Cairngorms lynx

Bever are now living in Scotland.   Both from official reintroduction and unofficial releases

Yes but it is still very difficult to get government approval for the release of beavers throughout the UK.

For example the Knepp Estate, which is three and a half thousand acres, has been waiting years for department of environment approval for the release of the beavers which they are forced to keep in an enclosed pen.

ernielynch
Full Member

There’s an interesting programme on North American lynx

Of course in america they’re not Lynx, they’re Axe, and therefore can be dangerous but are much less likely to escape

supposedly it was william the conqueror (1066?) who claimed england belonged to him, split it between his cronies, . So, his cronies found that deer meat would fetch good money so arranged forests so that they could hunt deer better, and people were no longer allowed to forage in the forests to live, in case it affected the deerhunting. so they had to work for the landowner, or get branded/hung etc, to survive. That was the beginning of the notion of Property

Nah, hunting forests predate the Normans by at least a couple of centuries, if not more. King Alfred the Great had a hunting lodge in Chippenham, his hunting grounds and forests were extensive, there’s a Forest Lane running from Lacock into Melksham, with an area of Melksham called Forest, and Chippenham was a major Saxon administrative centre by 853. There were major skirmishes with Viking invaders in and around Chippenham, until Alfred beat them into submission at Eddington in 878.

There’s a fair bit about the early history of the area here:

https://www.wiltshirehistory.org/chippenham-research/anglo-saxon-settlement

Nah, hunting forests predate the Normans by at least a couple of centuries, if not more.

The Normans use of forests was complicated.

It started with hunting forests with a limited number of areas operating under the special forest laws to protect game (lucky things have changed eh) but over time it changed into a handy tax option. If you wanted to clear some land you just went ahead and did it and then paid the fine.  It doesnt seem to have really been considered a crime but just a business transaction in most cases.

It ended up with the entire of Essex being a forest for a time and a major chunk of the overall country. It provided a good source of cash and if a king really needed a chunk of cash fast they could take the short term option of cash for the removal of the law. Under John Cornwall and Devon for example paid to have forest law removed from the majority of their countries.

I watched that Wolf piece on YouTube and that led me on to watch a beaver one as well. I reckon Scotland/UK need to reintroduce Lynx and Beaver and really start to try and get rewilding and renaturalising a fair go.

If only we could convert the grouse moors into a less artificial habitat we’d have plenty of space for lynx, beavers, wolves…

852000 acres in the UK are grouse moor – twice the size of Greater London. 44% of Cairngorms National Park are grouse moor, 28% of the North York Moors, 21% of the Peak District and so on.

As a comparison, National Trust own 620,000 acres.

Humans really are the worst thing on earth

Hellooo… Wasps? 😉

Interesting that there is an estate up for sale on the edge of the Cairngorms national park, just across the river from the Lynx release advertised with grouse shooting and deer stalking. As a nation would it be better if we managed the land in a better way  https://www.onthemarket.com/details/14887971/

Hellooo… Wasps?

Nah ticks. Wasps have a nasty sting and all but they dont specialise in carrying a bunch of nasty diseases which can do anything from make you bedridden through to making you vegetarian.

Looks like hepatic lipidosis might possibly have been the cause of death of the sadly deceased lynx :

Lynx let go in Cairngorms were starving, says zoo

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy7xl8n0llo

“RZSS said two of the cats had eaten meat left from them in traps set to capture them, but no other food while they had been on the loose”

It is thought that all four were from the same litter and very young. I really hope that they catch the responsible persons. Apparently they are trying to establish the origins of the lynx through DNA although that is likely to be unsuccessful as there is no database for them to refer to.

@aberdeenlune Could be many reasons for them selling up, up to and including they’re getting out now before they fall foul of tighter regulation?

Interesting that there is an estate up for sale on the edge of the Cairngorms national park

Let me see what I have down the back of the sofa!

Shooting estates are coming back in public ownership in various forms.  Lets hope that one is.  Local communities are given the right to make preferential bids iirc

Shooting estates are being bought for peatland restoration and tree planting. Lots of grants in that.

I’m sure they can aqueeze a wind farm in too.

(Balavil did have plans for a “House of Bruar” type retail outlet on the A9 but planning permission was refused.)