What is the rarest UK mammal?

[Emma S]

Thanks all for an interesting discussion

[Yashca]

I think the St Kilda house mouse is completely extinct isn't it?

How common is the Orkney Vole?

[thunder]

Originally Posted by Yashca

I think the St Kilda house mouse is completely extinct isn't it?

I believe it is - but Eeyore wrote of the St Kilda Field Mouse, which I think still survives

henrya

[Yashca]

There's my punishment for not reading properly!

[thunder]

Originally Posted by Yashca

I think the St Kilda house mouse is completely extinct isn't it?

How common is the Orkney Vole?

To answer your other question, in the early 1990s the population of Orkney Voles on Orkney Mainland was estimated as three million with another million on the other islands. Populations fluctuate and I haven't got any more recent estimates to hand.

henrya

[montagu]

Originally Posted by thunder

I think Black (and Brown) Rats have been eliminated from Lundy because of the damage they were doing to the seabird populations.

I believe the Black Rats on Lundy were regarded as a 'local' subspecies because they were smaller than the usual form. They were widely thought to be descended from a Spanish Armada Shipwreck.

They have apparently now been completely(?) eradicated on Lundy in order to try and reverse the decline in several nesting seabird species there. That leaves the Shiant Islands as having the only longterm colony- though others may be establishing again in several other areas.

[tom00_uk]

theres a lot of marine mammals that dont turn up very often near our shores

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by tom00_uk

theres a lot of marine mammals that dont turn up very often near our shores

It could be argued these aren't really UK mammals but just rare vagrants ( though obviously appear on the British list)- interesting when they do, but not that important in terms of real rare mammals such as Wild Cat.