Wolverine

While a Web Log is a very personal writing form, part diary and part an opinion column, not dissimilar to the columns that appear in newspapers. However, unlike a newspaper column it can be more like a conversation. While I am not always able to respond to comments, I do always read them. And in the case of the Polecat question, this conversation can generate new postings.

Following on from this question regarding the family Mustela, I carried out a bit more research as simply you folks, the three readers and a cat that read my nonsense, have triggered my curiosity. In looking further into the members of the Mustela family and their allies across the ocean, I discovered that in Colorado that Wolverines have been found in the state after an absence of ninety years.

As well as being a conversation success that I hope interests you folks too, I think you should all pat yourselves on the back, as long as you don't put your shoulder out trying to do that, as I may not have discovered this bit of good news had I not left my American friends confused.

On a similar note of conversation success, and I know that I am a Red Kite Bore, this year in Britain the number of Red Kites has exceeded two thousand. As fifteen to twenty years ago the Red Kite was on the verge of extinction here, with only one breeding female left, it shows just how worthwhile the conservation effort has been.

It shows that positive action can provide a space for wildlife in our lives. I personally get a thrill every time I see the Red Kites, and I know that I am lucky as I see them nearly every day, it is reassuring to know that the conservation efforts have been successful.

While I really do want to try and give as much good news as I can here, there are times when bad news can not be ignored. Locally, in a disused Quarry near Sunderland there was a nesting Peregrine Falcon nesting. However at the end of May it was discovered that the female and three chicks were dead. They had been poisoned. Persecution of raptors is a major problem in some parts of Britain, as I have reported here before. While the police and the RSPB are investigating this incident, I can guarantee that the culprit will be a Pigeon fancier.

This for me, is a personal loss, as I went to the Quarry this week in the hope of filming the Birds. I had not tried to film the Falcon previously, even though I had seen it as simply I did not want to disturb the bird.

Again the Peregrine Falcon is a bird whose numbers are recovering after suffering from pesticide pollution as well as persecution Therefore this loss will impact the population for years to come.

The day after going down to try and film the Falcon, on the radio was news that an Egg collector had been arrested with his collection of over six hundred eggs confiscated. Egg collecting is Illegal here in Britain.

It is an activity that I can not understand, as I would prefer to see the bird than have an egg of a species that is endangered. By having the eggs of endangered species it would only make me feel guilty, especially if I heard that the species had become extinct. There are so many aspects of human behaviour that I do not understand.


The Picture is the copyright of; WCS (Wildlife Conservation Service) Yellowstone Wolverine Programme.