Highland Tiger

New VIP supporter

Fri, 5 February 2010 00:00:01 GMT

We are delighted to announce that Joe Inglis has agreed to give his support to Highland Tiger. Joe is a tv vet, with roles on The One Show on BBC 1, This Morning on ITV and The Wright Stuff on Five, as well as having a busy life as a practising vet.
To find out more about Joe's support and to see who else is supporting us head to the SUPPORTERS section of the website and click on VIP SUPPORTERS.

Surprise visitor at the Highland Wildlife Park

Mon, 29 January 2010 00:00:01 GMT

The staff at the Highland Wildlife Park (HWP) are getting to grips with some new camera traps which will be used around the Cairngorms National Park to help us discover what is out and about. The cameras were placed around the HWP in the hopes that while the staff learn they will also be able to see what is wandering around after the gates close. Needless to say, they were happily surprised and stunned to get a picture of what looks very much like a wildcat so early on in the exercise.
Fingers crossed that the success will continue when the camera traps go out into the wider world.

Caught on camera!

Thu, 25 January 2010 00:00:01 GMT

A local wildlife enthusiast who has been using an automatic camera trap to monitor wildlife in the Strathspey area of the Cairngorms National Park has snapped an amazing pic of a 'Highland Tiger'. With the permission of the local estate he baited the camera trap with a dead pheasant last month and, without it even knowing it was on camera, he got a great shot of one particular 'Highland tiger' having a feast!
Hopefully in future we will be able to see more photos as David sets some more camera traps around the Park.
Check out the blog to see the wildcat in action.

Maternity Unit delivers!

Mon, 15 January 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Many thanks indeed to the generous staff of the Maternity Unit of Raigmore Hospital in Inverness who raised over �400 for Highland Tiger in the run up to Christmas! As with all donations, the money will go to the Wildcat Conservation Fund held by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, one of the partners in the Cairngorms Wildcat Project. Money from this fund can be used, amongst other things, to buy automatic camera traps to help us monitor wildcats in one of their last strongholds, the Cairngorms National Park. Check out the blog page under the 'Cairngorms Wildcats' menu for the latest spectacular development in wildcat camera-trapping in the Cairngorms!

Great effort in fundraising!

Mon, 8 December 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Thanks to The Grant Arms Hotel in Grantown on Spey and to Cairngorm Brewery in Aviemore for their efforts in raising funds for Highland Tiger.
The Grant Arms is home to The British Bird and Wildlife Watching Club and Cairngorm Brewery donate 1p for every bottle of Wildcat beer sold - 31,000 bottles already this year!! Not that we'd advocate excessive drinking of course but if you must...www.cairngormbrewery.com!!

Thanks again to Glenmore!

, 28 October 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The Forestry Commission Scotland have delivered again! Jim Gillies and the team at Glenmore Visitor Centre, have collected another �180 for Highland Tiger by giving out our free postcard sets and asking for a donation in return. Glenmore has now raised over �320! Fantastic!

Polyanna Pickering adds support

Mon, 1 October 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Internationally renowned wildlife artist, Polyanna Pickering (www.pollyannapickering.co.uk) has recently completed several stunning paintings featuring the Scottish wildcat. One of these, named 'Highland Tiger' has been published as a limited edition print. Just 250 copies will be available, each numbered and signed by Pollyanna with 50% of the proceeds going to the Highland Tiger project. To order your copy please visit The Funky Wildcat Store.

Another icon dropped in!

Thu, 4 March 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Our camera trap on the Glen Tanar estate, in the Deeside area of the National Park, might not have picked up a wildcat but it certainly did pick up another of Scotland's iconic wildlife species - a golden eagle! The estate's Wildlife Manager, Colin McClean, has done some sterling work by battling through waist deep snow for hours towing a deer carcase or two to bait this particular camera trap. It took him a few weeks to revisit the trap because of all the snow that's fallen in recent weeks. But I'm sure you'll agree, this great shot of such an impressive bird makes up for the lack of wildcats there so far. I wonder what more we'll find in the weeks ahead!?

Camera trapping

Fri, 26 February 2010 00:00:01 GMT

In the past few weeks, we've managed to get quite a few more camera traps deployed around the Cairngorms National Park to try to snap our elusive, furry ghosts. Winter has returned to the area with a vengeance in the past few days, with lots of snow and wind meaning drifts a couple of meters deep in places! I'm not sure how the wildcats, or indeed the cameras, will cope in these conditions, but I suspect that a few of the cameras could now be just above the snow, or indeed quite a long way under it! Once the road conditions have improved, I'll get out there and check the cameras. Of course, if they've snapped anything interesting, I'll be sure to let you know.

Another wildcat talk ... this time in Kincraig

Sat, 27 January 2010 00:00:01 GMT

For any interested folks in the Badenoch & Strathspey area of the National Park, I'll be giving my illustrated talk, "The Cairngorms Wildcat Project - saving the Highland Tiger" in Kincraig on Wednesday February 3rd at 7.30pm . The talk will take place at the Cairngorms Christian Centre and will be hosted by Insh & Alvie Church. Any donations on the night to their Kiwoko Hospital appeal would be gratefully received.

Wildcat talk in Stonehaven

Mon, 22 January 2010 00:00:01 GMT

For any interested folks in the Mearns area, I'll be giving an illustrated talk entitled "The Cairngorms Wildcat Project - saving the Highland Tiger" on Thursday 28th January at 8pm. The talk, which is open to the public, will take place at The Heugh Hotel in Stonehaven and will be hosted by the Stonehaven Hillwalking & Mountaineering Club.

Talking to gamekeepers, vets and Cats Protection

Sat, 20 January 2010 00:00:01 GMT

It's been a busy but productive period for the Project in recent weeks. On December 17th we held a workshop attended by 40 delegates, mostly gamekeepers from estates in and around the Cairngorms National Park. This was an opportunity to let the gamekeeping community know what the Project is attempting to do, present the latest developments in wildcat identification and conservation, and seek their advice on how best to take forward wildcat conservation on private sporting estates. The workshop generated a lot of very useful discussion and it was clear that many gamekeepers are keen to help conserve a much endangered Scottish icon. As people who are out and about in all areas of the National Park in all weathers and at all times of day, they are probably in the best position to observe the shy and secretive Scottish wildcat and could provide the Project with a wealth of invaluable information on their distribution and behaviour. I look forward to working with estates across the National Park in the coming months.

On January 8th we held a meeting with vets from practices in and around the National Park, as well as representatives from Cats Protection, the UK's largest cat welfare charity. The Project sought advice on how best to promote the responsible cat ownership message in the National Park and discussed ways to expand and intensify the neutering of feral cats around villages and farms. Again, the meeting was very useful and productive and I look forward to developing these ideas further. Watch this space!

Wildcat caught on camera!

Mon, 15 January 2010 00:00:01 GMT

I gratefully received the spectacular photo below from a local wildlife enthusiast who has been using an automatic camera trap to monitor wildlife in the Strathspey area of the Cairngorms National Park. With the permission of the local estate he baited the camera trap with a dead pheasant last month and, without it even knowing it was on camera, he got a great shot of one particular 'Highland tiger' having a feast! The typical thick, ringed tail, the dorsal stripe stopping at the base of the tail, the unbroken stripes on the flanks and the thick black stripes on the head all indicate that this animal is a very good wildcat specimen. It is so rare to get such a good photo of what appears to be a pure wildcat.

The Project has recently taken delivery of a number of camera traps which will be deployed across the National Park to help us build a clearer picture of where the wildcats are and assess how hybridised they might be. So hopefully I'll have a few more great photos to report in the coming months!

Cool for Cats

, 14 January 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Happy New Year to all! Well it's been very wintry so far here in the Cairngorms with temperatures below -20C and snow depth in excess of half a metre for weeks. Hopefully the wildcat population is managing to cope. Voles will be much harder to come by than usual as most will be tunnelling deep under the snow. Rabbits, however, are still in evidence, but are struggling to find grass to graze on and have turned instead to browsing woody vegetation which would normally be too high up for them to reach. The deep snow may make it harder for the cats to move about in some places but their dense fur should keep them warm. According to the Mammals of the British Isles handbook (I certainly have not counted them myself!), their winter fur density is 10,000-30,000 hairs per cm² - much thicker than that of a domestic cat, which is descended from the African wildcat, an animal which, of course, evolved in a much warmer climate.