Howling in Grizedale Forest

We often howl like wolves at Harold, in an attempt to awaken some primal wolf instinct in him.
He generally just rolls his eyes and looks at us like we’re dicks though.

OP, are you sure it was howling? LOL!

It’s almost full moon tonight you know.

Could be some locals venturing into the woods transforming themselves … LOL!

Harold’s cracking. Have you not tried a mouth organ to bring on the howl? Always worked for our old dog.😃

I have no issue with predator reintroductions but they need to be done properly with compensation in place for those who lose animals to the introduced predators and also a realistic idea of outcomes.

The farmers are already well compensated by the rest of us and since we dont have the Swedish model of sheep grazing the overlap is minimal. Even in Sweden there are large question marks about the actual loss rate vs another convenient subsidy from those townies.

The impact on red deer would, obviously, be minimal for the same reasons the impact on farmers would be. They dont generally hang around in open areas so given the current state the overlap would be low.
Although the fragmented woodland wouldnt be the best for lynx they are likely to disrupt deer habits in the immediate areas. So not a cure for the entire country would be for some areas.
In the same way that if pine martins got reintroduced/stopped being killed by gamekeepers we would see a better outcome for red squirrels overall but not everywhere eg evidence indicates the martins dont like urban areas so they would remain a stronghold for the greys.
There is certainly no more reason to oppose them being reintroduced than there is to support brood meddling and other ways to suppress raptors.
If it was wolves there is a more viable argument but not with lynx.

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Have you not tried a mouth organ to bring on the howl? Always worked for our old dog.😃

A recording of the local scrapman and his van’s tune from the horn (“Old I-ron”) works neatly for our dog. And his brother. Put them together and it’s really, really funny.

Someone is trying to reintroduce lynx in the UK (and in Keilder IIRC) but I don’t know how successful they’ve been so far. Also I thought they were really shy so not likely to see much apart from the odd ex-deer?

If you never see them they could be those “missing lynx” people talk about.

I do sometimes ride near a wildlife park and also a big cat sanctuary. At night or even day a big cat making noise is distinctly unnerving.

There’s a pride of lions at a small sanctuary next to a bridleway on the edge of Nottingham. Took a group riding over there last summer who didn’t believe it. The lions helpfully growled as we rode along the edge of the enclosure before we could see them – that focused minds 🤣

They had cubs last year as well – so cute!

We have wild Lynx and Wolves locally.

The ex has come across the Lynx before now when she’s been out running early morning (well before 6 am) they generally take one look and run off. Occasionally they’ve taken two looks, a stretch and done a runner.

The big wolf pack was extensively culled 5-6 years ago, because they took some sheep (half a dozen or so) and apparently there is then a significant risk that they will simply keep going back for more sheep as they are far easier to hunt than deer.
What was left of the wolves are still around, and regularly massacre the local deer population, i sometimes come across bits of fairly freshly killed deer when out and about in the woods and one of my neighbours about 2km away posted some pictures last spring of three or four of them playing in the meadow behind her house, so they are definitely still about.

Two riders I know both spotted lynx on different rides in the forests in the Neath valley, about 20 odd years ago. Both had good views of the animals and are reliable people. The forest and open moorland stretch for many miles – basically most of the way across Wales – so there’s no lack of habitat, but there was a question of where they came from.

The possible answer was a small zoo nearby which closed down about 25 years ago and had a relaxed system for getting rid of unwanted animals. A colleague, who went to the school at the edge of the zoo, recently said that there were instances when they weren’t allowed onto the playing fields because of loose animals. (Wolves and monkeys were mentioned.)