Welcome to the Surrey Mammal Group
Our county mammal group is affiliated to The Mammal Society, as such we share the aims of all local Mammal Groups which include:
- bringing together people of all ages and experience who share an interest in mammals
- encouraging the study and conservation of mammals in Surrey
- promoting identification and surveys of mammals in the wild, including recording their presence and numbers
- providing education and awareness of mammals and their habitats, including threats facing them
- providing advice and practical help with conserving threatened species in Surrey
We will undertake various activities to achieve these aims, including:
- raising awareness of mammals by educational talks and presentations
- organising practical work, such as mammal surveys
- recording mammals in Surrey to feed into the county mammal atlas
- undertaking specific projects, such as building otter holts
- encouraging input and ideas from members at regular Group meetings
Two important mammals in Surrey, dormice and bats, are already monitored via other groups:
- Dormouse habitats and nest boxes are managed and monitored by the Surrey Wildlife Trust. Results are forwarded to the National Dormouse Monitoring Scheme and results for Surrey are published via this scheme.
- In a similar way bats in Surrey are monitored by the Bat Group.
We will work in close partnership with these two groups.
Index
Click on the topic you require:
Membership
Please use the Surrey Mammal Group membership form in the Attachment section below. Send your completed form and membership fee to The Surrey Mammal Group, School Lane, Pirbright, Woking, Surrey. GU24 0JN. Or come along to our next meeting and join there.
Mammal Recording
Please use the Mammal Recording form in the Attachment section below. Recording mammals is a key foundation stone for the work undertaken by the Surrey Mammal Group. It will help drive conservation projects and increase our knowledge of mammals and their status in our county. The detail you send in is entered into a database. This data is then used to produce maps for the Surrey Mammal Atlas. This is a Surrey Wildlife Trust publication. Use this form when out walking or on specific projects, such as mammal trapping sessions. Here are a few guidelines:
- always include the grid reference
- give numbers observed when the mammal is seen
- or give evidence of recent activity, such as mole hills or badger setts
- distinguishing between a road death and other type of death is useful and is identified separately in the database
Send completed forms via email to dave.williams@surreywt.org.uk, or by post to Dave Williams, Surrey Wildlife Trust, School Lane, Pirbright, Woking, Surrey. GU24 0JN
Specific Events and projects
Small Mammal Trapping session May 2008
Thundry Meadows 15/16 May 2008
Details:
- meet in the evening (Thursday 15 May) at 18:00 to have some on-site training, followed by setting the traps (about 1.5 hours in total)
- meet in the early morning (Friday 16 May) at 06:30 to check the traps and record the results (about 1.5 hours in total). More details on where to meet will be given nearer the time.
Two Small Mammal Trapping sessions
Session 1: Brentmoor Heath, West End on Friday 7 September and Saturday 8 September Details: Meet at 18:30 on Friday evening at New England Hill, the entry will be marked by a SWT board, and is off the B311 (Red Road) just off the A322 in West End. Parking Available. Scott Dodd and Dave Williams will manage the session. Wear warm clothing and stout walking shoes. Expect the session to last about 1.5 hours and training will be given as part of setting the traps (about 40). Meet at 07:00 on Saturday morning to check the traps and record findings. Same meeting point, expect the session to last about 1.5 hours but this will depend on what is caught!
Results
A well attended session. 40 traps were set overnight, which was clear and warm. Here are the results:
| Species | Sex | Weight(g) | Habitat |
|---|
| Wood mouse | M | 21 | Bramble |
| Yellowneck mouse | F | 26 | Bracken, wooded slope, holly |
| Wood mouse | M | 19 | Bramble, long grass |
| Wood mouse | M | 25.5 | Bramble, long grass |
| Wood mouse | M | 17.5 | Bramble, long grass |
| Wood mouse | F | 27 | Bramble, long grass |
| Wood mouse | M | 25 | Bramble, long grass |
See ATTACHMENTS below for a WORD version of the results and a photo of the session!
Session 2: The Orchard, Pucks Oak Barn, Compton on Wednesday 26 September and Thursday 27 September Details: Meet at 18:30 on Wednesday evening at Pucks Oak Barn, Compton. The entry is on the 'The Street' in Compton, if approaching from the A3 turn in just before the Harrow pub (opposite a shop). Parking available. Dave Williams will manage the session. Wear warm clothing and stout walking shoes. Expect the session to last about 1 hour and training will be given as part of setting the traps (about 20). Meet at 07:00 on Thursday morning to check the traps and record findings. Same meeting point, expect the session to last about 1 hour but this will depend on what is caught!
Results
Another well attended session. 40 traps were set overnight which was clear but cool, with a full moon. Here are the results:
| Species | Sex | Weight(g) | Habitat |
|---|
| Bank vole | M | 21 | Orchard edge, grassland |
| Wood mouse | F | 24 | Orchard edge, grassland |
| Bank vole | F | 28 | Orchard edge, grassland |
| Wood mouse | Escaped!! |
| Wood mouse | M | 28 | Orchard edge, grassland |
| Wood mouse | F | 13.5 | Orchard edge, grassland |
| Wood mouse | M | 14 | Orchard edge, grassland |
| Wood mouse | M | 17 | Orchard edge, grassland |
See ATTACHMENTS below for a WORD version of the results and a photo of the session!
Otter Monitoring
For more information on otters in Surrey use this link:
Otter SAP to the Surrey Otter Action Plan.
Following a successful call for volunteers to help monitor more river areas in Surrey, Chris Matcham will be training volunteers in September.
Meetings
Past Meetings
Meeting Number 1, 28 June 2007, East Horsley. Notes from the meeting attached:
Surrey Mammal Group Meeting 280607
Meeting Number 2, 19 January 2008, East Horsley.
Surrey Mammal Group Meeting
Meeting Number 2 - Wild Boar Day
19 January 2008, East Horsley
Dave Williams opened the meeting and welcomed over 25 attendees.
The Group had an interesting day enjoying presentations on 4 different aspects of Wild Boar in Britain, and participated in lively discussions. At the time of this meeting the government are yet to publish a management plan on wild boar. Below is a very high level view of the day:
Martin Goulding, an expert on wild boar, has been involved with them for about 12 years. Wild boar were present in Britain in the past but were hunted to extinction, the wild boar in England today have escaped from wild boar farms. They have taken up residence in woodland, in which they are very good at hiding, and have become nocturnal in their wild state. Martin described their appearance and how they have no natural predators in England anymore – only man. The only real way to control the numbers is by shooting them. If they are not controlled then their numbers would expand to such an extent that they would become an urban presence, for example foraging in dustbins, as seen in Germany.
He contrasted wild boar with feral pigs, which can do more damage than wild boar. They do have physical differences but it can be difficult to tell them apart. Hybrids are also present in England.
Wild boar are 95% vegetarian but will take dead or dying small animals and road kill. Road traffic accidents can kill both wild boar and people. Forest fruits are very important in their diet and they eat crops such as maize and oats. They churn up pasture land looking for leather jackets, worms and roots etc.
Normally wild boar breed once a year in spring, the sow builds a nest for her litter. Females can form supporting groups to cross suckle and protect the young from predators. Wild boar groups are lead by a dominant sow, an alpha female that leads and teaches others. The males are loners.
Discussion with Martin included: rules about shooting wild boar; self population regulation; bluebell damage; farmer concern; range; lifespan; Public Consultation document.
Peter Smith, from Wildwood in Kent, spoke from the point of view of wanting to promote wild areas for animals, such as wild boar. Peter talked about the history of wild boar from 260,000 years ago to their extinction in Britain in the 13th century and their latest re-appearance in Britain in about 1960, probably in Sussex. They are slowly increasing but it is impossible to be exact about how many are wild in England, but it could be about two thousand. Peter talked through whether they are a help or hindrance to man. Most are killed on roads and people can die as a result of a road accident with a boar but the scale is the same as dogs or deer. Wild boar do not attack man unless protecting young or cornered. On the positive side hunting is profitable and their meat is tasty and low fat.
He talked about wild boar and biohazard. They can transfer diseases, but so can other animals.
Do they help or hinder nature? They can cause damage, for instance tusk marks on trees can kill them, in fact they actively seem to target certain trees and so would eventually significantly change the structure of the woodland. On the positive side they kill rhododendrons and eat bracken and are very beneficial in spreading mycorrhizal fungus and helping it to flourish.
Discussion with Peter included: why they target certain trees; effects on ground feeding birds; re-introduction areas; control by man using ‘wolves eyes’ and the wild boar breeding pair at Wildwood.
Jenny Farrant, a farmer in Rye East Essex, talked about living with wild boar for the last twenty years. They have damaged electric fencing and the hop crop to such an extent that the hops have had to be moved to another area of the farm. A male wild boar has mated with her Kune Kune pigs and Jenny is very interested in what characteristics the young will have as the Kune Kune pig is very docile. In fact she hopes to have a further cross with the young hybrid females this year. Wild boar have caused woodland and bluebell damage. Her neighbours have witnessed wild boar killing lambs and boar are visitors to Peasmarsh village, damaging young cherry and apple trees as well as cars.
Jenny has professional boar shooting on her land and sells the meat.
Discussion with Jenny included: more detail on the damage done by wild boar; how they get onto farm land and what Jenny and other farmers think about them.
Postscript from Jenny:
A young 7 month old sow has given birth to 5 wild boar piglets and 3 kune kune looking piglets. This means she was covered by a wild boar as a young piglet herself! Her sister is also in pig.... to wild boar!
This is a further illustration that any one running free range outdoor pigs in the South East is going to run the very high risk of cross breeds rather than pure or pedigree pigs. If a piglet is covered at 2 months old, how can one run organic/free range pigs? One or two litters are manageable, but every litter being crossed with boar is not so pleasing.
Jenny suggests that DEFRA bring forward their plans on pig control or there will only be indoor pigs reared in many areas.
Roger Trout, from Forest Research (part of the Forestry Commission), talked about wild boar and forest owners. Roger talked about their preference for woodland and the rate at which they are spreading. They have some parallels with our deer population but are expanding at about 6 times the rate of deer and tend to disperse further than deer. Roger pointed out that most countries are already flat out controlling deer, for instance the Forestry Commission spends £7 million per year on deer control – can another species be managed in this way? Even countries with good control of wild boar, such as Germany, are seeing numbers increasing.
Woodland damage includes fence breaches, damage to vulnerable specialist habitats, impact on public access and other game species. Wild boar can damage rabbit and deer fencing, which negates the effect of the fence and is expensive to repair, fences could be strengthened but that again is expensive. Damage to trees causes disease and so reduces the value of the timber, On the positive side it is a new mammal, rooting can have good effects, stalking is profitable and the meat is good. Although risk to animal health is low the impact could be serious, they share some deer diseases so there could be an impact on venison.
Roger would like to see culling and shooting regulations introduced as soon as possible and asked the question - What should responsible land owners and woodland owners do?
He also went through the options, from doing nothing to eradication in an area.
Discussion with Roger included: dangers from wild boar and not feeding wild boar.
A general discussion followed and the meeting was against letting things stay as they are but agreed that wild boar could not be eradicated. More research and data is needed before a way forward is clear but there is an opportunity to gather more data for Surrey as the wild boar is not established here as yet. There is data already from the Surrey Wildlife Reserves which could be used. The Surrey chalk grassland could be at risk, there was an impact on alpine pastures.
Martin suggested control by shooting as a necessary evil in the face of no better method yet developed. If shooting is to be done, animal welfare and public safety must be paramount, shooters need educating about how to cleanly kill a wild boar as an injured boar is a very dangerous animal indeed. There must also be a closed season in place for animal welfare to ensure sows with dependent pigs are not being shot. Stopping unhindered spread could also be considered.
Next meeting
AGM to be held in June 2008, to include a topic of interest as well as AGM business, details to be given soon.
For information there will be a Conference on Water Voles, arranged by the Kent, London and Surrey Mammal Groups on 4 October 2008 at the Wetlands Centre, more details will be available soon.
Communication
Details of meetings and all other group activities, including results or updates of specific projects, will be summarised at group meetings and posted on this web site. Members will be kept up to date with all activities via emails and links to this web site.
Publications
The State of Britain's Mammals 2007 Report
Have a look at this report from the Mammals Trust UK and the People's Trust for Endangered Species
Britain's Mammals 2007.pdf.
The report highlights the ongoing discussions over badgers and the spread of bovine TB, the mountain hare as a new BAP species and the possibility of reintroducing beavers to England. You may order a hard copy of the report by calling the Mammals Trust on 020 7498 4533.
Mammals in your Garden
A publication from English Nature 2005 (now Natural England).
Mammals In Your Garden NE.pdf
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