In search of the Highland tiger

IN PINE woods outside Grantown-on-Spey, David Hetherington is checking the hi-tech gadgetry needed to help save one of Scotland's most iconic creatures. At first glance, the remote country doesn't appear to hold any clues about its elusive resident: the Scottish wildcat. But a small trail, looking like a faint path, through the heather could indicate that this is home to the Highland Tiger. There are only an estimated 400 of them left in the wild, and without urgent action experts believe that number could drop further.

That is why on a cold February afternoon, with the nearby Cairngorms covered in a thick layer of snow, ecologist Dr Hetherington is placing a camera trap at the base of a tree trunk. These devices – a picture, using a flash, is taken when a sensor is set off by heat and movement – are giving a greater insight into the creatures' behaviour and, in turn, helping to develop ways of saving them.

Dr Hetherington says: "It is clear that unless we do something now to save the Scottish wildcat we will lose them to extinction – we definitely have to act now."

Pound for pound the Scottish wildcat is as powerful as any cat alive – including the tiger. But they are not a threat to humans; such is their solitary nature, many people living in the Highlands never see them. That's where the cameras come in.

Dr Hetherington, who is leading the Cairngorms Wildcat Project, says: "If we are going to conserve an endangered species, it is important that we know about the animal, that we have got knowledge about the animal. Wildcats are extremely difficult to observe in the field because of their shy, solitary, nocturnal behaviour, the fact there are not many of them about anyway, and also because other traditional tracking methods you can use such as footprints and droppings are indistinguishable between wildcat and feral cat.

"Camera traps are much more useful because they can confirm what kind of cat we are talking about by allowing us to see their markings."

The camera is one of about 100 used by the project. Dr Hetherington has strapped it to a pine tree and it will be checked by a field researcher about once a fortnight for images and to make sure it is still working.

The results are also useful in highlighting the work of the project. "They are a good awareness- raising tool," says Dr Hetherington. "People find the photographs that we get are quite amazing. Awareness raising is a big part of wildcat conservation; people have got to be aware that they have got a special animal living in the countryside and that actually they can make a difference to its conservation."

There are also spin-offs to the use of cameras, as other animals – including pine martens, foxes and otters – have been pictured. And when a gamekeeper at the Glen Tanar Estate on Deeside skied cross-country with a roe deer carcass in tow as bait, a golden eagle was caught swooping down for a feed.

The Scottish wildcat is the only surviving member of the cat family native to Britain, as domestic cats originate in the Middle East. It's an efficient hunter, using razor-sharp claws to bring down its prey – usually small mammals such as a rabbits or a voles – before killing it with a vicious bite to the neck or by suffocation. But what is threatening its survival?

Habitat destruction, such as the clearance of forests, hunting of wildcats for their fur and persecuting them as a predator was historically responsible for the reduction of cat numbers, but now interbreeding with feral and even domestic cats is the No 1 threat, according to Dr Hetherington. And the images, which determine whether a wildcat is pure-bred, are helping provide key evidence of the extent of the problem.

Dr Hetherington, who is employed by the Cairngorms National Park Authority, says this is where domestic cat owners and farmers can help: "What the project is trying to do is increase responsible cat ownership; make people aware that they should have their cat neutered and vaccinated so they are not in the position to interbreed with wildcats or spread serious diseases to them." He is also working with the veterinary community and animal charities to trap and neuter feral cats. They can also be screened for diseases which might threaten native species. Farmers are also being asked to neuter their cats.

Dr Hetherington says so far the response has been good: "It is about changing a culture where we want to make it the norm that, if people have got cats in the countryside, they know that the right thing to do is to get them neutered. And it is the right thing to do for a whole variety of reasons, not least cat welfare: there are a whole series of cancers they will no longer be susceptible to; and male cats will be less likely to fight and wander so the chances of them getting injured or killed on the road will reduce as well."

Having the help of the whole community within the Cairngorms National Park is vital for the project to succeed. Rightly or wrongly there was traditionally seen to be a distance between gamekeepers and conservationists. But that has not been the case for the Dr Hetherington.

He says: "Gamekeepers have got this experience and expertise which is normally not tapped into in wider nature conservation. But they can give us an insight into how wildcats are using the landscape, how many there are and give us advice on where to put the camera traps. They are seeing wildcats all the time and that is really useful data."

But why should we be expanding efforts to save a wild animal? The answer is simple for Dr Hetherington. He says: "The wildcat is a part of our country's heritage – it has been here for 9,000 years – it is part of the fabric of the country. Clearly the people of Scotland very much identify with the wildcat, it is this fierce and untameable spirit that I think makes a lot of Scottish people think, 'Yeah, that's pretty cool, I like that.'

"We see this with several of the Highland clans who have adopted wildcats onto their clan crests. Kingussie shinty club, as well, has wildcats on its crest, so it is definitely part of the culture, the human culture, especially in the Highlands."

Once the cat would have been found across the whole of the UK, but Dr Hetherington says that "over the centuries it has had an uneasy relationship with humans."

He adds: "The area of Britain that has had the lightest human footprint is, of course, the Scottish Highlands and that is that one place where they were able to cling on to survival. So, we have got a real responsibility in Scotland towards saving this animal."

Before taking up the challenge of heading the Cairngorms Wildcat Project Aberdeen-born Dr Hetherington was the ecology adviser to the national park authority of the Cairngorms, an area he has known all his life.

"It is my local National Park. I have got a real passion for the wildlife of the Scottish Highlands and particularly the Cairngorms, it is an area I grew up visiting as a child; camping and experiencing the pinewoods and the fantastic landscape that is here."

He says the wildcat project attracted him because of a realisation that not enough was being done to protect a uniquely Scottish animal. "That was the driving force for me; let's do our bit to save our own special animal before it disappears completely."

Has he ever seen one of the elusive creatures? "Fortunately, yes," he says with a smile. "I was driving along the road one night, towards Grantown, and I came to a bend and here was an animal, the size of a fox with a big, thick, bushy tail. For the first split second I thought it was a fox, but then I thought, 'No, it's got rings on its tail, it's a cat.' I was really quite pleased because I think it was about a week before I took up the job of wildcat project manager, so I didn't feel like a fake."

He has gone on to make other sightings and exudes a genuine optimism. "Everybody's going to have to do their bit and, provided everybody does do their bit, we can save the wildcat from extinction.

"I'm hopeful that we can because to me it seems unforgiveable that in the 21st century we would let such an iconic Scottish animal go extinct. We can't let that happen."