Izzy's UEA Ecology blog

The striped, furry face of the European badger ( Meles meles ) is an iconic and much loved image. At around 1m long and weighing up to 12kg, this mustelid is the UKs largest remaining land predator. They hunt at night, foraging for a variety of foods including snails, slugs, blackberries and the occasional hedgehog, but earthworms constitute around 60% of their diet.  A young badger foraging in a woodland at dusk, Hampshire. Typically, badgers have that iconic black and white face with a greyish body and black legs and chest, however, there are also albino, leucistic, erythristic and melanistic individuals. Older individuals may have yellow staining from their subcaudal scent gland. Badgers have several scent glands and spread odours as warning signals and to advertise their mating status. They practise squat marking and allo-marking (marking other individuals). Within one social group of 4-8 adults, badgers have more similar scents compared to badgers from other groups. Territory ...

Egyptian geese ( Alopochen aegyptiaca ) are relatively small geese and weigh around 1.5 - 2.5kg. They are a non-native species, brought to Europe from their natural range in Africa as an ornamental species. Escapes and releases have led to established populations in Holland, Belgium, France and England. They can be found year-round in much of East Anglia and some other areas, and along parts of the south coast in winter. Farmland, grassland and wetland are all suitable habitats for Egyptian geese. Outside of the breeding season Egyptian geese are gregarious, but remain near their partner within the group. There are an estimated 1100 breeding pairs in the UK, and 3400 overwintering birds.  A male Egyptian goose (credit: Tristram Brelstaff, under  creative commons license ) Both sexes have distinctive markings, with dark-brown eye patches and a bright streak of white on the wings. Though this species is not sexually dimorphic in its plumage, the call repertoire of the sexes diff...

American mink, Neovison vison, are an invasive species in the UK, introduced by escapes and releases from fur farms in the 1950s and 60s. These carnivorous mustelids pose a threat to native wildlife, especially the water vole ( Arvicola amphibius ).  Related to our native mustelid, the otter, the mink is similarly semi-aquatic but significantly smaller. Male mink are larger than females; males weigh 1-2kg and females 0.5-0.8kgs. Their fur is dark brown, except on the chin and throat where it's white. They are fiercely territorial - on average males' territories cover 5km of a watercourse. Females' territories are smaller, just 1-3km long, and are often inside or partially overlap males' territories. Breeding occurs in spring, and females build dens in tree root cavities or rock piles at the water's edge, or in rabbit burrows. After a gestation period of 40-75 days, litters of 4-6 kits are born. Females have just one litter a year. Kits are weaned after around 6 week...