A new study, published in the open-access journal ‘Plos One’ earlier this year, has estimated the distribution and abundance of all UK mammals, the first attempt to do this since the last review in 1995. The study took a ‘systematic modelling approach,’ meaning it overlaid Great Britain with a grid, and for each square, using models, estimated the occurrence and density of each mammal species. No easy task!

To demonstrate the model, let’s take the example of one of the UK’s most abundant mammals: the rabbit.

First, all records of rabbit occurrence are gathered from NBN Gateway (https://nbnatlas.org/) and these are matched with environmental data for those locations. From this we know the type of habitat rabbits seem to like and then we can scale this up to see in every square of Great Britain, ‘how suitable is that habitat for rabbits?’ This is called a ‘habitat suitability map’ and shows us where rabbits are expected to be, even if they have never been surveyed there. The study went further to match up habitat suitability scores with the few reported mammal densities in specific places, and once again by scaling this up predicted the overall abundance for rabbits and all other mammals in Great Britain.

The study yielded some impressive results however the range of some estimates were huge, such as an estimation of between 2 and 225 million rabbits! This is largely down to there not being enough data to put into the models in the first place, so they were unable to give out specific estimates. The study only managed to obtain densities for 53 species in certain locations and quoted:

“In particular this shows a substantial lack of recording for common species such as rabbit, and in areas of low or no density particularly for large mammal species.”

The study also highlighted that data for Northern England was particularly lacking.

So could camera traps help solve this problem?

There is certainly a lot of potential! Camera traps allow us to collect records of many more mammals that we would otherwise rarely see. As well as this, they can be put out in remote locations for long periods of time, something a human observer would never be able to do. They tick the boxes of recording lots of common species, and of course, large mammal species; two of the areas identified in this survey to be data deficient. As well as this, new methods mean that with a specific camera set-up we can estimate density from camera trapping images, a technique that could revolutionise the way we monitor wildlife populations.

With this in mind, particularly as MammalWeb is based largely in North-East England (another data deficient area!), it is more important than ever that people carry on uploading photos to the database, and classifying the species in them! Even if you feel you’re contributing very little, we have such limited data on mammal distributions in the UK that every photo counts, so please keep up the good work!

If you would like to read the article discussed in this post here is the link:

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0176339

Here at MammalWeb, we're working on a project looking at new methods of how mammal abundance could be worked out from camera trapping images alone. Here, I'll talk you through one of the methods we're using!

Distance sampling is a method widely used to estimate animal densities. In the method, an observer will either stand at a point or walk a line transect and record the animals they see, and crucially, the distance from the animal to the observer. The model then works on the basis that animals at larger distances are less likely to be detected than those close-by, and will incorporate this when calculating density.

A neat animation to demonstrate this can be found here:

http://distancesampling.org/whatisds.html

A recently published paper identified how this method could be used with camera traps; the only difference is that the ‘observer’ is a camera, not a human! Of course, it’s not as easy as it sounds because, for every image we get, we need to know how far away the animal is from the camera. For this, we need to set out ‘distance markers’ when setting up the camera. All this means is that, when we set the cameras up, we stand in front of them at 2m distance intervals, and get photos like the ones that follow:

This allows us to mark distances onto all the photos so that, when an animal pops up, we know how far away it is!

That way, we can then use the traditional distance sampling approach to estimate animal abundance.

If you’d like to read more about the method and theory behind it the article can be found here:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/2041-210X.12790/full

Hi all, as a new PhD student who will be working on MammalWeb, I thought I'd take a moment to introduce myself and talk about what my project will be on!

I've recently completed my masters degree at the University of Birmingham. I joined the MammalWeb team in October this year for my PhD. Over recent years, my passion for nature and conservation has led to my involvement in many conservation projects - both in this country and abroad. I’ve undertaken field work in Norway, Cambodia, Peru, Costa Rica and Madagascar, monitoring local wildlife and exploring what threatens it today - such as increased tourism in the forests of South Madagascar, conflict over turtle egg poaching on the beaches of Costa Rica, or increased flooding as a result of climate change in the Amazon.
 
More recently, my work and research has been closer to home, collaborating with UK conservation organisations and the general public. For example, over the past year for my masters degree, I have worked closely with the Canal and River Trust to set up and manage the first-ever otter survey of the Birmingham canal system. I managed a team of over 50 citizen scientists who, over the course of three months, collectively surveyed almost 200km of canal. We got some great results and I have now set up a local mammal group in Birmingham to continue the vital work of monitoring the otter population - and other mammals too!

I'm extremely excited to be joining the MammalWeb team and to build on what I have learnt in recent years about both wildlife monitoring and management, and citizen science. Mammals in this country are so vastly under-recorded and, without this information, it is very hard to put in place effective conservation management or policies to protect vulnerable species. This is why it is so important to monitor mammal populations, so we can predict how they might react to future change and then review and reflect on our actions before we cause irreversible damage. MammalWeb provides a platform via which we can monitor mammal populations effectively. The use of camera traps allows us to see these shy animals, that we otherwise rarely encounter - and, with people sending in their photos from all over the North-East and beyond, we can build up a picture of mammal distributions on a scale far larger than could be achieved with traditional surveys.
 
My PhD research will look at how we can use the data we have gained from MammalWeb to answer key ecological questions - such as how mammal distribution, abundance and behaviour changes over urban-rural gradients. I will look at barriers we might have to answering these questions, such as the uneven distribution of camera traps, and how we might overcome these. One of the first projects in my PhD will be launching a citizen science camera trapping survey to put out cameras all over County Durham, but in a grid-form instead of randomly. I'll be enlisting the help of many citizen scientists - so watch this space!

At MammalWeb, we're working on some really exciting new initiatives and developments.  To ensure that we keep you updated regarding those, we've implemented a blog-style news page.  You can check here for the latest news on what we're up to, which we'll start to add over coming weeks and months.  In the meantime, we're excited to note that there's a new camera trap on the market.  Specifically, Perdix Wildlife Supplies are selling the Browning Strike Force HD Pro, which has excellent reviews from Trailcampro, for just £125 + VAT.  This seems very cheap compared to competing makes and models.  If you get one, we'd be fascinated to know how you get on with it.  Let us know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

In April and May this year, we ran a photo competition to find the best photos of mammals and birds on MammalWeb, as well as a spotter competition to see who could classify the most images during this time. We saw a huge surge in the number of images classified - so thank you to everyone who took part! Results of the competitions can be found below.

These are winning images in the MammalWeb photo competition, Mammal Category. The winner was this great shot of a roe buck peering over a woodpile by Roland Ascroft and the runner up was the lovely image of a fox carrying its lunch through a bluebell wood by Christine Dent. Congratulations to them both!

And here are the winning images in the 'Birds Category'. The winner was this fantastic action photo of a jay taking flight by Roland Ascroft and the runner up was another great action shot of a pheasant displaying its plumage to great effect by Emma Archer. Congratulations to both of them!

And the winner of our Spotting competition was Julie Kenshole, a member of Darlington & Teesdale Naturalist's Field Club. Julie classified an incredible 4536 images between April 1st and May 15th! The runner-up was Sarah Cleeve who classified 2800 images - also a magnificent effort! 

Congratulations to all winners and thank you to everyone who took part. There are still plenty of images to be classified on MammalWeb - so keep up the good work!