Lucy & Other Animals

I am delighted to have my MSc research article published in the latest issue of  The Mammal Society's magazine Mammal News . The many weeks of hunting for water vole droppings paid off and I very much hope that my research will be informative for Conservationists, Ecologists and Developers trying to protect this wonderful species. Please have a read of the article and let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many thanks to Cliff Carson (Middle Level Commissioners), Dr Marcus Rowcliffe (Zoological Society of London), Dr Rowan McLaughlin (Queen's University Belfast), Joe Bishop and my family for all of their guidance and support along the way 🐾 Please note: the credits for Cliff Carson's water vole photos (the two in colour) appear to have been lost during the editing process. I cannot claim these as my own unfortunately 📸

I'm chuffed to have my recent MSc water vole research mentioned in the Association of Drainage Authorities magazine the ADA Gazette !  I hope that water voles (the most rapidly declining native British mammal) in other parts of the UK can benefit from my Fenland research regarding their preference for coir roll revetments over other riparian management strategies. Cheers to Cliff Carson (Environmental Officer of the Middle Level Commissioners and MSc thesis supervisor) for writing the article and to the Association of Drainage Authorities for including it. The article (right hand side) printed on page 23 in the ADA Gazette Spring 2018 Issue. To discover more about my research findings, check out the summary report which is downloadable from the Middle Level Commissioners website .

There's a fantastic new BBC series out called Animals With Cameras  which is well worth a watch. The series, narrated by Gordon Buchanan was first aired on Thursday evening. Episode one follows three species of animal: the meerkat ( Suricata suricatta ), the chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes ), and the magellanic penguin ( Spheniscus magellanicus ) via the attachment of body cameras. The footage gained from these cameras reveals an extraordinary insight into the secret underground, tree canopy and underwater lives of these animals. Having worked as a six-month Field Research Assistant at the Kalahari Meerkat Project (where the meerkat footage was filmed), it's incredible to finally see the meerkats' underground world, consisting of a labyrinth of tunnels. You can watch the first episode of the series on the BBC iPlayer  here . For those of you who may not be able to view the episode abroad, or if you are reading this after the iPlayer episode has expired, you can ...

The purpose of this post is to raise awareness about otter road casualties and illegal or unintended trapping. Last week (9th January) saw the tragic death of a beautiful Eurasian otter ( Lutra lutra ). It was on my way to the Middle Level Commissioners (MLC) offices in March (Cambridgeshire) that I spotted the corpse on the side of a busy main road and I pulled over to take a look. Once I had reached the otter, I realised that it was probably a relatively young animal, since it wasn't much bigger than a domestic cat. The hind feet of the otter corpse (09/01/2018). With a pang of sadness (otters are one of my favourite animals), I saw that it had a head wound, most likely from a collision with a car. The pool of blood in which the otter lay was relatively fresh and very little smell issued from the body, indicating that it had not been there long, probably around 48 hours. A closer inspection of the animal revealed that its abdomen was slightly swollen and tha...