Alien (non-native) species

[Ukwildlifeo]

Has anyone else notice more alien (non-native) species in recent years?

My local park and garden has always been full of Grey Squirrels and the Canada Geese have become increasingly dominant on the lake. But in the last 6months th list of non natives ive seen has increased. First I found harliquien ladybirds and larva in my Garden (and got rid of them of course)

Then there was this Marsh frog on Oare Marshes in March (N. Kent)



Then this Ring-necked Parakeet in Kensington Gardens, London, later that month



And most recently this American Mink at Stodmarsh, Kent (near Canterbury)



Ive also found out recently that a wall lizard a caught a few years ago in Cornwall was a non-native. It appears the aliens are everywhere, and here to stay!

EDIT: my photos arnt showing. Am I doing something wrong?

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Ukwildlifeo

EDIT: my photos arnt showing. Am I doing something wrong?

we discourage external links - best thing is to put the shots in our forum Gallery then link from there - see here for more info http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/fo...rum-posts.html

that said you can link externally but you need to encapsulate the urls in [img] insert url [/img]

edit : no sorry that isnt working, and i dont know why :doh: , best bets to bang em in our Gallery as per

[Ukwildlifeo]

Cheers. [goes and edits posts]

[eeyore]

sorry mate - you can only edit posts for 15 mins after they are posted - best bet would be to pm a moderator like Matt xyz, Fourwings , or Fungi John and ask if they can clean this thread up

Or just start a new thread and ask one of them to delete this one

[Hornbeam]

Well I guess that there are two main reasons for more aliens.

1 Deliberate and accidental introductions and subsequent escapes of plants and animals
2 Climate change - this allows escapees to survive now that we have less severe winters and also allows migrant insects and birds to make the sea crossings and survive to breed.

Without wishing to go over old ground, I take a long view and have always had some difficulty in recognising what is or is not a "native" species.

Long, long ago in a Britain far, far away - our native fauna included dinosaurs and then more recently elephants, rhinos and hippos. Climate change put them out of business and lots more as well. Eventually, just a very few plants and animals were able to live on the edge of the ice fields in southern Britain. Are these survivors to be regarded as our only natives? Because, as the climate changed again and warmed up, plants and animals began to recolonise the land. Bit of a hiccup when we became an island, but then people started bringing in plants and animals and they still do. So what is a native and what is an alien?

[pressld2]

I think you're right, Hornbeam, it can often be a grey area. There has been some suggestion of re-introducing wolves to Scotland and I'm not sure if they would count as natives or not. The original wolf population of Britain must have been seperated from those in the rest of Europe for many centuries, although probably not long enough to have become a distinct sub-species.

A bit smaller than a wolf, here's a recent arrival...



The Rosemary Beetle - Chrysolina americana.

According to the RHS web site it was first seen in the UK at Wisley in 1994 and is now well established around London and spreading further afield too, even to Edinburgh. As it's originally from Southern Europe it would suggest that the milder winters are allowing it to survive here.

They live up to their name as the only plant I've found them on is my rosemary bush which is now well on its way to becoming an ex-rosemary bush.

[Ukwildlifeo]

The grey area is a problem - just look at the Pool frog, we found out it was a native after all, unfortunately after it went extinct. There have been suggestions that the european tree frogs in New Forest maybe natives...

[Hornbeam]

That's a new one for me - pretty little thing though. We introduced rosemary around 1340 from the Med and so it could be said that this critter has been somewhat slow to follow his favourite food Wish I could get hold of the guy who introduced the lily beetles.Those little red devils are chewing up my snakeshead fritillaries something awful

[Hornbeam]

Originally Posted by Ukwildlifeo

The grey area is a problem - just look at the Pool frog, we found out it was a native after all, unfortunately after it went extinct. There have been suggestions that the european tree frogs in New Forest maybe natives...

That's very interesting and I'm wondering just how much we can be really certain about. Perhaps we should regard plants and animals as temporary residents dependent on climate.
It does make sense to differentiate introductions from those species that arrived here without human intervention. But "natives" and "aliens" seem useless terms to me. Are swallows natives or aliens? Probably most people associate them with British summers and they do breed here, but when you see them at home in Africa they don't seem at all "British". So are migrating birds native if they breed here, but not if they breed elsewhere? Do we consider that only all year round residents are native? That doesn't make sense either.

[almostnormal]

many of the species that we (as conservation peoples) are looking at introducing were hunted to extinction in the UK. wolves were native to scotland and kept the deer population under control. which in scotland at the moment would be an excellent plan. likewise wild boar were once native and are being considered for re-introduction. i feel if there are historic records for an established european species, such as large blue butterfly, within britain a reintroduction is not far fetched or irresponsible if handled with care.

however, and apologise for the following rant but its something i feel strongly about, there is a difference between intentionally and carefully reintroducing a species which has been recorded in great britain, and introducing something that has no right to be in the UK, for example the american mink, which is an absolute disaster, and which can be almost soley attributed to the ignorance of animal rights compaigners. before i go further, its worth pointing out that i disagree with the fur trade. the american mink was bred in captivity for the fur trade. ignorant animal rights campaigners, with no forethought as to what would occur in our native eco systems if they released said animal, released thousands of the things into our countryside and almost single handedly decimated the water vole population.

now i agree there is a grey area when it comes to native versus non native species, but there are certain things that i feel apply:

1. if it gets here on its own, for example avocets and little egrets, with no interference or help from us, and manages to develop a stable and self sustaining population fine. it should be here. it put in a lot of effort. it natural colonisation. this means that at least the following should definitely not be in the uk because its here through un-natural colonisation bought about by humans, not by the species itself:

a. american mink
b. all alien weed species
c. ring necked parakeet (although in time this may have got here on its own)
d. grey squirrels
e. canada geese
f. ruddy duck

2. if it escapes from a zoo, or from some one's house, or people deliberatly let them free, as in the case of the mink, they (the animal) should be caught and dealt with as humanely as possible. the person(s) responsible should be dealt with as well.

3. animals that get transplanted by well meaning but ill informed people, such as hedgehogs on uist should be removed humanely (not by culling if its at all possible)

4. recovery programs which help species recolonise areas they historically inhabited once britain became an island are important, and are not the same as allowing a non native to spread. nor should nature be 'allowed to take its course' if humans are responsible for the deviation of nature's course in the first place.

ok so my little rant is over. i'm not saying we should get rid of ring necked parakeets. they appear to be quite contained and don't seem to be doing any harm, but we definitely need to aware of what's going on, and what constitutes natural colonisation and un natural colonisation.