Nature notes: Aliens and the lynx – the battle for the Great British countryside

ALIENS in the countryside have again been reported in the national media.

A species of ladybird, the harlequin, and Spanish slugs have now invaded gardens throughout the UK.

The former eats many kinds of insect, including native ladybirds and lacewing larvae. It will even scoff its own species.

They will also bite humans leaving a small bump. They really are voracious eaters.

I believe they are the fastest invaders throughout the world and were first noted in Britain in the early 2000s.

They actually came from America – and nobody knows why they suddenly erupted there either.

Now to the large orangey coloured slug. It looks a beautiful colour, sometimes rusty. They will feed on any kind of vegetable matter and will destroy the foliage on flowers. It is thought they arrived here in imported salad leaves.

Being an amateur naturalist I often give thought to how we can control them without effectively damaging other parts of wildlife – in my own opinion the simple answer is we can’t.

The grey squirrel is a classic example. Will we in the end have to accept them? But what about chemical solutions?

These are not selective and other parts of wildlife would suffer as in the case of song thrushes. Their demise continues as well their main food, molluscs. It spells disaster to their species.

I really can’t see any other prospect other than to learn to live with these two aliens.

It is a small world now and with food and goods being imported into Britain from all over the world, I can see other foreign species arriving in the future. Many will hitch a ride by land, sea and air.

One idea that has been muted recently (and it’s a crazy one in my opinion) is the reintroduction of the European lynx, which disappeared centuries ago.

You can look at the situation any way you like, but the lynx is also now an alien species to the British environment.

They flourished in the UK when this country was covered in forests, but only a fraction remain.

As I have stated in previous notes, mammals expand naturally and in the case of the lynx a litter consists of up to four young.

When they reach maturity they are driven out to find their own territories – that leads to their expansion. In time this will cause problems as they will surely encroach onto farmland. Who wants to be a farmer rearing domestic stock in that situation? Another problem is that when they become aged they look for easier prey – and there will be an awful lot of humans about.

A few hard winters would control garden pests but in the light of the past few years will this happen? What do you think?

Dave Moore is a nature enthusiast from Hutton Magna