NEW WILDCAT IMAGES- GREAT START TO THE NEW YEAR

Jan 20

Hi All

It has been a very exciting start to the New Year. As you will remember we were investigating a potential Wildcat sighting in a new area. The initial image looked promising but we needed a better look. We advised the local person assisting us which bait to use and some tips for camera set ups and it has worked. We have got close up images taken on a very remote farm surrounded by wildcat habitat.

You will see the thick, blunt tail, good body striping and that the dorsal stripe stops at the base of the tail. This is a huge cat. I the sequence of pictures on our news page, the first one is of a domestic cat disappearing around the gate post. The next images are of the Wildcat. It dwarfs the domestic cat. Not difficult to see why the domestic cat beats a hasty retreat. You can see the pictures below

This is how our project works, we rely on excellent local knowledge and support to provide leads and then when the first cat is found, we always find others. This is how we found the populations in the Ardnamurchan and Morven and it is also how the Clashindarroch population was discovered. It all starts with that first glimpse. So we will now start the process of finding out how many others are in this new area. This wildcat must have parents and potentially offspring, so we need to find and protect them. There are some parties that try to convince the public that the free living population of wildcats is functionally extinct. Well try telling that to this wildcat and the wildcats in Clashindarroch and elsewhere. We will continue our work to protect the magnificent Scottish wildcat in the wild where it belongs.

Updates on the upcoming windfarm hearing and Finlay will be coming soon.

As always thanks so much for your continuing support and keep watching.

Very best wishes

Emily (Director) and Finlay