Total Fox and Badger Deaths (in Bristol) As Of 20 09 2025

 

Remember that I do not get every dead fox (those that are seen) reported to me and that Bristol City Council under both Labour and Green Party have flatly refused to cooperate; the current death toll of foxes in Bristol stands at 292.

If I included reports with vague locations or just "I saw a dead fox driving through Bristol" along with vague dates then this total would exceed 300.

Badgers, again, no cooperation from local authority (they pick up dead animals so a quick message is not that great an inconvenience) and the public -even on wildlife groups in the City who know I record the deaths- rarely report. Number of known badger deaths in the City is 74.

The daeth toll in London of foxes I would prefer not to think about.

Still the deadliest spot for wildlife from deer, foxes, badgers etc and this will one day result in a human (driver) fatality is Hicks Gate. In 2024 a very large was hit by a car and killed but the driver did not stop or report the collision so the animal could have led there suffering for hours. Police estimate that by the size of the animal and the speed the car had been going at least £200-£300 worth of car damage must have been caused.

It needs to be mentioned that the very poor lighting in the Hicks Gate area has also resulted in two near collisions with people.

Are There Coyote Packs In British Towns and Cities?

 

(c)2025 respective copyright owner

The internet was supposed to make us smarter -knowledge at our finger tips but all it achieved was mushing IQs.

If you have read my Canids Red Paper 2022 you will know that jackals, coyotes and even wolves were released by hunts for their 'sport'.  Some were killed and some were never caught. However, other than jackal incidents pre 1910 the only other UK jackal report was a possible escapee in Cheshire circa 1974.

I have spoken to gamekeepers, country shooters, estate owners and many others over 50 years and while some will admit to "big cat" sightings not one ever said "Those bloody coyote are a bugger!"   I have documented feral dogs, jackals, coyotes, wolves and the true history of British foxes and have extensive records but no post 1910 coyotes (see Red Paper where the possibility is discussed).

Last night the Bristol Fox Lady, Sarah Mills responded to a photo of a fox with mange and explained that it had been treated but its hair needed to grow back.  "Anonymous" responded that it was no fox but a coyote. Sarah pointed out that we had no coyotes in the UK and was told she knew little of wildlife as it was 100% a coyote and there were known packs of them around the UK (apparently, I am guessing only people with IQs don't see them). 

My first instinct was that this started on either Reddit or Quora so I searched and found (on Quora):

Do Britons hunt coyotes? Are coyotes a menace in Britain?

No they're not a menace. They used to be. In fact they were hunted to extinction in England and Wales.

The coyotes only survived in Scotland after the 15th century. 

But, no, it seems as people noted seeing them and one had heard a pack racing after something along the Thames Estuary at night. 

My assumption was that, as there is a Thames and a London in Ontario, Canada this is what was being referred to. However, over on Reddit it seems people know of packs in the UK. Ever heard of the "Beau Gest effect" when coyotes vocalise? Ever heard a coyote vocalise because as packs they do and it beats the hell out of fox calls  

And a pack...

We have not had any free roaming coyotes in the UK and there are no free roaming coyote packs in and around towns and cities today. Stupidity and mixing up London and Thames in Canada may have added a poker to the rumour fire but I am more concerned that these people can vote.

The Dingellchough "Thing" -an Unknown Squid?

     This account originates from the Journal of the Cork Historical & Archaeological Society of 1894 –we had to conclude that the incident occurred in either 1893 or 1894.

    James Steward was riding along the sea shore at Dingellchough, Co. Kerry, one day when he saw a very strange animal,partly ashore.   Including horns –yes,horns   again!—the creature was a full 5.8 metres (19 ft) in length and “…in bulk or bigness somewhat larger than a horse.”  The beast appears to have had  “a natural power to contract or draw in these horns into its head (as a snail does) and extend them again at pleasure.”  Between the two afore-mentioned horns, and amidst the shorter ones, was a great head and a smaller one 90-1.20m (3-4 ft) distant –in the shape of  “a hawk looking upward”.  This head had a strange mouth within which were two tongues.  The colour of the creature was flesh except for a large,fleshy mantle which hung loosely over the body on both sides and this was bright red on the outside and white on the inside.

    This description of the live creature was later added to after it had died or been killed and removed from the beach.  The liver weighed 15 kilos (30 lbs) and the fat of the creature hardened when boiled.  According to the account, the creature was  “bigger than an ox, yet without legs, bones, fins or scales; with two heads, and ten horns of 10 or 11 feet (3-3.3 m) long, on 8 of which horns there grew knobs…bigness of a cloak button,in shapes like crowns or coronets, to the number of 100 on each horn, which were all open, and had rows of teeth within them.”

 

    The creature, or at least a part of it, was taken to Dublin and other parts of Ireland to be displayed and though, obviously, there are no photographs (none mentioned), we do have a good drawing.

    Richard speculated that, since octopi have turned up in British waters previously perhaps this was a species of that order?  Certainly, in some ways, the creature has the attributes of  the species but I cannot find any similarly described species –unless this is one unknown to science. But there is the mantle.

    We are only familiar with a small number of deep sea creatures –those that usually surface to die.  

   As a foot note I ought to add that I sent the full account as well as illustration to every oceanic research institute that I could find. All definitely received their packages but not a single one responded.  And I have been trying since the 1990s so you might think that one such body might respond.

I have to wonder whether this was an unknown type of octopus and, perhaps, in the future it may be possible to confirm this without question but until then this is a genuine mystery!

There Is No Such Council Plan as "'Managing for Nature'

 

Above a walkers map of Eastville Park...it really needs a lot more private housing on it (sarcasm)

Wildlife News 33:25 arrived in my email today. I had to laugh at one point as I have written about this so many times in the past:

"'Managing for Nature'

"This is BCC's rather vague term underlining their current policy designed to achieve 'an ecologically resilient, wildlife-rich Bristol by 2030'. There is more information about this on the webpages: Managing parks and green spaces for nature - in particularly there is a downloadable pdf about management of grasslands. There's also information about how to volunteer with the BCC rangers in the various parks which would be a way for people to get involved, if desired. (Thanks Katherine for this link).

The information on the site is helpful and interesting, but does not seem to answer the simple questions that Wildlife News has been asking.

"Perhaps in an effort to appear 'scientific' BCC's basic strategy includes various percentages and dates. For example, it is claimed that around 15% of parks and green spaces are currently being 'managed for nature' and the target is at least 30% by 2030. But, how is this calculated? Say, you have a 15 acre park and a third of it is being developed into a wild flower meadow, does that count as 5 acres or 15 acres towards the 30%? Does 3 square yards of wild flowers also count as 15 acres? And 30% of what: the whole city; land owned by BCC, land administered by Bristol Parks, something else? We've had different answers from various people.

"We know that some good work is being done. Many Wildlife News readers will be involved in helping with this process, both as paid staff and volunteers. All we are asking is a little more precision so that we know whether or not we are on track, failing badly or about to achieve a biodiverity dividend of staggering proportions. At the moment, all you can do is guess. What's your guess?"

There are two rules Bristol City Council (whether Labour or the Green Party) follows and this is based on 30 plus years of dealing with them.

1) If it costs nothing but there is a lot of publicity making us look good -go for it.

2) If it costs anything financially -ignore it.

Thousands of wild animals from deer, foxes, badgers, otters and others are killed in and around Bristol EVERY year and there are certain wildlife death hotspots we know. Mow back the tall grass and weeds at the sides of the roads so drivers can see wildlife and vice versa. Put up, as in most civilised European countries, signs reading "Drive Slowly Wildlife Crossing".

Simple but Labour said "We can't do that" (end of conversation and no explanation as to why they could not). Green Party "it would cost money" -BCC Highways people "We've looked at that -no money" so what if people donated for signs to be made and put up? "That would be illegal and you could be prosecuted".

The attitude does not change if you contact the Green Party HQ.... despite what you write they bounce it back to BCC so when it comes to the "Environmental emergency" the official Parties all have the same line "No money" to which can be added "Let it die".

At the moment BCC wants to have a £400K money grab by selling a part of Eastville Park for development very close to long established badger setts. It is eyeing up other Green Site areas and typical is the Longmoor development -a "new suburb" of Bristol and bang smack in the middle of ;land that was full of wildlife -who cares as it is money coming in.

Without getting involved I watch a Green Party canvasser and "name" locally being lambasted by a now former Green voter. The Green lady was challenged about attempts to build on green sites and all the new housing wanting developed on those sites while every other building in Bristol since 2000 has been converted for students (easy and guaranteed money) and why was the "affordable housing" in Bristol being pushed in London?

The responses were all the same: "We need to build the City for business and that money goes into housing and more development. The Green Party is committed to that" (I was actually told this same thing by a Green candidate that came to my door but walked off when I pointed out that build, build and build was not the stated Green policy.

When the woman continued on that the reason she voted Green was for a change she was told to contact her Green Councillor. Any policy is obviously false because, as I can tell you as I was involved in anti corruption work in the 1970s, BCC is all about making deals and earning money one way or another.

Since 2018 I have been telling all the "Save our green space" groups in Bristol that they need to unite to stop BCC tricks bu8t nothing has happened. As it stands we are likely to lose even more Green spaces because "divided we fall" and we have already seen that happen.

As far as the Labour and Green Party (shockingly) are concerned I am a "pain in the ass conservationist" (and I know from people at BCC that this is the politest I have been called). Re the Eastville Park money grab -BCC, Leader and Deputy leader as well as other officers involved are refusing to respond. That is their "ultimate weapon" in these cases where they cannot justify things. I have asked twice now on the Friends of Eastville Park group whether anyone is organising a protest or challenging the council.....the silence is deafening. Sell and build on it once and get away with it then build a second, third and fourth time.

After all these years I can tell you that Green sites are going to be lost. Wildlife and the environment are not as interesting as money.

I hope that clarifies things.

This Is How Far Zoology Has Sunken

 

 There have been no takers amongst the people I  offered the opportunity to DNA test the Olds Foxes and Old wild cats in possession of my colleague LM at the Extinct Foxes and Wild Cats Museum. Even if it turned out the test results were mundane (I doubt they would be) there are at least two papers that can come from such work.

My Red Paper books are not designed to be sellers and financially rewarding -people just are not interested so the expectance is zero sales!  The Red Papers are all fully referenced and would serve as research to be peer reviewed -no, I cannot think of anyone else who has spent 50 years researching and studying foxes or who has carried out research in newspaper archives as well as journals and books going back to the 18th century -but everything in the books are checkable.

The fella at a Swiss museum who told me he had been "a red fox expert for 30 years" but had not come across anything I had noted in an email to him. Well, how many 19th, 18th or 17th century wildlife and hunting books and journals had he read?  I cite the Norwegian zoologists who informed me that only fox furs would have been exported to England and that they had never heard of Norwegian mountain foxes -so I sent them all the references I had and after that they no longer responded to emails. The Swiss fella told me that their collection of foxes were in a room behind him but that he was not going to get up and check them unless I had a paper published that explained my "bizarre" claims. He was not interested in a copy of the book. 

That is unscientific in mindset as well as in practice. If he had looked and found examples -photos were sent for him to check- he could have gotten a book or more research grants had he found an Old fox type.

I come across the rather rude responses or even silence from a lot of European museums who will not discuss, check and in some cases will not even reply. One museum in the Netherlands did and they found a fox from England dated 1848 -which would have been perfect for DNA testing.

The Sarrazin foxes referred to in past posts would have had zoological if not national importance for French zoology but the Paris Museum simply sent me in circles ands pretended that they did not understand what I wanted -sent in English and French!

It is interesting that certain persons at museums have decided that rather than look at the work -they are not paying for the books!-  and the evidence it is better to call me names or suggest that I am a crackpot. I do hear back from people about these things.

Zoology appears to have become unscientific and at times I think ought to change its name to Dogmaology. From the very top to the lower ranks of zoology and natural history it seems that it has just been decided to not rock HMS Dogma but keep promoting it and making money from it.  It hides the facts and truth of what humans have done in driving species extinct or, as with the current British fox and badgers, just sit back and watch them go extinct after all, there will be a lot of money in trying to 're-introduce' or write papers and books about the stupidity of people allowing the extinctions.

How far zoology has fallen.

The UK is Neither Wildlife nor Environmentally Friendly

 I have written before that despite what people and organisations say the UK is definitely NOT wildlife friendly. Ignoring the official suppression of the Bristol Fox Deaths Study I have to say that in 10 years not one wildlife group in Bristol has cooperated or helped in the badger/fox/otter work  Apart from photo opps and social media "Likes" badgers, foxes and even deer are not looked on with any regard. Pretty flowers, birds and "drinks evenings" are far more important than those "nasty little mammals"

In a post yesterday I referred to concerns regarding development of a site in Eastville Park, Bristol. I asked on the Face Book group Friends of Eastville Park whether anyone was protesting the proposed £400k sell off since the park is an established wildlife haven in an over developed area and has always been a place of peace and relaxation. No response. That didn't surprise me since the group refused to cooperate on badger deaths in the park and would not hand over a mysterious blue substance for analysis a couple years back.

My post yesterday included the email addresses I sent my concerns to in order that everything affecting wildlife and the environment is open to public view. A link was sent to the Park group -no responses.  However, a person addressed (on the Bristol Naturalist Society FB page)  my showing the Bristol Regional Environmental Records Centre response -which was neither confidential nor revealing anything not known over much of Bristol and far more is available online. The reply was NOT for public view or social media posting I was told./ I had no idea who the person was but explained that I do not hide anything unless I am requested to keep something confidential (in 50 years I have NEVER breached a confidentiality).

To make sure I emailed the BRERC person who responded to my email and apologised if I did not make the email clear (I did but I prefer to be polite anyway) and that nothing written in her reply was anything unknown to people in Bristol.  This morning I received an email from the person who tried to embarrass me on the FB group (which, incidentally sparked some nasty messages from other members to me) and NOW (in private) identifies himself as the manager of BRERC I read that and no further. If there was any problem -and he I assume deliberately blew a rather very brief and innocuous  email posted out of all proportion- then he should have messaged me privately, identified himself and discussed why HE found the reply so upsetting.

I need to point out that not one other person has responded to the post which says a great deal about people on social media "naturalist" groups. As I have noted before, from 1977 until semi retirement in 2018 I was on the Partners Against Wildlife Crime advisory and an exotics (and wildlife in general) consultant to UK police forces. 50 years of my adult life have been spent as a naturalist in the field as well as researcher and archivist and I am known by local authorities as an "annoying conservationist".  Despite that and my wildlife books BRERC has refused me access to badger records -which the surviving member of the old Avon Badger Group stated I had permission to ask for.

Based on their behaviour I can tell you now that BRERC will get no records from myself. It all seems to be one way with these bodies -BRERC had no interest in my Badger and Fox Deaths Registers nor the Fox Death Study and never responded to requests to submit any reports of dead foxes and badgers.

In every attempt to try to develop on badger setts in the last ten years, barring one person who I fed all the legalise to so that he could contact the developer in question, not one single person offered to assist or help in any way. 

In my work I expect the threats because I know the type of people involved, what I do not expect after 50 years is to find nasty emails/messages or plain rudeness from supposed 'naturalists'.

As I have written before, the UK is involved in a wildlife and environmental war and we lost that war due to utter indifference. This Eastville Park situation shows how less people care these days thanks to the internet wildlife "fan club" mentality.

Eastville Park and Potential Damage To Existing Badger Setts

 

 This is what is being sent out today to all parties concerned or who should be concerned

This will be the last badger sett development case I work on. The total lack of support in these cases locally (barring one) involves a lot of time and stress,

Hello.

I am writing as a Bristolian as well as a naturalist/mammalogist regarding plans that have been forwarded to me re development on the Eastville Park site. As a child growing up in St Werburgh’s fine days were spent walking to the Park and enjoying activities there. From the 1960s on the Park has become even more important to people in Bristol as it is a green oasis surrounded by busy roads –which once you get into the Park you can ignore and enjoy the environment. Some of my first experiences with wildlife as a child were in the Park.

Eastville Park was established in 1889 when the Bristol City Council purchased land from Sir Greville Smyth to create a public park for working-class residents. Key features include a Victorian-designed ornamental lake and a bowling green, while historic elements like the Grade II listed boundary wall remain and it now includes a modern community garden.

I have attached links to the various items regarding the development (proposed or otherwise) and the site earmarked is close to badger setts.

Development near Badger Sett Eastville Park; as a guide, any work within 30m of an entrance to a badger sett (or 100m for pile driving and blasting work) could result in disturbance of a badger in the sett, or block or damage tunnels that radiate from the entrance to the sett.

According to the Badger Trust Guide for Developers

“Planning and development activities are some of the most common threats to badgers reported to Badger Trust. Over 50% of badger crimes reported relate to sett interference, and 20% of these are related to housing and development projects. Even if sett interference is accidental, any act (malicious or negligent)  which disturbs badgers and their setts is illegal under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992. Therefore, as a Developer, it is in your best interest to protect yourself by protecting local badgers.

“Badger Trust has created Guides for Developers, Ecologists and Planners, which are freely available. The document is designed to guide Developers through appropriate steps to protect badgers and their setts from development activities, with advice on legal responsibilities and badger harm mitigation strategies.

  “Badger Trust also encourages local councils to liaise with local Badger Groups who may offer advice and information on local badger populations.”

I have included a link to DEFRA and Badgers: protection and licences What you must do to avoid harming badgers and when you’ll need a licence.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/badgers-protection-surveys-and-licences

Badgers: protection and licences - GOV.UK What you must do to avoid harming badgers and when you’ll need a licence. www.gov.uk

Land for sale with planning permission right by the old swimming pool in Eastville Park.  There is still an active badger sett in the woods behind the old walled swimming pool.  Past conversations with people who frequently use the Park and watch wildlife suggests that the badger sett may run beneath the  old pool which is consistent with my own sightings pre 2019.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CtaZrFkk4/

This is a direct link to the right move listing.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/166736504?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=commercial-buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=COM_BUY

Check out this Plot for sale on Rightmove

Plot for sale in Development Site | BS5 for £400,000. Marketed by Hollis Morgan Auctions Bristol and West Country, Bristol

    We have so far lost over 300,000 badgers in the cull and Bristol each year loses 70+_ badgers on its roads as the Labour and current Green Party run City Council were made aware as I have discussed this with them as well as supplied copies of the Bristol Badger Deaths Registers which I maintain (if you require copies I can forward those). Disturbances could drive badgers on to the main roads around the Park or collapse sett tunnels. 

    The very idea of wanting to sell off parkland to a developer shows the most crass attitude towards not just the wildlife –mammal, bird or insect- but also the Green environment that Bristol City Council constantly declares itself proud of during “this ecological and environmental emergency”.  More it is a slap in the face of the public and residents who will not just have a construction site in the Park but will not find the peaceful haven they are used to and I am fully aware that many people with mental health issues visit the park because of the environment there which can be quite peaceful even on busy summer days.

    With so many Brown sites going to waste using a valuable Green space like Eastville Park sets a precedence that cannot be allowed to be unchallenged –the further development implications for a cash grab are obvious and what one currently run City Council promises can be disregarded in future; I have had first had experience of this over the last 30 years and so have many others.

    I would politely suggest that another (non Green Space) be considered for development and that Eastville Park, its badgers and other wildlife be left in peace.

Terry Hooper

Chair Bristol Wildlife Group/Bristol Badger Group