POLECAT (MUSTELA PUTORIUS)
LOCAL BIODIVERSITY ACTION PLAN

OBJECTIVES

To encourage the natural recolonisation of the polecat in the Cheshire region and to monitor and conserve existing population numbers towards a sustainable population.

LOCAL TARGETS

Targets awaited

CURRENT STATUS

The polecat is a species "of some conservation significance" (Birks 1997). Historically, it has experienced conflict with poultry and game keeping bodies since the Middle Ages, but now enjoys legal protection from killing and trapping under Schedule 6 of The Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981).

The polecat is a native British mammal, the species found in Britain being the European or Western polecat. Despite it's name, the polecat is a member of the weasel family, the Mustelidae. Up to the middle of the last century they were reported as common and widespread throughout the British mainland. The advent of game shooting and its management led to a sharp decline in the status of the polecat, reducing its population to a small isolated area of Mid Wales. Due to a decline in trapping during the 20th century, the polecat population in Britain has increased. It has become more common in Wales and now populates every Welsh county, apart from Anglesey, and is starting to recolonise border counties, including the Cheshire region where it has not lived since the 1890s. The Cheshire Wildlife Trust have been closely monitoring the population.

Records of polecats on the rECOrd database as at August 2002

THREATS

Polecat-ferret hybridisation.
Road traffic accidents.
Loss of habitat.
Intensification of agriculture.
Illegal poisoning, gassing and trapping.
Secondary rodenticide poisoning.
Lack of awareness of the public and landowners.
Lack of awareness of the interaction between a polecat and its habitat.

CURRENT ACTION

Currently carrying out survey of farmers in Cheshire to glean further information on status of polecats in Cheshire.
Production of interprative leaflet for the Cheshire area on the polecat
Monitoring and data collation
Further survey work on population status and habitat usage

ACTION REQUIRED IN 2006+

Highlight polecat's preferred geographical areas.
Survey suitable areas to further the knowledge of the polecat's interaction with its habitat.
Monitor the behaviour of mammals within polecat-occupied habitat.
Use of GIS modelling systems to interpret recorded data
Further survey via live-trapping

ACTION COMPLETED PREVIOUSLY

Winter 2002 radio tracking project of polecats in their natural habitat
Soft release programme in alliance with relevant agencies
Live trapping of polecats in the field as part of monitoring

ACTUAL LBAP IMPLEMENTERS

British Association of Shooting and Conservation	Cheshire Wildlife Trust	Manchester Metropolitan University Ecology Unit
Cheshire County Council Rangers	Dr Liz Halliwell	rECOrd

OTHER POTENTIAL IMPLEMENTERS

None

CONTACT

Sue Tatman
Phone: 01270 610180
Fax: 01270 610430

REFERENCES

Birks, J. (1997): Mammal Society Conference Talk, St Andrews, (draft copy).
Birks, J. (1993): The Return of the Polecat, British Wildlife.
Birks, J. (1996): The Rise of the Polecat, Natural World.

Date compiled - 1998
Date reviewed - 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002