Tony Prichard

The Mammals of Suffolk by Simone Bullion. Suffolk Wildlife Trust and Suffolk Naturalists Society, 2009: 207pp. Hardback: £20.00

November 19, 2011 9:14"10" align="left" />Mammals tend to have been a neglected group of wildlife except by land managers, farmers and game keepers all of whom have sought to control perceived ‘pest’ species. Hence, there has been recording of the ‘bags’ made on estates and even in church records where pests such as bats sometimes had a price on their heads. The demise of species such as the pine marten was not formally recorded but estate records show how the number killed each year diminished but the date of extinction, probably sometime in the mid nineteenth century, remains unknown. (By definition, a rare species is difficult to find!)

Amongst the naturalists, mammals received scant attention because many are nocturnal and hide away by day and often, it only has been possible to discover much about species’ life histories with the use of modern technology. Generally, most mammalogists get to know about the presence of animals by what they leave behind them - droppings, scats or in modern parlance - poo!

Gathering together the scattered notes and records was first attempted by the Victorians such as Thomas Bell, 1874, in his account of The History of British Quadrupeds and J G Millais epic tomes on The Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland. These volumes provide largely anecdotes of discoveries and observations made by all kinds of people who often did not understand what they observed but, with present knowledge, we can interpret those carefully recorded notes.

Further assemblages of the then current knowledge were made by Barrett- Hamilton with Hinton in their multi-part ‘A history of British Mammals’ published from 1910 - 1921. Also, The Victoria History of the Counties of England (1911) for the first time includes sections specifically on the mammals of individual counties, including Suffolk. However, although interesting snippets of information was given on most of the Suffolk mammals, usually relating to named sites with dates, there was little knowledge of the distribution, population sizes or habits of each species of a kind we now enjoy.

The next milestone in the Suffolk mammalian story was Claud Ticehurst’s paper on Suffolk Mammals published in the Transactions of the Suffolk Naturalists’ Society in 1932. However, this was really an annotated list with the particular interest being a description of the extinct species especially from the fossil record such as from the red crag strata. To me, one of the interesting comments concerned the otter which he described as ‘I think there is hardly a suitable stream ... in the County which lacks otters’. We now know that species became extinct around 45 years later but with the immensely successful river clean up and re-introductions, now has become a common Suffolk species again. No attempt had been made to produce distribution maps for species as there were no data bases. The next progression in assembling knowledge about our mammals came from our former SNS member, Dr Harrison Matthews with his British Mammals (Collins: New Naturalist 1952). This detailed the biology and natural history of each species as well as descriptions of distributions and comments on abundance. Later the Mammal Society of the British Isles produced the Handbook of British Mammals with first edition in 1964 with 465 pages to 4th edition in 2008 with 799 pages. That last volume was a full compendium of present knowledge about all species and is a standard work where mammal enthusiasts would find both a digest of the latest information as well as a comprehensive source work bibliography.

So it is with that background that the new book by Dr Bullion was eagerly awaited. The amount of effort required to produce such a work cannot be overstated. When taking on such a project it soon becomes a daunting prospect of how to find and collate all the sources of information and to write a reference and readable book while fulfilling a busy job helping to protect habitats and species in Suffolk. However, the task has been achieved with an attractive and concise volume which will form a standard work and stimulus for more work in our County.

The volume starts with an incredible list of all the sources of records, about 560 individuals submitting information, most in the last 15 years or so. The book then has sections on the history of mammals and a systematic treatment of all the known extant species and concludes with an interesting chapter on surveying for mammals and what can be done to encourage various species and what we can do to help reverse declines. Of course, this latter depends on detailed research to establish exactly what individual species require and recipes on what we can do in talking with landowners to help them manage habitats in an effective way.

A nice touch is a brief introduction to each mammal group with the history of introductions for such species as rabbits and un-natural introductions such as bats arriving as stowaways on ships or military aircraft.

Each species account gives information on the history, distribution and aspects of their behaviour and natural history. Distribution maps are augmented with a box giving vital information on the species and drawings showing food or other signs which can identify who produce the signs and all accounts are lavishly illustrated with colour photographs of the animals and habitats.

So, with Simone Bullion’s book we have an most attractive work to grace every bookshelf of all those interested in wildlife in Suffolk (and adjacent counties) but the real value is not for it to stay on the shelf but to be a stimulus for everyone to become enthused in observing this diverse group of fascinating animals. Most of us will have some of these species living in or visiting our gardens and there is always the opportunity to make new observations on aspects of their lifestyles.

As a teenager born in Bury St Edmunds and educated in Suffolk I was introduced in 1952 to a research project begun by SNS members in 1947 and on joining the Mammal Society in 1957 the fourth Earl of Cranbrook (the President of that Society, as well as SNS at the time) wrote to me saying he was ‘ploughing a lonely mammalian furrow in Suffolk’ and thereby persuaded me to join our Society. I greatly valued the support he gave me in my career in mammal research and in conserving mammals through the Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act 1975 and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. He was a principal mover of these vital pieces of legislation protecting Britain’s wildlife including some mammals.

      Robert Stebbings
President, Suffolk Naturalists’ Society

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