Cats..

Several posts on this blog have discussed introduced species - mink, rabbits, himalayan balsam and recently grey squirrels.  But there is one introduced animal that is more likely to divide opinion than the domestic cat (Felius Catus):
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It is believed that cats were domesticated by the ancient Egyptians and originated in the middle east 100,000 years ago, possibly arriving in the UK with roman settlers. Since then they have become a regular part of our lifestyle.  Their excellent hunting skills have helped humans deal with vermin, but now that predatory skill is possibly affecting wildlife.  The RSPB estimate they are responsible for 275,000,000 animal deaths each year:
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Certainly when we were growing up, one of our cats had a habit of leaving dead and dieing animals on our beds - maybe they were a gift or maybe she wanted to teach us how to hunt, whatever the reason, there were seldom birds in our garden.
Interestingly, the RSPB research states that despite thelarge number of animal casualties attributed to cats they do not affect the long term animal populations, as the mortality rates of bird and small mammal is so high that most of them would have perished from other causes - disease, lack of food, predated by other animals - for more information: http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/gardening/unwantedvisitors/cats/birddeclines.aspx

Even so, cats are a frequent sight along the ock and must have some affect on environment, this one for example is investigating what looks like a water vole burrow.
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