Listen
Wildcat spotting in Scotland
19/02/2008
One of Scotland's rarest and most secretive mammals was today put in the spotlight in a bid to assess its population and the threats it faces.
The Scottish Wildcat could once be found around the UK but since Victorian times has only survived in Scotland. It remains under threat due to loss of habitat and interbreeding with domestic and feral cats.
Today sees the launch of a new wildcat survey by Scottish Natural Heritage, the first for 20 years, giving the public a chance to participate in its conservation.
Minister for Environment Michael Russell said:
"The elusive wildcat is one of our most exciting and charismatic species, but also one of our most threatened.
"The last survey, conducted in the Eighties, suggested very low population densities in parts of the country where you could expect to find the animals.
"In order to ensure that future generations can enjoy this wonderful native animal we need an up-to-date and comprehensive picture of its distribution, trends and threats.
"People in the countryside, whether working there or simply out for a walk, now have a chance to participate in important conservation work.
"I would encourage anyone who comes into contact with a wildcat or suspected wildcat in the countryside to record the details and report the encounter to the Scottish Wildcat Survey."
The wildcat (Felis silvestris grampia) is the last surviving native member of the Felidae, the cat family, to be found in the wild in Britain. Now unique to Scotland, it has been listed in Scottish Natural Heritage's Species Action Framework for conservation effort over the next five years to improve its habitat and reduce threats of hybridisation with feral domestic cats. The Scottish wildcat has survived by clinging on in habitat margins between mountain and moorland and forest and fields, preying chiefly on rabbits but also predating a variety of small birds and mammals.
Extremely timid, the wildcat lives a solitary life for much of the year, socialising only briefly to breed and raise kittens. The population has been depleted in recent decades by hybridisation with feral domestic cats, spread of disease, predator control and capture and the break up and degradation of its natural habitats.
Formerly widespread throughout Europe, Asia and Africa the species is now extinct in many European countries. In the British Isles the wildcat disappeared from England and Wales by the late nineteenth century leaving Scotland as the last stronghold of the unique British subspecies, Felis silvestris grampia.
Identifying a wildcat can be difficult due to similarities to domestic and feral cats. Wildcats are mostly brown with black striped tabby markings. However there are seven primary identifying characteristics which distinguish a Scottish Wildcat, these are: black stripe along back but not extending down tail; blunt black tail-tip; distinct black bands around tail; unbroken stripes on flanks and hindquarters; absence of spots on flanks and hindquarters; number and thickness of stripes on nape of neck; number and thickness of stripes on shoulders.
The 2008-2009 Scottish Wildcat Survey will be coordinated on behalf of SNH by Adrian Davis of Naiad Consultancy.
Please send any records of the wildcat for the survey through the website or write to:
Adrian Davis
Naiad Environmental Consultancy
Birnam Guest House
4 Murthly Terrace
Birnam
Dunkeld
PH8 0BG
The survey launch took place at the Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig, where the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland maintains a small group of pure bred native wildcats. In the past year the group bred successfully and produced seven kittens.