of Conservation (DOC) is natural range – are the second biggest It’s a sad reality. No-one goes into
still cleaning up the mess. In its bid conservation to kill things, of course.
to make New Zealand predator-free by threat to biodiversity (after habitat loss). But environmentalists can’t always
2050, returning the country to a near- be sentimentalists.
pristine state, it has become the world- They can plunge entire ecosystems into
renowned expert at trapping, shooting MARK CARWARDINE is a frustrated and
and poisoning. spirals of extinction. Worldwide, alien
frank conservationist.
But it hit the headlines when it set its species cost a minimum of US$26.8
sights on hedgehogs (following recent WHAT DO YOU THINK? If you
research that revealed the significant billion per year (in terms of direct
harm these prickly predators are doing want to support Mark in his views
economic losses and costs associated
or shoot him down in flames, email
Hedgehogs are
thriving in [email protected]

New Zealand.

Stephen Dalton/naturepl.com

August 2021 BBC Wildlife 27

WILD NEWS

MEET THE SCIENTIST

Laly Lichtenfeld

Co-founder and CEO at African People & Wildlife

A love of big cats and a A corral with a
commitment to empower ‘Living Wall’ keeps
rural communities led livestock safe from
Laly Lichtenfeld to help
develop ‘Living Walls’, lions and other
a project to protect large predators.
livestock in Tanzania.

Growing up in the SThe people are as much a when they wouldn’t rot. “That
beautiful ‘garden state’ would have never occurred to me!”
of rural New Jersey, part of the environment laughs Lichtenfeld. African People
Laly Lichtenfeld was as some of the large & Wildlife then secures chain-link
outdoorsy from the get- fencing to the branches, and over
go. But it was when she first heard a l iT time the growing trees weave
wild lion roar in Kenya that she fell through it, creating a sustainable,
in love with big cats. “I knew from them against roaming predators, FIND OUT predator-proof barrier. Laly headshot and Living Wall: African People & Wildlife/Felipe Rodriguez; lioness: Richard Barrett/WWF-UK
that moment I would be returning but the Maasai were having to go MORE
to try to contribute to conservation further and further afield to find it. Word spread fast and now there
in this part of the world,” she says. Could chain-link fencing supported WWF Land for are more than 1,300 of these ‘Living
by metal or wooden stakes do Life project: Walls’ across northern Tanzania.
Lichtenfeld was a freshman the trick? Metal was dismissed wwf.org.uk/life Lichtenfeld feels they are successful
studying biology at the time. Later, by the communities as being too because the communities are
she received a Fulbright scholarship expensive and wood would rot, invested. “It’s important it isn’t a
to research community-based they thought. handout,” she says. They plant the
conservation in Africa. Fast-forward trees themselves and pay 25 per
21 years and she still calls the Instead, they wondered if
continent home, having co-fo indigenous thorny African cent towards the cost of the fence.
the non-profit organisation A myrrh trees could form The rest is covered by African
People & Wildlife. the posts. Branches People & Wildlife and its key
could be harvested supporters and partners, with
“There is a long history of without killing the plans for more Living Walls
on these landscapes, intera tree, dried out for funded by the Land for Life
with wildlife. In East Africa several weeks, and project led by WWF.
we work, people are as muc then planted in “These communities
of the environment as some the dry season have an incredible
large mammal species. They amount of tolerance for
there for centuries,” she exp African lions have large mammals roaming
declined by more through their backyards
So, when finding a solutio than 40 per cent in compared to other parts of
the problem of big cats atta three generations. the world. I think they should
the livestock of the Maasai p
in Tanzania, Lichtenfeld and be looked to for solutions more
team invited community me than they are.” Catherine Smalley
to the table. “When you lose
to a lion, it’s not just the eco
[it affects], it’s the whole so
fabric,” she says. Building tr
and incorporating local, trad
knowledge is at the heart of
organisation’s work.

Livestock corrals are – qu
literally – at the centre of th
homestead. In the past, brush
would be cut down locally to fo t y

28 BBC Wildlife August 2021

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

A WAKE-UP CALL

By supporting the Woodland Trust,
you’ll be boosting its efforts
to help the tiny, sleepy –
and adorable – hazel
dormouse thrive again

THE RARE HAZEL DORMOUSE lives in nation’s move away from more traditional THE DORMOUSE
England’s woodlands, but it’s highly forestry methods such as coppicing, FACT FILE
unlikely you’ll catch sight of one in its which creates ideal habitats for dormice,
natural habitat. Known for being shy, the creatures struggle to find the safe Here’s some of the key information
this miniscule creature spends most habitats that once existed in abundance. about this precious species…
of its time asleep, or hidden high-up
in tree branches and canopies. Fortunately, hope is not lost, and there Name: Hazel dormouse
are a variety of steps we can all take to help
Sadly, with numbers estimated to have this precious species thrive once more... (Muscardinus avellanarius)
fallen by 52 per cent since 1995, the hazel
dormouse population is in danger. The BUILDING BACK Diet: Insects, flowers, nuts, seeds
loss of ancient woodland and hedgerows
across the UK is a major factor behind The Woodland Trust is protecting the UK’s and berries
this decline. As dormice never venture out hazel dormice population by restoring
into large, open expanses, they become woodland, as well as providing nesting boxes Habitat: Woodland, hedgerows
isolated in the remaining wooded spaces. for the mice to use. Recently, it partnered
Ultimately, this means the species starts with the National Trust to restore Fingle Appearance: Just 6-9cm in length
to lose genetic diversity, which makes Woods in Devon. This involved gradually
it more vulnerable to extinction. removing maturing conifer to return the and weighing no more than 40g, these
wood to broadleaves, in a way that enhanced tiny creatures have soft, golden fur and
Climate change has also played a part the habitat of the dormice living there. a long, feathery tail.
in the dwindling dormouse population.
As our winters become milder, the This restoration also provided also Not to be confused with:
mice’s hibernation cycle is disrupted, provided the opportunity to monitor the
and they start waking before sufficient mice and observe their behaviours and The edible dormouse. This is a much
food is available. What’s more, with the feeding habits, which will help the charity larger, non-native species of dormouse,
better understand how to protect them. first introduced into the UK in 1902.

For more information, and to become a member of the Woodland Trust
from just £4 a month, visit woodlandtrust.org.uk/WL

Registered charity numbers 294344 and SC038885

NEWS FEATURE Ardmtaiocvynorekrdoveressemrsesm,asloEroteveuocnebrrkotetlsohipwsaceengkas,adheteetduhlbrenebavdrryoeirrnwedieegsa.dr.mpsBsauoscf,tea

Report by Graeme Green

Lou Benoist/AFP/Getty

30 BBC Wildlife August 2021

NEWS FEATURE

“In the Netherlands, salmon was history, humans have attempted to modify
once seen as food for the poor,” and control nature, including water sources
says Herman Wanningen, for crops, livestock and drinking. But the
founder of the World Fish construction of river barriers accelerated
Migration Foundation and during the Industrial Revolution, to power
the Dam Removal Europe mills and factories, create reservoirs and
movement. “There was a lot of aid flood management. Today, an estimated
salmon in the 1600s and 1700s, and people 1.2 million dams, weirs, culverts and
didn’t want to eat it every day. Millions of the other barriers straddle Europe’s rivers – at
fish travelled in from the sea and up rivers least 100,000 of which are thought to be
through the delta on their way to Germany obsolete. The UK is thought to have between
and the Swiss Alps.” 50,000-60,000 of these structures, at least
10 per cent of which serve no purpose.
Then came a dramatic change to the rich
riverscape with the Delta Works in the mid- Fears for freshwater fish
1900s; a series of construction projects in the
south-west Netherlands to protect the area of According to the recent World’s Forgotten
delta surrounding the rivers Rhine, Schelde Fishes report, from WWF, Shoal, IUCN
and Maas. “The Dutch say ‘we’re proud of and other partners, one third of the world’s
how we managed the delta. We built dams, freshwater fish are threatened with extinction.
sluices, dykes, locks and levees, to make In the UK, burbot and sturgeon are already
it safe for humans and reduce the risk of locally extinct, salmon is in decline, and the
flooding’, but the result was that it was not European eel is now Critically Endangered.
a good place for fish,” explains Wanningen.
“That, in turn, had an impact on birds and “Nature and biodiversity around the world
fish-eating animals, such as eagles and otters. are in freefall, and nowhere is this crisis
There was far more diversity and abundance more acute than in our rivers, lakes and
of fish and wildlife here 100 years ago.” wetlands,” says Dave Tickner, chief adviser
on freshwater at WWF-UK. “Freshwater
What happened in the Netherlands wildlife has declined by 84 per cent globally
happened on a global scale. Throughout since 1970, twice the rate of forests and
oceans. Many factors, including pollution,
are to blame. But the construction of dams
and barriers, which present a physical
obstacle to fish travelling to their breeding

Excavators at work
tearing down the Vezins

dam in Isigny-le-Buat,
northwestern France, in

August 2019.

August 2021 BBC Wildlife 31

NEWS FEATURE

Eel pass: Nick Upton/naturepl.com; sturgeon: Herbert Frei/mauritius images GmbH/Alamy; osprey: Pete Cairns/naturepl.com; Weir removal: West Cumbria Rivers Trust grounds, is a particular threat. Anything A beluga sturgeon, or great their reservoir, which was used for fishing,”
we can do to restore rivers has to be a sturgeon, is one of the says Wanningen. “Suddenly, it had to go,
good thing.” largest predatory fishes on and the French government didn’t bring
the planet. Above left: an those people on board. There’s still a lot
A movement to remove barriers is eel pass, which allows the of misunderstanding about these projects.
gathering momentum across Europe and migration of young eels up Local support is needed from the start.
the UK, part of the wider shift towards the side of a weir. When we gave a seminar there in 2019,
rewilding. More than 100 European people were protesting. But after taking the
dams were removed in 2020 alone. “The In the past 50 years, opportunity to talk to experts, they started to
relationship is simple: if the river doesn’t populations of understand why dam removal is important.”
flow, migratory fish can’t breed and migratory fish have
their numbers crash,” says Wanningen. gone down by 96 per From start to Finnish
“In the past 50 years, populations of cent in Europe.
migratory fish have gone down by 96 In August, work will also begin in Finland
per cent in Europe. Some species, such 2020 of the 36m-high Vezins dam to remove the first of three dams on the
as Atlantic and beluga sturgeon, are now on the same river – Europe’s largest dam- Hiitolanjoki River. The demolition will
approaching extinction. The problem removal project so far. Removing these allow the passage of endangered salmon
applies to fish that travel long distances, structures, built in 1914 and 1927, will to their traditional spawning grounds
such as salmon, sturgeon, sea trout and cost about 70 million. “The Vezins dam for the first time in more than 100 years.
eels; and those that only travel in fresh was 200m wide. It was too expensive to
water, including ide, brook trout and refurbish,” says Wanningen. “But if nothing As in France, getting to the removal
common dace. We need to get rivers was done, it would have been unsafe. stage wasn’t easy, with dams seen as an
flowing again.” Removing it will restore 90km of free- effective source of green energy. People
flowing river, which means Atlantic salmon, were persuaded with the help of a ‘mating
Going with the flow European eels and sea trout can return.” belongs to all’ campaign, featuring couples
taking romantic boat trips upriver – only
The benefits of free-flowing rivers go Removing dams isn’t always a popular to find their progress blocked. Finland’s
far beyond supporting healthy fish undertaking. “Villagers living around the rivers became a national topic ahead of the
populations. “Barriers interfere with the Vezins dam protested because they were
natural flow regime of a river – the water concerned about what would happen to
volume, speed of flow and movement of
sediments and nutrients – all of which
are vital for many plants and animals,”
explains Tickner. “Freeing rivers is about
restoring entire ecosystems.”

This October, deconstruction of
the 15m-high Roche-Qui-Boit dam
on France’s Sélune River is due to
commence. It follows the removal in

32 BBC Wildlife

NEWS FEATURE

CASE STUDY STEP-BY-STEP THE REMOVAL

Removing 1Installing sediment traps
Ennerdale Silt-control measures are installed
Mill Weir in the form of silt-capture matting. A
‘rock ramp’ is installed below the weir
Spanning 50m across the River to prevent a sudden drop in water levels.
Ehen in Cumbria, this obsolete
weir was a barrier to migratory
fish and a threat to local mussel
beds. The structure was
dismantled in 2018 by the West
Cumbria Rivers Trust.

A crumbling
slab of degraded
concrete,
blocking the
passage of fish
such as salmon
and trout.

AFTERW 2 Notching
A digger ‘notches’ the weir. This
A re-naturalised, creates a gap for water flow, to lower
fast flowing the water levels upstream and allow
stretch of sediment deposits to be removed. The
freshwater concrete face of the weir is removed.
habitat, restored
for 400m.

from funding new hydropower dams to and flood defence… It was fashionable to 3 Removing the weir
removing existing structures. pour concrete. And less than half of the The weir is taken out, section by
UK’s barriers are thought to be mapped.” section. The stone is reused in new
Across the UK, applications are in place features, such as boulder cascades,
for dam and weir removals, including The number of barriers removed so far in the river system. The riverbed is
Bowston Weir on the River Kent in Cumbria. in the UK is still low. But, from Slitting reprofiled above and below the weir.
Many of these structures once powered Mill Weir on the River Don in Sheffield
mills and factories, but have long been to Keybridge Weir on the River Camel 4 Creating rapids
dormant. Today, they merely contribute to a in Cornwall, freed rivers have already Upstream, rapids and a pebble
decline in fish and degrade the ecosystem. experienced positive changes, with higher ‘beach’ are created. The riverbed is
numbers of salmon, sea trout, smelt, reprofiled and banks strengthened.
“The scale of the problem is massive,” lamprey and eels. “Removing the dams,
says Barry Bendall, operations director for you’d expect to see a healthier ecosystem BBC Wildlife 33
The Rivers Trust. “There are many barriers that benefits everything from insects to
built for land drainage, industry, agriculture iconic species like otters or kingfishers,”
says Bendall.
Free-flowing rivers
not only benefit Campaigners point to trailblazing
fish – they also successes in the USA, such as the
removal of two dams on the Elwha
allow birds such as River in Washington State, which
ospreys to flourish. has seen fish and birds thrive again.
“Another great example of what’s
possible is Penobscot River Restoration
Project in Maine,” says Tickner. “They
carried out river restoration, taking out
some obsolete hydropower dams and
reconditioning others to make them

NEWS FEATURE

River obstacle
terminology
explained

Weir

A low dam built across a river to
raise the level of water upstream
or to regulate its flow.

Culvert

A tunnel carrying a stream or open
drain under a road or railway.

Sluice

A sliding gate or other device for
controlling the flow of water.

Calum Dickson/Alamy more efficient. They opened up vast Almost extinct in Levee
stretches of river. Numbers of fish the UK in the late
rebounded, and they still generated as 1950s, otter numbers An embankment built to prevent the
much hydropower.” overflow of a river.
have recovered
Dam removal doesn’t mean the end thanks to improved Dam
for hydropower. “Hydropower is still
a potentially useful energy source,” river quality. A barrier constructed to hold back
says Tickner. “It’s better than coal-fired water and raise its level, forming a
power stations in terms of emissions Since a lot of Europe’s reservoir used to generate electricity
for climate change. But it can have a dams were built, or as a water supply.
negative impact on river systems. Since other renewable
a lot of Europe’s dams were built, other energy sources have Lock gate
renewable energy sources – such as become more viable.
solar and wind, which have lower impact A gate at either end of a short section
– have become a lot more viable.” Europe, though, is shifting away from of a canal or river that can be opened
hydropower. From Slovakia to Spain, obsolete or closed to change the water level.
Projects in the pipeline dams and weirs are due to be taken down. These are usually used for raising
To date, the removal operations have been and lowering boats.
Nonetheless, major new dam projects paid for with crowdfunding, a sign of public
are in development elsewhere in the support for river restoration. “Thousands fish, whether by installing fishways or
world, from the Rufiji hydropower of people have paid in to get dams out,” by removing obstacles altogether. Despite
project in Tanzania to the Grand Wanningen says. “We crowdfunded the assurances from the government and
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue first ever removal project in Lithuania. recognition of the importance of freeing
Nile. China is also building or funding From there, the Lithuanian government up rivers, the promised laws have yet to
major dams in Laos, Myanmar, Tibet started a dam-removal policy in favour of be brought in.
and China itself – including on the opening up rivers.”
Mekong and Irrawaddy, both home to “Fish passage regulations that would
rare river dolphins – and there are fears Politicians across Europe have been require owners of weirs to allow them to
for the environmental fallout. convinced of the benefits of removing be removed or modified have been delayed
dams or ensuring they are equipped with successively for more than a decade,”
The controversial Belo Monte dam fishways, which allow fish through. “We’re says Bendall. “There is little imperative
complex in Pará, Brazil, was completed proud that the European government to address barriers if there’s no legislative
in 2019. It was recently reported to has included a target of 25,000km of requirement – owners currently don’t have
have cut the Xingu River’s flow by 85 free-flowing rivers in the next 10 years by to do anything. Without those incentives,
per cent, which will leave 70 per cent removing dams,” says Wanningen. “It wants a lot of obsolete weirs will remain in place.
of normally flooded forest dry this year. biodiversity. That helps other countries to But the efforts are worth it. I’d like to see
This will be a disaster for fish, trees, include similar targets in future.” safe fish-passage systems on rivers and
plants and local indigenous people. barrier removal being prioritised.”
In the UK, though, there’s still frustration
and a feeling that a lot more could and GRAEME GREEN is a journalist,
should be done to provide safe passage for photographer and founder of New
Big 5. newbig5.com.

FIND OUT MORE The River Obstacles

app: river-obstacles.org.uk

34 BBC Wildlife August 2021



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By Amy-

mThoe usJaneBeer

map

The harvest mouse is the
only British mammal with a
prehensile tail, which comes

in useful when climbing
among grass stems.

se

The harvest mouse is the smallest and
least known of all British rodents, mainly
because it is so di cult to nd. A ve-
year citizen science survey in Kent is
revealing valuable new information.

E cologist Steve Kirk has a Above: the size of a As grass-stalk zone specialists,
nose for harvest mice – or, harvest mouse nest they spend their lives feeding,
more precisely, for the places can vary from 5cm sleeping and breeding without
they live. “You can be driving wide to 10cm for ever descending to the ground.
along with him,” says breeding. Below:
Suzanne Kynaston of the this species weighs
Wildwood Trust, “and he’ll in at less than a
suddenly shout ‘Stop the car!’ and jump two-pence piece.
out, and within minutes he’s found a nest
in the verge.” It’s a remarkable skill: harvest ditches. As grass-stalk zone specialists, business and transport infrastructure
mouse nests are notoriously difficult to they spend their lives clambering from have wrought a century of drastic change.
find. Woven from living strips of leaf blade, stem to stem – feeding, sleeping and Marshes have been drained, hedgerows
they are beautifully camouflaged. But Steve breeding without ever needing to descend removed, green space eaten away. Harvest
insists there’s no trick to it, just a keen eye to the ground. In the days of less intensive mice were declared a Species of Principal
and insight honed by years of experience. agriculture, arable land was an extension Importance for UK biodiversity in 2006,
of this natural habitat, and the mice were but the designation offers no real protection
The popular image of the harvest mouse most often seen fleeing to the safety of field and the animals are rarely given any
is of a tiny creature clinging to a stem margins when crops were cut by hand – a consideration in development plans.
of golden wheat, but the species’ natural scene described by 18th-century naturalist
habitat is long, grassy vegetation and reeds, Gilbert White, who documented the natural Historical sightings
such as might be found in rough pasture, history around his rural parish in Selborne.
scruffy margins, wetlands and Wondering what hope there might be
Changes in agriculture mean crop fields for an old-fashioned mouse in a 21st-
are now seldom the haven they once were – century landscape, Steve began looking for
and the mice that do venture into them are harvest mouse data in the early 2000s. He
much less likely to survive the onslaught discovered that while historical records were
of a vast combine harvester. Meanwhile, well-scattered, suggesting the species had
many former wetland habitats have been been widespread, they were also incredibly
converted to farmland or urban sprawl. thin on the ground. “Actual sightings
were recorded by the county biological
Pressure on land is particularly acute in records centre at a rate of about two a year
Kent, one-time Garden of England, where since 1961,” he told me. “There was a
intensification of agriculture and seemingly national survey in the 1970s to which Kent
relentless pressure on land for housing,

August 2021

HARVEST MICE

Finding a
mouse in a
haystack

Ecologists have tried a variety of methods
for monitoring Britain’s most elusive
rodent. None is perfect by any means,
and nest surveys remain the most reliable
method, even if it means surveyors go
years without seeing a live wild specimen.

Tui was trained by
ecologist Emily

Howard-Williams.

Clockwise from Kirk has a knack for
above: adult harvest finding nests and
mice are 5-7cm in advocates using a
length with a tail stick to help; with
almost as long as pale yellow or ginger
their body. Their fur and a white belly,
average lifespan this species is found
is about one and a across the UK, south
half years; Steve of Yorkshire.

Handling & sni er dog: Nick Upton/NPL; nest & belly: Klein & Hubert/NPL (Controlled conditions) contributed a total of 12 records. What’s years. He noticed that many were not in TRAPPING
tennis ball: David Jones/PA Images/Alamy; tail: Andy Sands/NPL (captive); Steve: Wildwood Trust more, that survey only recorded at a scale of so-called ‘broad habitats’ such as fields or
hectads. What can a conservationist in 2021 reedbeds, but strung out across networks Good-sized harvest mice do turn up in
do with the information that one mouse was of linear habitats, including field margins, Longworth traps used in small mammal
present in a 10 x 10km square nearly half a ditches and road verges. It occurred to Steve surveys, but smaller individuals can easily
century ago? Nothing.” that such in-between places might provide enter without triggering them. The risk of
a solution to the data problem. Road verges false negatives makes trapping unreliable
To assess a species’ status, conservationists had been largely overlooked in previous for monitoring purposes.
need to know where populations live and surveys, yet are – by definition – widespread
how they are faring in different landscapes. across the country and relatively accessible. TENNIS BALL
But wild harvest mice are tricky to spot With the aid of Google Street View, Steve
and their nests hard to find; they also leave found he could scope an area from his desk A tennis ball with a 15mm hole (below) and
few obvious field signs. They don’t create and thus narrow down his search areas – baited with millet allows access to harvest
runways through grass like ground-dwelling and use the same method to direct other mice and can be examined for droppings
mice and voles, they don’t gnaw nutshells surveyors to likely locations. or feeding signs.
or create large caches of food, and their
droppings are too small for even the most He also realised that to be meaningful, SNIFFER DOG
sharp-eyed ecologist to spot. the survey needed to generate a higher
In 2015, Tui the flat-coated retriever
Steve began actively seeking harvest (above) was trained to detect harvest
mouse nests across Kent in 2004, and mice by smell and could indicate whether
recorded more than 500 of them in 10 a bait station had been visited or not.

RADIO TRACKING

In 2003, Chester Zoo used the smallest
radio collar ever developed to monitor the
movements of a reintroduced population
of harvest mice on its estate.

PIT TAG

Passive Integrated

similar to those used to
microchip pets, have
been used to monitor
released harvest mice.

August 2021

HARVEST MICE

resolution of data than previous efforts.
The hectads often used in national species
mapping are vast compared to the scale of
harvest mouse home ranges and habitats.
Much more useful is a tetrad, an area of 2 x
2km – four of the kilometre grid squares
on a standard Ordnance Survey map.

There are 1,004 tetrads in Kent
(1,100 if you count those that spill
into other counties), so it became
clear that monitoring the entire
county at this resolution
was going to require a lot
of effort. And thus a citizen
science project was born.
With lottery funding and by
harnessing the logistical and
public engagement capacity of
Wildwood Trust, Steve began
to reach out. Over the next five
years, he recruited and trained
more than 600 citizen scientist
surveyors, aged from 8 to 80.

Top search tactics Clockwise from grasslands, wetlands
above: the harvest and farmland; the
“We had to accept that you can’t fully mouse mainly Wildwood project
standardise a volunteer, so the protocol feeds on fruits and has come to an
asked simple questions, and we gave a lot seeds, along with end, but its work
of direction in terms of where and how to the occasional monitoring and
look,”says Steve. “The critical instructions invertebrate; safeguarding the
were on how to give an accurate grid look out for this species in Kent is
reference and the importance of a walking species in tussocky set to continue.
stick – not for health and safety reasons,
but because without one you can’t part confirming harvest mouse presence in destruction there is just relentless, and it’s Feeding & release: Wildwood Trust; grassland: Klein & Hubert/
the vegetation to get a proper look without just over a third of the county. But Steve the same on the Essex side.” NPL (Controlled conditions); Holincote x2: National Trust
cutting your hands to ribbons on sedges emphasised that the real figure will be
and brambles.” much higher, because there will also be Meanwhile, those marginal habitats that
harvest mice in many unsurveyed tetrads. are so crucial elsewhere are also at risk.
The volunteers were allocated survey sites “An individual verge or ditch can disappear
in which they were asked to walk transects On the face of it, this dramatic infilling overnight without anyone even noticing.”
along suitable habitat features, such as of the map looks like good news, but Steve’s concern is borne out by a random
verges, ditches and field margins, probing Steve warns that the headline figures repeated survey of the relatively few map
and looking for the tell-tale woven orbs. don’t tell us how precarious the harvest squares with historic harvest mouse records.
When nests or possible nests were found, mouse populations are. “Take the North This suggests a 22 per cent decline in the
the volunteers photographed them and sent Kent Marshes, which flank the Thames species’ range, and it’s reasonable to assume
pictures in for confirmation. Estuary. They probably represent our largest that overall numbers are down too.
continuous area of harvest mouse habitat
The project has transformed the harvest – but they are also the most threatened by Nest revelations
mouse map of Kent with a bonanza of proximity to London. The development and
precious data. Because volunteers were The results also provided valuable insights
concentrated in areas of high population, into other aspects of harvest mouse ecology.
the coverage was a little patchy, but results Of just over 1,000 nests identified in five
came in from half of all the tetrads in Kent years, the height range varied from 10 to
and covered a wide range of landscape 120cm above the ground, though most were
types. Nests were identified in 304 tetrads, found between 20 and 50cm. While many
were woven from grasses, reeds and sedges,
Nests were identified in 304 tetrads, some were constructed entirely from the
confirming harvest mouse presence in down of willow herb or thistle seeds, and in
just over a third of the county of Kent. every year there were incidences of harvest

42 BBC Wildlife August 2021

HARVEST MICE

A boost for mice

Long-term absences of harvest mice can Leaving uncut
be addressed by the release of captive- vegetation provides
bred individuals. At the National Trust’s a welcome refuge for
Holnicote Estate in Somerset, harvest mice harvest mice. Inset:
have been released as part of Riverlands, there is evidence that
a major habitat restoration e ort. In 2019, they are settling in at
198 individuals were released in an ungrazed Holnicote Estate.
meadow comprising rough grassland, scrub
and dense hedgerows. Plans for a second
release in 2020 had to be put on hold, but
the team has confirmed that the mice are
still present, with good evidence of breeding,
and hopes to pick up where it left o in 2021,
with a top-up release. The National Trust is
reverting to a later and more fragmentary
vegetation-cutting regime in order to ensure
continuity of refuges.

mice taking over and modifying bird nests. idea of what needs to be done to shore up Dobson has almost single-handedly covered
Some nests were still green into October, harvest mouse populations in the county. “It the road verges of Essex, and a similar
suggesting their inhabitants were breeding would be great to give the species some kind survey is ongoing in Devon), but the clearer
well into the autumn. Harvest mice were of protected status,” says Steve, “and also to picture emerging in Kent emphasizes the
spotted only 19 times during the survey, designate its edge habitats.” extent to which the national picture is very
reinforcing the decision to focus on nests much unknown. Steve and Suzanne are
rather than sightings of actual mice. A place to call home now working with the Mammal Society and
coordinating a regional mapping effort in
The five years devoted to the survey Protecting remaining marshlands is a southern England. Thousands of volunteers
revealed a natural cycle of population boom priority for conservation, as is the creation will be needed. Could you be one?
and bust. One farm surveyed had 187 nests of buffer zones in areas of development.
the first year, but on several later visits there Elsewhere, it is clear that management of AMY-JANE BEER is a naturalist,
was none, then suddenly they were back. ditches, field margins and road verges is writer and author of more than 20
“It’s encouraging to see how well harvest vital in securing a network of connectivity science and natural history titles.
mice can respond to new and ephemeral that will make populations more resilient
habitat opportunities,” says Suzanne. over a wider area. The team plans to publish FIND OUT MORE Read about harvest
advice to councils on managing verges
“But their resilience has to be dependent and emphasizing the value in letting them mice at discoverwildlife.com/harvest-mice.
on connectivity. They can persist where become tussocky and rough, where it is safe For details about becoming a harvest
there is a reservoir of population to to do so. This would be cheaper and much mouse volunteer, email harvestmouse@
recolonise cleared areas. That is where more beneficial in ecological terms. wildwoodtrust.org. The Mammal Society is
the marginal and linear habitats come seeking volunteers for its National Harvest
in. There is an urgent need to consider Both Steve and Suzanne stress that Mouse Survey: visit mammal.org.uk/science-
the management of these superficially further monitoring is also essential, both in research/harvest-mouse-project.
mundane features of the landscape.” The Kent and elsewhere. There have been some
results have given the Kent team a clear efforts (a remarkable ecologist called John

August 2021 BBC Wildlife 43

Corrugated sand spanning some
20km fringes the Sefton Coast in
Merseyside. It’s the UK’s largest
undeveloped dune system – bustling
with rare insects, reptiles and
amphibians – and is the focus of
a major conservation project.

Photographer Alex Hyde
Words Paul Bloom eld

Photo
story

At first glance, sand can seem a harsh,
inhospitable environment – yet dunes
are teeming with life. Those flanking the
Sefton Coast host a diverse community
of rare and beautiful species, including
this iridescent northern dune tiger beetle
photographed by Alex Hyde while
documenting the Gems in the Dunes
project, part of the wider Back from the
Brink conservation programme. “These
ultra-predators are just berserk – speedy
and tricky to photograph,” he recalls.
“They’ll charge anything that moves.”
Habitat restoration work at Sefton –
home to Britain’s largest northern dune
tiger beetle population – included the
creation of open sand patches for such
animals to bask on and burrow in.

BELOW The setting sun gilds the grasses crowning Sefton’s dunes,
signalling a changing of the guard: diurnal species retreat into
burrows, while their nocturnal counterparts emerge to feed and
mate. “Each morning, little half-moon holes in the slopes reveal
where tiger beetles left their burrows,” says Alex, “and tiny tracks
spidering the dunes – footprints of insects, sand lizards, natterjack
toads – write stories into the sand.” Protection of this habitat, much
of which has been destroyed across Britain, is vital; on the Sefton
Coast alone, some 81 per cent of bare sand has gone since 1945.

46 BBC Wildlife August 2021

PHOTO STORY SAND DUNES

Sand lizard photographed under licence.

TOP Photography can be challenging in the ABOVE A sand lizard, sporting the striking
dunes, where invertebrates such as this sand yellow-green flanks typical of Sefton males
bear spider are camouflaged against the during the breeding season, basks in the
speckled grains – “when they’re not dashing sunshine to warm up before hunting and
o to hunt like greased lightning”, adds Alex. to speed up sperm maturation. This is an
This is another species benefiting from habitat important stronghold for Britain’s rarest lizard,
management by the Gems in the Dunes team: which is why e orts to create and conserve
volunteers clear scrub and create bare sand. habitat here are so vital.

August 2021 BBC Wildlife 47

The vicious-looking
mandibles of a northern
dune tiger beetle are
intimidating enough – but
it’s those huge eyes that make
it such a formidable predator.
“They have incredible vision,” says
Alex, “and can spot prey from far
away, but they’re so quick – among
the world’s fastest insects – that
they experience motion blur in
their vision while running down
prey, and have to pause frequently
to reacquire targets.”

PHOTO STORY SAND DUNES

Natterjack toad photographed under licence.

August 2021 ABOVE On spring nights at Sefton,
Alex was serenaded by male
natterjack toads calling to females –
audible up to 2km away. “This picture
was taken just past midnight in
May,” he recalls. “It was a particularly
good night for natterjacks – they
all emerged from their burrows and
either went to the dune slacks to
mate, or to the shore to feast on sand
hoppers and other invertebrates.”

LEFT Strings of toadspawn lace
freshwater pools in the dune slacks at
Sefton, home to possibly a quarter of the
UK’s natterjack population. Creation and
restoration of such shallow pools is vital
for natterjacks; their warm water helps
tadpoles develop quickly. Over four years,
dozens of volunteers with the Gems from
the Dunes project undertook surveys
of natterjack toadspawn and adults to
produce local population estimates.

BBC Wildlife 49

PHOTO STORY SAND DUNES

RIGHT “The same habitat that suits
natterjacks is also good for other

species, such as this broad-bodied
chaser dragonfly larva, possibly about
to snack on a tadpole,” observes Alex.

“I always find it slightly unsettling
to witness invertebrates predating

vertebrate species.” The larva is
covered by algae in which sand grains

have become embedded, providing
it with camouflage against the sandy

bottom of the pool.

BELOW Not all species at Sefton are
rare – meadow grasshoppers are
widespread across Britain – but this
bubblegum-pink nymph made quite
a visual statement. “I shot it during
a Back from the Brink outreach
photography workshop we ran in
June,” explains Alex. “I was just a
stone’s throw from Liverpool but,
seeing this jewel of an insect, felt
as if I were in the deepest Amazon.”

50 BBC Wildlife August 2021