Scottish Wildcat Action (SWA) Specialist Report - Communications
This report should be cited as: Wemyss, J., McKenzie, D., Burns, V. and Campbell, R.D. (2023). Scottish Wildcat Action final report: Communications. NatureScot, Inverness.
Authors and institutions: Jenny Wemyss, Scottish Wildcat Action, Duncan McKenzie, Scottish Wildcat Action, Vicky Burns, Scottish Wildcat Action, Roo Campbell, Scottish Wildcat Action.
Year of publication: 2023
Keywords
Communications; media; website; events; education.
Background to SWA
The Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Plan (SWCAP) was published in 2013 following the input of over 20 partner organisations. This led to the establishment of the Scottish Wildcat Action (SWA) project that ran from 2015-2020, funded by the Scottish Government, National Lottery Heritage Fund and others. SWA operated with a team of project staff managed by NatureScot, and associated work was carried out by various partner organisations. The overall work programme was steered by a group made up of ten of the partners. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Cat Specialist Group reviewed the work of the SWA, and other ongoing wildcat conservation work, and provided recommendations for future action (Breitenmoser et al., 2019). A wide range of topics relevant to wildcat conservation were covered during the SWA, and have now been published as a series of reports, of which this is one. These outputs will inform the next phase of wildcat conservation work in Scotland, including the SavingWildcats ‘SWAforLife’ project that runs from 2019-2026.
Wildcats hybridise with domestic cats and we use a combination of morphology and genetics to distinguish wildcats from domestic cats and their hybrids. The method applied is generally determined by the practicalities of management. For example, it is much easier to have high confidence in the pelage scores from a sedated cat, than from a camera-trap image taken at night. Genetic and pelage results can only be generated jointly in certain scenarios. Therefore, identifications under different situations have different levels of confidence associated with them. We therefore set different thresholds for identification of wildcats based on the ability to distinguish pelage and genetic characteristics in different situations. The confidence hierarchy, and the definitions used in this report, are given below.
A ‘wildcat’ in this report is defined at level 4 by a cat with a pelage threshold of 17+. Genetic information is not available for all cats and so is not used in population size assessments.
Background
This project was the first co-ordinated nationwide approach to wildcat conservation. As such, we developed and implemented a national communications plan to support wildcat conservation actions.
A key aim of the project was to change attitudes and behaviour in relation to wildcat conservation. The project was dependent on engaging people, maintaining their interest and turning that into active participation.
Awareness-raising campaigns #Supercat and #GenerationWildcat were developed to encourage responsible cat ownership and promote the ways that the public could contribute to wildcat conservation.
This fed into the Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, Return (TNVR) programme in the priority areas (PAs); provided resources for identifying and recording wildcat sightings; and ensured information was available to the public via online, social media and traditional media platforms. We published newsletters and blogs, publicised the Mammal Tracker app and Mammalweb, attended events and compiled an education package.
We worked with key partner organisations to ensure a consistent communications direction and tone was utilised throughout the project. This facilitated the sharing of knowledge and ideas, and enabled our key messages to reach additional platforms and audiences.
Summary of work
- We developed and delivered a communications plan to help us provide targeted communications messages to our key audiences, such as cat owners, landowners, farmers, gamekeepers and members of the public.
- We worked together with partner organisations to co-ordinate press releases and shared information to promote and deliver the project’s key messages.
- SWA was launched at a major press event at Holyrood in Edinburgh with the support of the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Land Reform and Climate Change, Roseanna Cunningham MSP. William the Wildcat, our full adult-sized mascot, made his first appearance at the launch and was used by partners to promote the project’s key messages at events.
- Printed materials were created and covered a range of key messages such as responsible cat ownership, wildcat friendly predator control (WFPC) and a camera-trapping guide. They were distributed to a variety of places including veterinary practices and at events.
- One of our main aims was to raise awareness and carefully challenge and change public attitudes to feral and domestic cat management through clear communications. We created the #Supercat campaign to promote responsible cat ownership and encourage neutering, vaccination and microchipping of pet and farm cats. The #GenerationWildcat movement encouraged people to take ownership of being the last generation who can save the Scottish wildcat from extinction.
- Media coverage was steady throughout the project, ensuring our key messages and progress were publicised. Stories were picked up via our press releases, blogs published on our website and social media posts. We worked with media students to create The Tigers of Scotland documentary, which was picked up by Netflix, iTunes and Amazon Prime. Our work was also broadcast on television (e.g. the BBC’s Springwatch, Winterwatch and Countryfile) and radio (e.g. BBC Scotland’s Brainwaves and BBC Radio 4). Certain events triggered an increase in coverage, such as the birth of wildcat kittens in collections managed under the conservation breeding programme, which was picked up at a local, national and international level.
- There was occasional negative press sourced mainly from an outside interest group, the rebuttal of which took up valuable staff time that would have otherwise been invested in promoting our key messages.
- We developed a website that provided a one-stop-shop for information on the Scottish wildcat and project updates. Our leaflets and posters were published on the website, along with educational materials and blogs that provided updates and emphasised particular messages. General information about the Scottish wildcat and our various campaigns, such as #Supercat and the Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, Return programme, were also available. Google Analytics was used to measure and track website usage, to ensure our content was engaging. New content, such as blogs, were uploaded regularly to maintain public interest.
- Social media was an important tool for circulating information, engaging the public and keeping the project current. Facebook and Twitter were the most popular, with LinkedIn and Instagram also used. We utilised the platforms’ analytics to measure engagement with posts and to learn the most engaging ways to communicate our key messages. Our social media users engaged with fact-based information as well as more light-hearted posts. The #WildcatOrNot feature worked well as the public could actively participate. Using pictures and trending hashtags increased engagement.
- Email newsletters were distributed via the Campaign Monitor platform, which provided email updates to subscribers.
- An education package was developed by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) for schools in line with the Curriculum for Excellence. The aim was to engage younger audiences in the plight of the wildcat and the need to save it. Funding, in addition to that from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, was obtained from the Gordon and Ena Baxter Foundation.
- We worked with the already established Mammal Tracker app and its replacement, Mammal Mapper, to ensure accurate wildcat information was available and people could record sightings.
- Our two most frequently highlighted messages were about responsible cat ownership and the reporting of cat sightings.
Acknowledgements
The SWA project was supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
It was also funded by the Scottish Government, NatureScot and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. Support and resources for associated work was also provided by all the Steering Group members: Cairngorms National Park Authority, Forestry and Land Scotland, National Museums Scotland (NMS), Scottish Land & Estates, NatureScot, Scottish Wildlife Trust, The National Trust for Scotland, The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, The Scottish Gamekeepers Association, The Scottish Government, Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU). In addition, Jenny Bryce and Fiona Strachan helped develop the project while Eileen Stuart, Alan Bantick and Andrew Kitchener chaired the Steering Group.
Additional sponsors, funders and contributors to SWA work included Aigas Field Centre, Ailsa Black, British Association for Shooting and Conservation, Cairngorm Brewery Company, Chester Zoo, Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, John Muir Trust, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, Lukas Ruiter Production, MyPetOnline, NFU Scotland, petDetect, RSPB, Scotland The Big Picture, Swift Ecology, the Highland Council and the Gordon and Ena Baxter Foundation.
We are also very grateful to the many academics, landowners and managers, farmers, foresters, keepers, captive collection managers, veterinary specialists and others who contributed valuable time and effort, members of the public who contributed funds and support, and in particular the many volunteers who got involved in the project.
Pete Haskell (Scottish Wildlife Trust) provided feedback on earlier drafts of this report and communications advice throughout the SWA project. Several volunteers provided important contributions to the project’s communications work. They include Barrie Williams and Declan Duffy. The SWA Project Officers (Hebe Carus, Calum Hislop, Keri Langridge, Emma Rawling, Matt Wilson) delivered much of the communications strategy on the ground in the Priority Areas and more widely. Numerous volunteers and individuals external to the SWA partnership contributed blogs, not all of whom are named below. These include Allan Bantick, Sue Arber, Ana Luisa Barros, Laura Braunholtz, Jen Clark, Dr Christopher Clegg, Katherine Cockle, Joe Crowley, Norman Davidson, Julie Dawson, Declan Duffy, Stephanie Haworth, Maureen Laverman, Nick Littlewood, Carol MacKintosh, Johnathan Sainsbury, Ruth Scott, Lara Semple, Donna Taylor-Banter, James Walker, Kelsey Wilson, and Heather. Pere Cairns allowed the project free use of many wonderful images of wildcats to further our messaging. Penny Martin (NatureScot), Sally York (Scottish Forestry), Ben Jones (Aigas), David Nisbett (Kingussie High), Joan Cumming (Newtonmore Primary), Anne Loft (Isla Primary) and Zoe Ettle (Highland Council) contributed to the RZSS-led development of the education package. So many others contributed to the communications work in some form that errors of omission are likely, for which RC apologises.
1. Introduction
This project was the first co-ordinated nationwide approach to wildcat conservation. As such, a national communications strategy was required to support wildcat conservation actions. This was to underpin much of the project’s work. Within the Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Plan, directly relevant actions were:
Communications public awareness / education
3.8 Develop and implement a national communications plan to support conservation actions
- 3.8.1 Develop a campaign to promote responsible cat ownership and promote how the public can contribute to wildcat conservation
The communications strategy also needed to support our work with key stakeholders such as land managers, volunteers and cat owners. For example:
Responsible cat ownership and management of feral domestic cats
2.5 Promote the responsibilities that go with domestic cat ownership to communities in priority areas. Including considering not keeping cats in these areas.
- 2.5.1 Targeted public awareness within priority areas (cat health and neutering)
From this, we agreed with our key funders at the National Lottery Heritage Fund to engage the wider general public with wildcat conservation, through a Scotland-wide media campaign including a dedicated project website, social media presence and blog, public presentations, broadcast media, articles, attendance at public shows and events, and development of a smartphone app to identify and record wildcat sightings. A key aim of our communications was to change attitudes and behaviour in relation to wildcat conservation. The project was dependent on engaging people, maintaining their interest and turning that into active participation. More specifically, we wanted our communications to engage local people and volunteers in conservation action detailed in the project strategy; increase understanding of the impact that domestic and feral cats can have on wildcats, and increase levels of responsible domestic cat ownership, specifically neutering; educate the public on the need for feral cat management and reduce human behaviours that perpetuate feral cat populations; increase awareness of wildcats among land managers, encouraging them to take positive action; and co-ordinate communications for the Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Plan.
Following experience from other high-profile partnership projects such as the Scottish Beaver Trial, Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels, and the World Forum on Natural Capital, we realised from the outset that the effectiveness of the project’s communication would depend on the time invested in communication, the consistency of our messages and the direct ownership of the project image. To this end, the project employed a dedicated communications coordinator. The post was initially hosted by the Scottish Wildlife Trust and then later within NatureScot.
This report will discuss the project’s communications approach, methods used to evaluate the effectiveness of those communications, and the results, including the highlights and challenges that were faced along the way. Because our communications underpins much of our work, further detail on some specific aspects of the communications strategy, such as data collected from the monitoring app, land management engagement and responsible cat ownership campaign can be found in other relevant reports.
2. Development of the communications strategy
A communications strategy was developed in advance of the project start. The strategy was informed through key strategic direction from the partnership’s Steering Group and the Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Plan and was updated throughout the project as we reviewed our communications and learned more about the status of the wildcat and threats to them. The initial audience, key messages and outcomes as identified ahead of the project can be viewed in detail in Annex 1.
2.1 Communications tools
To help communicate to our audience, from the outset we had budgeted resources (time or finances) for some important communications tools, which are detailed in Annex 2.
In addition to the activities and tools highlighted in Annex 2, we invested staff and volunteer time in giving talks to interested groups. We furthermore invested time in proactively and reactively dealing with press and broadcast media. This report will provide more detail on how we developed each of these.
2.2 Communications engagement
One of the most difficult issues and one that is still ongoing is that we struggled to attain a clear, consistent and unambiguous message of what constituted a wildcat. Due to the high levels of hybridisation (see the Genetics and Morphology report), there were cats which looked like wildcats that showed high levels of hybridisation. We adopted an approach based on available evidence, where a cat was assumed to be 1) a wildcat if it passed the pelage threshold and no other information was available; 2) a wildcat if it passed the genetic threshold and no other information was available and 3) could only be confirmed as a wildcat if it passed both tests. In addition, all the evidence we gathered during the course of the project highlighted that all ‘wildcats’ in Scotland had some domestic ancestry. This proved challenging at times from a communications viewpoint as we were required to provide the public with a clear and consistent image/description of a ‘wildcat’ as an animal we wished to conserve, versus ‘hybrid’ and ‘feral’ cats that were a risk to wildcats. This is perhaps one area which could be further delved into with a view to increasing public awareness of the challenges in classifying wildcats and the value that some individuals with low levels of hybridisation had to the future of wildcat conservation. We sought throughout the project to avoid using the term ‘pure’ in describing any individual because we realised from the outset that there were probably no animals in the wild with zero history of hybridisation (even if it exhibited all the visual characteristics of a wildcat) and because, by extension, ‘impure’ wildcats could be regarded as having no conservation value.
2.3 External measures of our engagement
Looking to publications out-with the project, which discuss the wildcat and how the public perceive the threat to the species, is another useful tool in evaluating the effectiveness of the project’s communications and outreach. Examples of these include the IUCN Cat Specialist Group report published in 2019, which provides an independent analysis, including the effectiveness of communications and outreach, of the SWA project; the Scottish Nature Omnibus 2019, commissioned by NatureScot, provides data from 2011 to 2019, including public perception on the status of the Scottish wildcat; and the Responsible Cat Ownership Survey conducted by Alice Bacon in 2017. These will be discussed further throughout this report.
Along with utilising analytical tools and our own internal methods for monitoring the effectiveness of our communications and outreach, we also looked at publications and surveys, which highlighted the status of the wildcat and the project. For example, a survey of 1313 people who owned a total of 2539 cats was conducted in 2017 (Bacon, 2017), which found that overall the level of responsible cat ownership was high, with 98% of respondents having already neutered their cats, 85% were vaccinated and 75% were microchipped. Only 107 of these respondents lived within or near the five priority areas, however 84% had already heard of SWA:
Owners living in wildcat Priority Areas (PAs) are significantly more likely to think that wildcats are present in their local area. Ongoing SWA work in PAs may have already influenced awareness of wildcats and their local status... (Bacon, 2017, pp.57-58)
Of those surveyed, 26% of cats were kept indoors. However, 1872 cats, owned by 74% of respondents, had access to the outdoors, with the potential to associate with other cats, such as feral cats and wildcats. Most respondents (91%) were in favour of TNVR and when asked what they thought were the current threats to wildcats, 83% of people thought persecution, 81% hybridisation, 80% road traffic accidents and 79% disease from pet and feral cats. The survey concluded that:
Although this survey was biased toward cat owners already engaged with responsible ownership, and two-thirds of owners were fully compliant with neutering, vaccination and microchipping, the remaining third own cats with the potential to negatively impact Scottish wildcat conservation. It is likely that in the Scottish cat-owning population as a whole, this proportion is higher, particularly as the lowest compliance is seen in rural owners with outdoor cats. There is therefore a real and urgent need for improved cat owner compliance with responsible ownership. (Bacon, 2017, p.60).
This shows that midway through the project, cat owners who lived in or near the PAs were aware of SWA and the potential for wildcats to be present in the area. The majority of the people surveyed were in favour of TNVR techniques and were also aware of the threats to wildcats. This information was utilised to continue publicising our key messages through the #Supercat campaign and #GenerationWildcat movement, along with carrying out TNVR work during each year of the project.
The IUCN report commented that the project’s outreach to inform the public and specific groups was impressive (Breitenmoser, Lanz and Breitenmoser-Würsten, 2019, p.53). The Scottish Nature Omnibus 2019 (Granville, 2020, pp.4-6) highlighted that members of the public ranked the wildcat as the third wildlife species most associated with Scotland (Figure 1), behind deer and salmon and out of 44 species or types of organism mentioned. This was an increase from 2015, when wildcats were ranked seventh on the list, along with hares/rabbits and foxes. The wildcat was also the species that members of the public were most concerned about in both the 2017 and 2019 surveys (Figure 1), out of 49 species or types of organism mentioned. This increased from the wildcat being the fourth species people were most concerned about in 2015, behind the red squirrel, deer and birds of prey. These examples could be observed as a good indicator that we have been successful in communicating the project’s key messages to, and engaging with, members of the public during this project and have increased awareness of the plight of the wildcat. For both measures, the ranking of the wildcat generally showed a dip between the period of the Highland Tiger / Cairngorm Wildcat Project (2010 to early 2012) and the current project (from early 2015), underlining the need for ongoing projects to continue promoting wildcat conservation to the public.
2.4 Partnership communication
Another key element throughout the project was effective partnership working to promote and deliver the project’s key messages. Communications professionals from key partner organisations shared information and created a timetable of events and planned press releases. Partner organisations worked collaboratively and would each host events or create press releases accordingly to the topic of expertise. This ensured accurate and reliable information was presented to our stakeholders in a cohesive manner throughout the project.
Due to the partnership consisting of 20 organisations, having an agreed communications strategy helped to ensure cohesive messages were disseminated throughout the duration of the project. This was updated as and when required to reflect the ever-changing communications environment. As part of the strategy, there was a 72-hour period for the partnership to approve press releases and other proactive outputs. This was to ensure that partners agreed on the project’s message and tone before it was published. However, this did cause delays in sending out communications, particularly at the beginning of the project, not only with the timeframe for partnership input but also for any re-drafts to be made and sent back to the partners for approval. As the project progressed and partner relationships were established and built upon, this became a smoother process.
The partners involved in the SWCAP steering group met regularly, usually every quarter. To keep the wider partnership informed, along with supporters, stakeholders and volunteers, we also hosted an annual Wildcat Forum, in which we shared the latest progress and research findings, along with external guest speakers, experts in relevant fields such as Antonio Rivas, manager of the Iberian Lynx reintroduction programme and Chris Clegg, author of a book on the cultural history of the wildcat.
We were able to draw on the expertise within the partnership to help feed into our communications strategy. For example, the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies conducted a cat owner survey during March 2016. That fed into the #Supercat campaign (see the Responsible Cat Ownership report), while analysis of toxins in cat livers by the Dick Vet School fed into our communications for land management (see the Land Management report) and we were able to draw on partners for blogs describing their latest research and conservation (see Annex 5 for a list of all blogs published). We were also able to draw on partners for assistance at some events (see 7.3).
Partnership working within the organisations involved with the SWCAP Steering Group was particularly close and there was more opportunity to share research findings and discuss views at the regular Steering Group meetings. A particularly striking example of this close working can be found in a series of interviews of project partners, conducted by Pennie Latin and Dan Holland for BBC Radio Scotland’s Brainwaves programme. The resulting broadcast was an informative piece, with all partners interviewed in close agreement on the risks to and status of the wildcat in Scotland.
As is to be expected with large partnerships such as this one, members of some partner organisations were sometimes imperfectly informed about our activity. This was most noticeable when false information was spread about our activities and we found ourselves having to reassure partners. A quarterly newsletter to the wider partnership that partner organisations could have easily disseminated internally may have helped reduce such incidences.
Working in partnership is an important part of the communications on a project such as this, particularly with the sharing of knowledge and expertise. It also allows the project’s key messages to be distributed through additional channels, such as through partner websites, social media networks and events. We therefore recommend that these positive working relationships continue to be built upon in any future project.
3. Marketing
A variety of marketing materials were utilised to promote the SWA brand. These resources helped to raise awareness of the project and our key messages to people who perhaps did not have access to the internet or social media sites, or who perhaps had not already heard of the project. We would recommend using more traditional marketing materials such as these to help reach and engage with as wide an audience as suitable to the project itself.
3.1 Logo
SWA developed from the Highland Tiger project. To retain consistency, we adopted the silhouette of the Highland Tiger logo. Colours were changed to green on orange (from white on green) and, of course, the project name changed.
3.2 Wildcat Mascot
The mascot, William the Wildcat (above), exhibited some of the key pelage features of a wildcat (especially the blunt ringed tail) and was intended as a key tool to improve engagement at public events and gatherings where families and children were attending. This enabled us to reach additional audiences to spread our key messages to them. The full adult-sized wildcat mascot was also loaned to partners and other organisations, such as RZSS and the Newtonmore Wildcat Centre, to promote the project.
3.3 Leaflets and posters
Posters and leaflets covered a range of key messages such as responsible cat ownership, wildcat friendly predator control and a camera-trapping guide. We distributed these to a variety of places including veterinary practices, at events and within our PAs. This enabled us to engage with people who perhaps had not previously heard of the project and most importantly helped to boost awareness of our project within the PAs. 10,000 leaflets were produced in the first print run and 6,800 of those were distributed to partners; 1,000 posters were also produced and 500 were distributed to partners; the remainder of the materials were sent to Project Officers to distribute throughout our PAs. They were also available for partners and members of the public to download from the SWA website.
3.4 Branded clothing
We produced T-shirts with the project logo for volunteers and supporters. We also produced jackets, and polo-shirts for staff and for our full-time volunteers.
3.5 Display Material
We produced large display boards to take to events, which explained wildcat conservation and the work of the project, with one board containing space to allow us to add updates using Velcro. We also used folding felt covered display boards that allowed us to put up the latest news, survey images and other material at events. Pop-up banners were easily deployed at events in village halls or at stalls hosted in the tents of partners at field sports events and agricultural shows. In addition, we created objects to help engage with the public at events, such as a children’s jigsaw where the player needed to place the pieces together to create a wildcat and not a hybrid, domestic cat or chimera of each. Other objects included pairs of 3D printed cats articulating cat skulls, one from a wildcat and one from a feral cat; fake wildcat scats created by a volunteer; plaster cat track impressions; and a range of stuffed wildcat taxidermy specimens donated to the project from partners, local museums and members of the public. These stuffed wildcats were of variable condition but proved highly popular and were an excellent tool in attracting attention to our stalls at public events.
3.6 Merchandise
We created a small range of merchandise to promote the project or our campaigns (see previous image) at events. These included branded postcards featuring images of wildcats donated to the project by Pete Cairns (Scotland The Big Picture), biodegradable branded pens, car window stickers (for use in PAs only), USB flash drives (for a forum) and plastic button badges (for a campaign). Probably our most popular single item was the credit-card size wildcat identification card (adapted from the Cairngorm Wildcat Project’s wildcat card) and this was something that the Highland Tiger project found popular too. We also made use of the wildcat pin badges that are part of the RSPB’s collectible pin badge range.
4. Website
The website was launched in September 2015 and was set up to provide our stakeholders with a one-stop-shop for information on the Scottish wildcat and the project. The public could access a wealth of information, including a map of the PAs; how to identify a wildcat from a domestic cat; how to report a wildcat sighting; blogs providing project updates; resources such as leaflets, posters and educational materials; along with links to donate to the project and to access our social media feeds, as we agreed at the outset that the website would not allow public comments and we would instead use social media for this. However, the public could still contact us through the website using a contact form. Minutes of the quarterly Steering Group meetings were published on the website to provide members of the public and stakeholders with project updates. However, the next project may wish to consider developing a more formal method of providing members of the public with updates on the project, in light of the IUCN report.
4.1 Number of website users and access methods
The total number of website users from 1 September 2015 to 17 February 2020 was 139,108. During the first year of the project, there was a sharp rise in the number of people accessing our website to 27,995 users in 2016 and then increased to a peak of 38,789 users in 2018, which is probably due to the #Supercat and #GenerationWildcat campaigns. The number of website users reduced in 2019 to 34,812, however this could be due to a decrease in new content being published during this time.
At the beginning of the project, social media was the main method that people used to access our website, which highlights the power of social media in raising the profile of a new project and that people will have a look at the website by clicking links on social media pages. Since mid-2017, this changed and there was a sharp rise in people accessing our website through search engines. Perhaps this is due to our profile increasing with press and media appearances, e.g. The Tigers of Scotland film was distributed on Netflix and Amazon in 2017 and 2018 respectively; appearances by project staff and volunteers on BBC Winterwatch and Countryfile in 2018 and 2019 (and mentioned in Winterwatch again in 2020) and the launch of the Supercat (2016) and Generation Wildcat (2017) campaigns. Perhaps it was also as people became more familiar with our work locally in the PAs.
4.2 Website page status
The homepage was by far the top page accessed throughout the project (Figure 4) which is not surprising as most people accessed the website via a search engine and the first SWA page to pop up is the homepage.
Views of all pages generally increased over the years, with the About Us and About Wildcats pages reaching the top three pages accessed by the end of 2019. The How to Identify a Scottish wildcat page was a close fourth. This suggests that towards the end of the project people were still keen to read up on the project and learn more about wildcats and how to identify them. The total number of page views during the project was 416,171, of which 338,749 were unique page views.
The Latest News page was mainly used to publish blogs (Annex 5) and the link would then be posted on our social media channels. User figures above are only for the blog landing page and not the individual blog pages, which totalled nearly 100,000 views over the project period, with most visitors accessing the individual blog pages directly from links in social media. In combination, the latest news page and its subpages were the most visited over the project duration (150,000 views), followed by About Wildcats, which includes How to Identify a Scottish wildcat (total over 66,000), How you can help (over 40,000) and About us (over 32,000). We not only featured blogs from staff and partners, but also guest blogs from others, including some of our volunteers, which certainly helped diversify the content. The most visited blogs were generally factual, with the top three by number of visits during the project on the top 10 facts about wildcats (over 10,000 visits), the work the project was doing in the Clashindarroch forest (over 4,000 visits) and information on how to find a wildcat (c.3,500 visits, Annex 5). A blog highlighting the IUCN review of the status of the wildcat in Scotland also received significant traffic, given its later publication date and so shorter time to accumulate views. Google Analytics was used to measure and monitor website usage to ensure that we were engaging with the public and this highlighted that there was a drop in website users during the periods when new blogs were not published. Blogs or other engaging content should therefore be published regularly to maintain public interest and maximise use of the website.
The IUCN report highlighted that:
Minutes of the quarterly Steering Group meetings, statements, research papers and reports were published on the website to provide members of the public and stakeholders with updates on the project. However, we could have utilised the latest news page further by publishing statements etc and providing separate project updates for stakeholders and members of the public there too. A written annual report created alongside our annual forum would have provided this resource for those unable to attend the forum.
5. Wildcat ID and Recording App
The initial plan was to create a dedicated stand-alone app for iPhone and Android to enable members of the public to record potential wildcat sightings. This would be a useful tool for engaging members of the public in actively participating in wildcat conservation. We identified two issues with this approach, however. Firstly, many people would download the app after our push to report sightings of wildcats. Since seeing a wildcat is rare, and even seeing a hybrid is unusual, there was a chance that the app would be forgotten or deleted after a period of being unused. Secondly, a stand-alone app is less likely to provide security of legacy. Once the project is finished, there is a risk that the app won’t be updated and even during the project, ongoing support and maintenance of the app would have been needed. Meanwhile other wildlife sighting apps exist and so the market is arguably crowded. A UK based app known as Mammal Tracker, owned by the Mammal Society, already had the ability to record wildcat sightings. We negotiated with them to update the app to incorporate hybrid and feral cat records and to provide in-app identification guidance for wildcats versus hybrids. In the background, Mammal Tracker sightings are submitted to iRecord and therefore we used iRecord for sightings submitted to our website too, which meant that all records went to the same place. Ahead of the project, an artist was commissioned by NatureScot to draw a typical wildcat and typical tabby domestic cat. We did not have a sketch of a typical hybrid and so the final task was to recommission the same artist to draw one, using images of genetically verified hybrid cats collected during the scoping surveys, as shown in Figure 5.
Adapting an existing app managed by an external organisation meant that we could not report on uptake of the app specific to our work. However, an advantage of this approach was made apparent when the Mammal Society decided to create a new mammal recording app (‘Mammal Mapper’) which would allow transect recording. As contributors to Mammal Tracker, we were able to work with the Mammal Society to transfer over the ID guidance we had created to this new app, ensuring that the relevant information is available further into the future.
Looking at the sources of sightings over the project (Table 1), it is clear that after launching the sightings page on our website alongside a call for sightings late in the first year of the project, the total number of sightings from the app increased slightly (1.5-2×) whereas the total sightings submitted increased by approximately 10 times that (16-18×, excluding the 64 imports in 16-17). The majority of new sightings came in from either the project website, the iRecord website or Mammal Tracker app, which together accounted for over 95% of records in the years 17-18 to 19-20. The majority (over 90%) of these came through the SWA or iRecord websites. Given the increase in sightings coincides with the launch of the project, it is likely that most sightings came via the SWA website. For sporadic events such as sightings of wildcats, hybrids and (though a much smaller portion of records) feral cats, it is apparent that the majority of the public will go to a webpage rather than download an app. Possibly, that the app was hosted by others and not a dedicated app makes a difference to this pattern. The distinction here is whether an app like this functions primarily as a monitoring tool or an engagement tool. It would also be interesting to discover whether our advertising of these apps helped promote an interest in mammals more generally.
As a project, we adopted the use of the existing mobile phone / tablet app as primarily a monitoring tool. The benefit was the long-term legacy in having the information we needed available in an app that would outlast the project. However, there is an argument for creating apps as dual-purpose engagement and monitoring tools. To do that we would have needed to create a media and information rich app containing knowledge, advice and potentially education material or games alongside a sightings feature. This could be explored in future projects with the caveat that there would be ongoing costs (staff time and budget) in its maintenance.
Source |
2015-2016 |
2016-2017 |
2017-2018 |
2018-2019 |
2019-2020 |
Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SWA website, iRecord website & Mammal Tracker App |
2 |
161 |
161 |
165 |
174 |
663 |
Mammal Society website & Mammal Mapper app |
2 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
15 |
Imports to iRecord |
0 |
64* |
0 |
1 |
1 |
66 |
Other sources |
6 |
10 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
26 |
Total |
10 |
239 |
166 |
172 |
183 |
770 |
*All of the iRecord imports in the year 16-17 are from earlier reports to the project via the website contact page or directly to staff, prior to release of a dedicated sightings page. They relate to sightings witnessed up to 27 April 2016, with 49 relating to sightings witnessed in the year 15-16.
6. Social Media
Social media has proven to be an important platform for maximising the reach of our key messages, updates and general awareness of the project. We utilised social media to reach audiences who perhaps had not already been engaged through our website or by other means. This enabled us to build up a rapport with the public through regular posts, mainly through Facebook and Twitter, although Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube were also utilised. Through this method we were able to spread our key messages further and reach a wider demographic than we could have achieved through more traditional media.
Analytics provided us with an insight into our social media audience, which in turn enabled us to adapt our approach to the project’s communications accordingly. It enabled us to monitor usage, demographics and engagement with our posts. The usage and engagement was fed back to the project’s Steering Group on a quarterly basis and provided a good insight into the level of engagement to determine what worked well and what did not. This was then used to shape future communications in this field.
Year-on-year, the number of followers increased across all of the social media channels used throughout the project, proving that it is an effective communication method to use. Our social media channels gave us a platform to deliver our key messages in an engaging manner and we were able to reach a wide audience. Social media was amongst the most effective method of communication used throughout the project. As it has been such a valuable tool, we would recommend that any future project continues to utilise and maximise this method of communication.
6.1 Facebook and Twitter
Facebook received the largest following and engagement, with usage increasing from 6,691 in 2016 to 15,645 at the end of the project on 31 March 2020, making up 66% of our total social media followers. The number of people following our Twitter account rose from 1,556 in 2016 to 5,683 in 2020, making it our second most popular platform with 22% of total social media followers.
We took over the Highland Tiger Facebook page, renaming it SaveOurWildcats and then later renaming it ScottishWildcatAction (see discussion below). At the time of takeover, the Facebook page had approximately 5,200 likes. We predominantly used Facebook to direct users to our website (e.g. by posting links to our latest blog), share simpler messages and interesting images or videos from our work, and to share relevant posts from partner organisations.
We launched our Twitter account in June 2015, naming it SaveOurWildcats, and used it for directing users to blogs on our website, posting simple key messages and sharing relevant tweets from our partners.
6.2 Demographics of our social media followers
We were able to obtain demographic figures from Facebook to show the number of followers by location throughout the world. Such figures were not available on Twitter, however Facebook was our top social media site and as such provided a good insight into the demographics of our followers.
Location |
Number of Users |
---|---|
Scotland |
3,523 |
Rest of UK |
6,239 |
International |
5,282 |
Around one quarter of our followers on Facebook were from Scotland, reflecting the international nature of social media and Scotland’s relatively small population. We gained interest from people living in 46 different countries out-with the UK and had a particularly large following in America, with 2,832 followers. One of our American social media followers regularly raised funds for the project (raising over £5000) by creating and selling Scottish wildcat pin badges and hoodies in a shop, and we believe that this helped to boost the number of Americans following our project. Another follower from Canada donated around £10000. These were fantastic contributions to the project and show the benefits of publicising projects through social media channels, not only by increasing awareness of the project but also in generating donations too. It demonstrated that our communications were engaging and empowered people from all across the world to help save the Scottish wildcat.
6.3 Facebook and Twitter engagement
Our Twitter and Facebook posts received a high level of engagement from the public, generally with little difference in engagement between purely factual and more light-hearted posts. Trends indicated the very top performing posts from each year of the project were mostly light-hearted (Annexes 3-4), however this may have been down to the majority of these posts still carrying a message, or showcasing a picture, to give the public insight into the project. Generally, posts with high levels of engagement or impressions over the project were a mix, with some factual posts not far behind the light-hearted top posts. We utilised Facebook and Twitter analytics to track the number of people who saw our content and also the level of engagement with it and were then able to tailor our social media approach over time to fit with our audience.
The top Facebook post from the entire project was a light-hearted post from 2019, which showed our followers an innovative cat shelter idea made from recycled tyres (Annex 3). It had both the top reach (the number of people who saw the content) of 57,306 and top engagement (number of people who liked, shared and commented) of 6,083. This demonstrated that our followers were interested in posts that they could relate to. However, posts such as this were few and far between, as the main aim of our social media was to convey our key messages to members of the public and provide updates regarding the project. There was a fine line between posting content that appealed to cat owners whilst at the same time ensuring it was wildcat-related. We therefore utilised this insight to provide posts with wildcat information or pictures, whilst also using content that our followers could relate to.
A light-hearted post in February 2020 received the most engagement (number of people who like, comment and re-tweet) of the project with 2,714 engagements and 50,288 impressions. The post (Annex 4) contained a high-quality image of a wildcat appearing to look up a tree with the wording ‘it’s not the size of the tree, it’s how you climb it’ along with the #MondayMotivation and #mondaythoughts hashtags. The use of popular and trending hashtags such as these also helped to reach people who perhaps had not visited our pages or heard of us before. We found that posts using an image along with popular hashtags received more engagement than those that did not. We also found that members of the public appreciated us sharing images from the project, not only of wildcat photographs taken by professional photographers, but also the images collated from our camera traps. These posts, whether factual or light-hearted, were well received and comments left by some of our followers showed that they also valued insights into the work that went on behind the scenes.
6.4 Regular feature posts
We created our own hashtags, such as #Supercat, #GenerationWildcat, #WildcatOrNot and#FridayFcat. The #WildcatOrNot feature on our Facebook page launched in 2017 and proved popular as followers had the opportunity to try and correctly guess whether the picture posted was of a wildcat, or not. This encouraged members of the public to actively engage with the project in an informative and fun way. Through this series of posts, we were able to increase engagement and get the public to think about the key physical characteristics used to define a wildcat. But at the same time, the short ‘wildcat or not’ message may have oversimplified the complexity of the issues around hybridisation. A more accurate, ‘cat with low levels of domestic cat ancestry or not’ would not have been quite as snappy.
In January 2020 we launched two new regular features for our Twitter and Facebook pages, which would run up to the end of the project and through the transition phase to the next project, Saving Wildcats. The hashtag #FridayFcat was created, which consisted of a weekly post showcasing a wildcat fact along with an appropriate image. A #FridayFcat post was the most viewed post of 2020, which had a reach of 14,056 with 836 engagements. We also utilised #SaturdaySelfie to provide a fun and engaging glimpse into some of our camera trap images collated throughout the project. This feature not only showcased images of wildcats but also informed our followers of other species that live in or pass through the same territory as wildcats. Both features were well received, with a high level of views and engagement on Twitter and Facebook throughout.
6.5 YouTube
We took a YouTube channel over from Highland Tiger, which at the time had about 200 subscribers and roughly 17,700 views on its most popular video. We renamed it Scottish Wildcat Action. Our first video was ‘Here Kitty Kitty, curiosity saves the cat (part 1)’, posted on 2 September 2015, which received 237 views. Other videos posted included ‘How to identify a Scottish wildcat’, which was posted on 12 July 2016 and has received 63,000 views; and ‘Scottish Wildcat Action - Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, Return of feral and obvious hybrid cats’, which was posted on 16 August 2016 and has 751 views. Videos were factual in content and ranged from snapshots of wildcats visiting camera traps, to TNVR work, GPS collaring and pet cat microchipping, which supported our key messages.
YouTube was utilised predominantly as a base for informational videos, to promote key messages such as microchipping pet cats and showcasing our TNVR work. There were 65 videos published throughout the project, with a total number of 75,600 views and 202 active subscribers by the end of the project. The videos uploaded to YouTube were accessed by members of the public throughout the project, not just around the time that they were published, which shows that people are willing to engage with video content. This medium could have been utilised more, particularly as YouTube clips can be shared on social media sites and websites too.
6.6 Other social media
As the project progressed, we adopted other social media channels such as Instagram (@scottishwildcataction) and LinkedIn.
The Instagram account was set up in 2018 as an additional way to publicise the project’s key messages through the use of images. It had 1,876 followers in 2020, which was 8% of the project’s total social media following. A total of 152 images were posted, which also included publicising upcoming talks. We posted images of artwork from Scottish artist Ailsa Black, who donated money to SWA from sales of her Scottish wildcat prints and cards. Although the number of followers increased over time, the content upload decreased mainly due to other priorities taking precedence. As we had already established a good Twitter and Facebook following, these were therefore the most beneficial social media sites to use and that is where our focus lay.
A LinkedIn account was created in late 2017 and by the end of the project it had 363 followers. Although this is our lowest performing social media site, with only 2% of our total social media following, it covers a niche market of like-minded conservationists and environmentally-minded professionals.
7. Outreach
7.1 Education programme
We inherited the Highland Tiger education material. During the course of our work in the PAs, SWA staff created new education material for visits to schools and children’s groups (Annex 6). This was developed in line with the Curriculum for Excellence, with the aim of increasing awareness of the threat to the wildcat and conservation measures needed. Funding, in addition to that from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, was obtained from the Gordon and Ena Baxter Foundation. Towards the end of the project, working with our partners at the RZSS, we commissioned a new education package that would bring together some of the main lessons we have learned and as a legacy for the project.
Over the duration of the project, we ran 16 events for children in our PAs, reaching approximately 1,000 children. We were able to draw on partnership help for some of these. For example, in June 2018, the RZSS Wild About Scotland bus enabled us to engage with around 140 people when we visited Strathpeffer Primary School. We ran a meadow field lesson for children at Leith Hall in collaboration with NTS, which had around 50 participants.
Some of the education material was also made readily available on our website in the education section of the resources page. The new education package, incorporating the latest findings from the project, was available via the RZSS website. The package contained various lesson plans, a PowerPoint presentation introducing the species and topics suitable for primary and secondary level students. Interactive, fun learning activities were available on the following topics;
Ancient Scotland
Compare Scotland's forest cover throughout history and discover Scotland's wildcat references in Scottish history.
Activity: Scottish Clan Crest Badges
Activity: Scottish Forest Cover
Identifying a Wildcat
Explore the key differences between wildcats in Scotland and a domestic cat.
Activity Level 1 and 2: Wildcat or Not?
Activity Level 3 and 4: Wildcat ID
Wildcat Biology
Explore wildcat biology including their habitat, lifestyle and diet.
Activity: Wildcat Habitat
Activity: Wildcat Food Chain
Wildcat Threats
Understand the main threats that wildcats in Scotland are facing.
Activity: Crime Scene
Activity: Family Tree
Wildcat Conservation
Discover the key elements of the wildcat conservation programme.
Activity: Spread the News!
Activity: European Studbook
Scottish Biodiversity (Secondary School Level)
A look into the key concepts of biodiversity focusing on genetics, species and ecosystem diversity. Discover threats to biodiversity and examples of conservation efforts that are happening today.
Activity: Scottish Biodiversity
The education package has since been developed further by RZSS to create a version suitable for the needs of the Saving Wildcats project. This new education package will be available through the RZSS hosted ZOOdle™ Zoo 'Digital Learning Environment'.
7.2 Public talks and other events
7.2.1 Public talks
At the beginning of the project, project officers held public talks in each of the PAs to introduce the project and recruit volunteers. Our high profile meant we were frequently asked to give talks. We prioritised those with catchments that included any of our PAs but gave talks more widely, where opportunities allowed (Annex 7). We gave talks and community updates with local groups, particularly in the PAs, such as to the Huntly Farmers Group and the Boat of Garten community, to update them on our work and answer any questions they may have had. We also engaged with schools and children’s clubs such as the Brownies in Evanton and Insch School Eco Group, promoting the Supercat campaign. For the initial talks, we agreed key messages and, as a team, created presentation slides that could be used in talks. As the project progressed, we had a wealth of material to draw on from camera surveys and TNVR and we incorporated these into talks as they became available.
7.2.2 Events
The SWA team attended a host of events throughout Scotland during the project (Annex 7). We set up stalls at local galas, fetes and Highland Games, and our partners hosted us in their tents at many of the bigger agricultural shows and field sports fairs relevant to our PAs. These included the Scottish Game Fair (Scone), The Highland Game Fair (Moy) and the Black Isle, Keith and Turriff shows. Ahead of the summer events season, we agreed the range of key messages we were to promote, adapting them depending on the likely audiences. We also provided activities at the annual Cairngorms Big Nature Weekend and the 2018 Highland Wildlife Park Family Day. At almost all events, we took at least one of the taxidermy specimen wildcats (see 3.5). Despite the threadbare and sometimes grotesque appearance of some of these specimens (one was donated to us from a small museum after it upset too many children), they were generally very popular with the public. It was evident that some people only came over to our stall at an event to take a closer look. This illustrates the attraction to the public of seeing the ‘real thing’, which might be hard to replace with other objects such as images or models. Other objects that seemed to be popular at these events were camera trap images of wildcats, the 3D printed skulls, our wildcat ID cards and our postcards. However, we found all of the objects we had made were useful, depending on the audience.
7.2.3 Overview
Having a presence at a range of events allowed us to reach additional audiences, promote the work of the project and actively engage with the public on a face-to-face level. This was a valuable engagement tool, but it took up significant Project Officer time during the summer. As the project progressed we were able to draw on some volunteers to help us with this type of work. Attendance was monitored at most events and provided in the Project Manager’s quarterly updates. We attended a total of 145 events, engaging with 8,205 attendees during the project (Annex 7).
7.3 E-newsletter
We created an e-newsletter to provide project updates and information by email to people who signed up to it via our website. The reason behind this was partly to provide updates to people who perhaps did not have social media accounts but still wanted to be kept in the loop with the project’s progress. It could also be used to provide targeted communications to specific groups of people, such as cat owners, schools and volunteers.
We used Campaign Monitor analytics to determine the number of subscribers to our e-newsletter and to inform us whether or not people were engaging with this method of communication.
7.3.1 E-newsletter engagement
The number of people signing up to our e-newsletter increased over the project, reaching over 2,000 subscribers in the first two years. The number of subscribers peaked at 6,194 in September 2019. It then dropped to 5,431 in the same month. However, numbers have been steadily increasing since then and reached 5,745 in February 2020.
Although the number of subscribers gives an initial indication of interest in our newsletter, the engagement levels show how many subscribers actually open the emails and click on the links.
The number of emails opened has risen steadily throughout the project, with pronounced spikes during the #Supercat (see 8.1) and #GenerationWildcat (see 8.2) campaigns. However, the graph clearly shows that as more people subscribed, fewer people actually opened the emails and fewer still clicked any links within the newsletters. The low level of engagement has been somewhat surprising since the newsletter is only sent to people who have opted to receive it. The e-newsletter was therefore not our strongest communication method and did not work out as well as we had anticipated. They usually consisted of blogs which had already been published on our website and social media channels, and the title of the e-newsletter was generally the same as the title of the blog it contained.
As the project progressed, we can only assume that this would have become apparent to subscribers; subscribers would therefore not have opened the newsletter knowing that they had already viewed the content. With this in mind, we could have perhaps created interesting names for the newsletters to catch people’s attention and ensured the newsletters contained new, previously unpublished content. This may have sparked more of an interest with subscribers and increased the readership levels. This approach would have had to be trialled over a period of time to measure its effectiveness; it may simply be that e-newsletters have been superseded by blogs and social media content. However, if it is easily created from existing material, the e-newsletter may yet be a useful additional tool to engage with people who do not use social media and won’t visit the website without prompting.
8. Campaigns
Campaigns were an important method for raising awareness of our project and our key messages. Endorsement from celebrity environmentalists such as Gordon Buchanan also helped to raise the profile of the project. Two of our main campaigns were #Supercat and #GenerationWildcat. We used hashtags to appeal to a younger audience and increase the likelihood of our messages spreading through social media platforms.
8.1 #Supercat campaign
The #Supercat campaign was launched on 28 February 2017 with a press release and the launch of the #Supercat hashtag was led by wildlife filmmaker Gordon Buchanan. SWA partners also helped to promote the launch and marketing materials were distributed for partner-led events during 2017. The campaign was aimed at pet cat owners, promoted responsible ownership and focused on the importance of neutering, vaccinating and microchipping their pets to turn them into Supercats. The tone was colourful and cartoon-based to attract children and young people who had pet cats, so that they would encourage their parents or guardians to ensure their cats were Supercats.
This campaign also highlighted the importance of any cats living within our original six PAs being microchipped, neutered and vaccinated, which would then prevent wildcats and hybrids breeding with them and adding to the already hybridised wildcat population. Further information on the #Supercat campaign is available in the Responsible Cat Ownership report.
8.2 #GenerationWildcat
The #GenerationWildcat campaign was set up in 2017 as an umbrella campaign that provided a more generalised means of disseminating our key messages to our target audiences. It was designed to run in tandem with the Supercat campaign and reach additional key audiences that were not as engaged with the project as their Supercat counterparts. Aligning with some of the partnership’s key messages, the #GenerationWildcat campaign was created to empower the public to get involved with helping to protect the endangered Scottish wildcat. The overarching message for the campaign was that this generation is the last one that can save the wildcat in Scotland.
The target audience included outdoor enthusiasts such as hikers and cyclists, land managers, estate owners, gamekeepers, Scottish crofting and farming communities, the Scottish Government and government ministers.
Key messages of the campaign were:
- We are the last generation with a chance to save the endangered Scottish wildcat (for all audiences)
- Time is running out for Scotland’s wildcats – we must act now (for all audiences)
- You can become part of the #GenerationWildcat movement by reporting any sightings of what you believe are Scottish wildcats (aimed at outdoor enthusiasts and communities within PAs)
- You can become part of the #GenerationWildcat movement by telling us about any un-neutered farm cats (aimed at land managers, estate owners, gamekeepers, farmers and crofters)
- You can become part of the #GenerationWildcat movement by employing wildcat-friendly predator control (aimed at land managers, estate owners, gamekeepers, farmers and crofters)
We issued a press release to local, regional, national and online media announcing the start of the campaign, continuing to raise awareness of #GenerationWildcat by utilising social media to highlight our key messages to the wider public. Posters and leaflets were distributed within the farming community and to landowners, which featured the key messages for this audience. This included a focus on neutering and vaccinating farm cats to prevent the spread of disease to wildcats and reducing hybridisation; and employing wildcat-friendly predator control methods. Our focus for the outdoor community was to raise awareness about wildcat sightings and what they should do if they spotted one. Additional posters and leaflets were designed to encourage outdoor enthusiasts to report any sightings of wildcats through our website or by using the Mammal Tracker app, and we created a handy guide for amateur camera trappers to use. These posters and leaflets were distributed to a range of locations, such as outdoor stores, Ranger Service stations, walking/rambling clubs and Scottish Forestry offices.
We compiled reports on a quarterly basis to analyse media coverage. This was broken down to a national and local level, and evaluated print, online and broadcast coverage. As well as following the coverage on a regular basis, the quarterly reporting allowed us to gauge the media and public interest in the project and to evaluate our communications approach.
This also enabled us to monitor any negative press and improve the way any future issues were handled.
A dedicated #GenerationWildcat page was set up on the website, which received 1,950 views during the project. As well as the main page, separate pages were created to host the relevant information for each of the key audiences. The most accessed page was the main #GenerationWildcat page, which received 36% of views. This page focused on the overall campaign message: “The public, outdoor enthusiasts, farmers, land managers and gamekeepers can all help save the Highland Tiger by being part of #GenerationWildcat” and included a video from Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham, with information on how people can be part of #GenerationWildcat. The other three pages were for outdoor enthusiasts (28% of views), land managers and game keepers (22% of views) and the farming community (14% of views). Each page detailed the different ways each specific group of people could become part of #GenerationWildcat.
It was also important for the #GenerationWildcat movement to have a presence on our social media channels. Incorporating the hashtag in the name enabled it to be easily shared and the use of it monitored across social media. #GenerationWildcat was used in 50 Facebook posts, most of which were posted by us, and it was used in seven posts from other Facebook users. Twitter saw the opposite occur, with the hashtag used in 33 SWA posts, but utilised 42 times by other Twitter users. This is probably due to Facebook and Twitter working in slightly different ways, with hashtags tending to be used more on Twitter than Facebook. Other people and organisations used our hashtag and shared our posts, which enabled our messages to reach additional audiences, and it also helped to increase our number of followers. This was one advantage of working in partnership with other organisations, as well as receiving celebrity endorsement from figures such as Chris Packham and Gordon Buchanan. It proved a valuable technique to utilise on social media in order to increase awareness of the project and our key messages.
9. Press and Broadcast Media
Media coverage was steady throughout the project (Annex 8) and most coverage was positive. However, there was also negative reporting, which will be discussed further in this section.
9.1 Proactive
There we had the capacity, we encouraged journalists to write articles, record interviews with or film the work of our staff and partners. The high profile of the project meant that we had many such requests from the media and were not always able to accommodate these requests. Ahead of working with journalists, we would discuss within the project what we needed to achieve with each piece and the key messages we would like to see in the resulting piece. As a partnership, we agreed a media protocol where partners had 72 hours’ notice and the opportunity to comment on proactive news.
A series of articles was published in the Scottish Farming and Scottish Shooting magazines in 2018 and 2019, specifically aimed at people using the outdoors, gamekeepers, land managers and farmers (see the Land Management report), which promoted key messages from the #GenerationWildcat campaign. The Tigers of Scotland documentary was screened at the 2017 SWA Forum and then featured on Netflix, iTunes and Amazon Prime from late 2018. Tigers of Scotland was a student-led film by Leanne Gater and Alex Stone. While we worked closely with the filmmakers, we did not instigate its creation or lead on it. The documentary proved a huge success and also sparked interest on social media channels. It got many key messages we agree with out to a wider global audience, increased interest in our work and led to further donations to the project. It highlights that investing time in supporting external projects can reap dividends later on. It also shows the importance of moving with the times and embracing modern forms of media, as well as utilising the more traditional methods.
On national television, we worked with the BBC Winterwatch programme in our PAs and at the Highland Wildlife Park, with BBC Countryfile in Strathbogie, and an episode with the BBC 2 series Into the Wild alongside Gordon Buchanan and John Simpson. On national radio, we worked with BBC Radio Scotland’s Brainwaves and with BBC Radio 4 for a programme on the wildcat with the urban birder David Lindo. In the national print media, we featured in an issue of the BBC Wildlife magazine, Your Cat magazine, Country Life magazine and the Scottish Field, to name a few. On a more local level, we wrote articles for the Strathspey and Badenoch Herald and worked closely with the Huntly Advertiser on a number of stories to promote the work carried out by Project Officer Emma Rawling in the Strathbogie PA.
Certain events throughout the project increased media interest, such as the launch of the Supercat campaign, which was picked up by Scottish newspapers such as The Herald and The Scotsman in 2017. Throughout the project, the coverage of wildcat kittens born as part of the breeding programme (and promoted via press releases by the individual captive holders) was covered at a local and national level by broadcast, newspaper and magazine publications such as the BBC, STV, Euro News, Irish News, The Inverness Courier, Ross-shire Journal and Country Living magazine (see Annex 8).
9.2 Reactive media
As a high-profile project, we expected to need to react to news stories about our work that came from external sources. However, we had more of this type of issue to deal with than initially anticipated due to the work of another interest group. The Project Communications Coordinator would coordinate the responses of the project and its partners, responding to a negative article about the project or to a journalist’s request for comment while writing an article.
9.2.1 Dealing with negativity and misinformation
We received negative press from the start of the project in 2015 when another interest group (Scottish Wildcat Haven) claimed SWA and our partner RZSS were shooting cats. In reality, neither SWA nor RZSS were shooting cats and had never had any plans to do so. The accusations arose from the possibly deliberate misreading of the details of a licence granted by NatureScot to RZSS to enable them to obtain wildcats from gamekeepers on independent estates in Scotland. The details of this licence described a method for dispatch of any feral cats (a non-native species) caught in a trap set for a wildcat by a gamekeeper. The killing of feral cats by gamekeepers is legal and normal practice during predator control. SWA staff and vets working with the project never euthanised trapped cats, other than on welfare grounds, and never promoted the lethal control of feral cats as a management tool.
As a result of these accusations, there was a large public backlash and the partnership therefore issued statements to the media along with blogs published on our website and social media channels re-asserting our work and methods used towards wildcat conservation. Despite rebuttals, we experienced increased opposition to our work on the ground conducting TNVR, due to a continuing perception that we were shooting cats.
SWA and our partner organisation Forestry and Land Scotland were later targeted by a campaign against ‘logging’ in Clashindarroch. ‘Logging’ is quite an emotive term that creates an image of the cutting down of native old-growth forest. In reality, Clashindarroch is an artificially planted commercial forest with non-native Sitka spruce forming the majority of the planted trees. Ongoing plantation rotational felling work was being carried out in the forest, where SWA had established the presence of wildcats (as defined by pelage). Again, we issued statements and blogs rebutting the accusations. However, we were not able to completely nullify the damage to the project. Further discussion on the work carried out in Clashindarroch and other FLS-managed forest is available in the Land Management report.
In both these situations, our partnership working played against us as it slowed our response to the accusations and allowed the misinformation to spread more widely. However, even with a very rapid response, it is unlikely that we could nullify such misinformation: “If a lie be believed only for an hour, it has done its work, and there is no farther occasion for it.” (Jonathan Swift, 1710).
Curiously, following the public rebuttal against accusations that we killed cats, we received a smaller scale backlash on social media because we weren’t killing cats. Many members of the public believe that returning neutered feral cats and hybrids back into the wild after trapping (for which we require a licence) causes more harm than good, with neutered cats competing with wildcats for food and dens. This highlights the diverse opinions on the subject and illustrates that there is no easy communications ‘win’ to be had from emotive subjects such as the management of an animal that can be both wild and a pet.
The project ended on 30 March 2020. Towards the end of this period, we received a recurrence of the same negative messages regarding shooting cats and logging in Clashindarroch woods. However, negative communications from members of the public and media were minimal. Some of our social media followers sent us direct messages to alert us to the negative information published about our project. This showed that we have built up a positive relationship with the public and our key messages are clear and robust enough to withstand contentious situations.
Establishing a clear communications protocol has enabled the project staff to respond effectively and cohesively to negative publicity and cases of misinformation, whether that be through the media or on social media sites. This proved more challenging at the outset of the project before the partnership had agreed a protocol to deal with negative publicity and misinformation. Lessons learned from this occurrence meant that a protocol was established enabling the partnership to respond more rapidly and robustly to any further negative situations. As a partnership, it is unlikely we could ever respond as quickly as a small independent organisation and this may be one of the weaknesses of partnerships for communications. However, we found huge benefits to partnership working that more than outweighed this. For example, we were able to draw on the expertise within the partnership in subjects such as genetics, disease, wildcat ecology and land management to hone our messages and ensure that the communications we put out were of the highest factual standard, invoking the latest science and best practice.
10. In Reflection
Our communications were effective and met the Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Plan and the funding application points set out by the National Lottery Heritage Fund at the start of the project.
Within the Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Plan, in our outreach work we developed and implemented a national communications plan to support conservation actions and developed the #Supercat campaign to promote responsible cat ownership and the more generalised #GenerationWildcat umbrella campaign to promote how the public could contribute to wildcat conservation. The communications plan also supported our work with key stakeholders such as land managers, volunteers and cat owners. For example, with the responsible cat ownership and management of feral domestic cats, we promoted the responsibilities that go with domestic cat ownership and also targeted public awareness with regards to cat health and neutering to communities in the PAs.
We met the following as agreed with our key funders at the National Lottery Heritage Fund:
- We engaged the wider general public with wildcat conservation issues, through a Scotland-wide media campaign including a dedicated project website, social media presence and blog, public presentations, broadcast media, articles and attendance at public shows and events.
- We collaborated with an already established smart phone app, Mammal Tracker, to identify and record wildcat sightings. Once verified as correct, submissions through the app were available on the SWA website at a 2km resolution.
- We delivered education and developed an education programme in the six PAs. Teachers and schools were consulted on the development of learning materials and activities, which included a design competition, a domestic cat census and scoring camera trap images.
There have been some communications challenges, lessons learned and highlights along the way. On the whole, response to the project’s communications has been positive and well-received. We carried out a multi-faceted approach to our communications work and our procedures ensured that any challenges were effectively and robustly handled to minimise negative impact and spread of misinformation.
Taking on board relevant findings from published reports and surveys conducted out-with the project is another useful method for measuring the effectiveness of communications. A survey of 1313 people who owned a total of 2539 cats was conducted in 2017 (Bacon, 2017), which found that midway through the project, cat owners who lived in or near the PAs were aware of SWA and the potential for wildcats to be present in the area. Most people surveyed were in favour of TNVR techniques and were also aware of the threats to wildcats. This information was utilised to continue publicising our key messages through the #Supercat campaign and #GenerationWildcat movement, along with carrying out TNVR work during each year of the project (see the Trap Neuter Vaccinate Return Programme report). The IUCN report stated that our outreach in addressing the general public and other specific groups was impressive (Breitenmoser, et al. 2019, p.53). The Scottish Nature Omnibus 2019 (Granville 2020, p. 4-6) highlighted that members of the public ranked the wildcat as the third wildlife species most associated with Scotland. The wildcat was also the species that members of the public were most concerned about in both the 2017 and 2019 surveys. These examples could be observed as a good indication that we have been successful in communicating the project’s key messages to, and engaging with, members of the public during this project.
Wildcats are charismatic and closely related to one of the most popular companion animals both in Scotland and many other parts of the world. Therefore creating popular attention-grabbing communications on the subject of wildcat conservation is not as difficult as for some other conservation subjects. This popularity, combined with the risks pet cats represent to wildcats and the various ways of managing feral cats by the project and by land managers, can also make the subject controversial and highly emotive. Balancing the conflicting attitudes and aims of communications will be an ongoing challenge for future projects. For some subjects, such as responsible cat ownership, our communications outputs may have contributed towards a shift in attitude with the wider public. For other subjects, such as feral cat management, the messages have been mixed and attitudes entrenched, so that discussions on the subject remain difficult. We also struggled with a clear definition of what a wildcat is. Both these latter subjects will need addressing in future projects.
One of our key strengths in terms of communications was the collaborative approach we took in getting our message out to the public. Employing a full-time Communications Officer for the project was instrumental in this. We worked with a range of media outlets, production companies, journalists and students to create material and we were able to draw on project staff, volunteers and partners to help. We would like to thank these volunteers, staff and partners for their invaluable contribution to the communications work throughout this project. Their contributions include, but are not limited to, providing updates on their work with the project which we then published via blogs; providing images and videos for the media, social media posts and our website; enabling us to publish factual and scientific information on our website and social media channels; volunteering their time to help out at events and public talks.
11. References
Bacon, A. 2017. Responsible Cat Ownership Attitudes and Behaviours in the Context of Scottish wildcat (Felis silvestris) Conservation.
Breitenmoser, U., Lanz T., & Breitenmoser-Würsten, C. 2019. Conservation of the wildcat (Felis silvestris) in Scotland: Review of the conservation status and assessment of conservation activities.
Granville, S. 2020. The Scottish Nature Omnibus 2019. Scottish Natural Heritage Research Report No. 1198.
Annexes
Annex 1: Audience, key messages and outcomes as identified ahead of the project.
Audience |
Key Message |
Outcome |
---|---|---|
Local communities in the priority areas and local communities in the Highlands |
Your area is important for Scottish wildcats and you can help! |
People in the priority areas will learn more about wildcats and will be motivated to get involved in their conservation, from cat owners having their pets neutered to the wider public reporting wildcat sightings. Local people will recognise the value of their local area as wildcat habitat. |
School children |
Scottish wildcats are in need of urgent help and we need your help to save them |
Young people will learn more about wildcats, understand how they can help them and want to contribute to wildcat conservation. People in the priority areas will feel that wildcats are a special feature of their area that they feel proud of and want to conserve. This will persist after the project is finished, inspiring the next generation of volunteers and supporters. |
Students in Further and Higher Education |
You can help to save the Scottish wildcat by volunteering with our project, and can gain valuable experience at the same time. |
As with the schools audience, young people will learn more about wildcats and want to take action to help conserve them. In addition, volunteers recruited during the five years of the project will be given all the necessary skills and training to continue conservation activities once the project has come to an end. |
Estates, land managers, gamekeepers and farmers |
You can help to conserve Scottish wildcats and your estate can become important for their recovery |
Wildcat-friendly predator control becomes widely adopted and incorporated into land managers/ gamekeepers’ training. Knowledge of and support for wildcat conservation increases, and the key role estates and land managers play in the conservation of the species is more widely recognised. Estate staff/keepers become involved in wildcat monitoring programmes. |
Cat owners in priority areas |
Scottish wildcats are in trouble and you and your cat can help |
Awareness of the impact that domestic and feral cats can have on wildcats increases, with responsible cat ownership becoming the norm in wildcat priority areas. People accept the need to manage feral cat populations and seek to eradicate behaviours that contribute to their persistence. People in priority wildcat areas understand the implications of owning a cat. |
Vets and animal health care providers |
Vets have a key role to play in wildcat conservation by encouraging responsible cat ownership |
Vets will promote the benefits of responsible domestic cat ownership and TNVR of ‘unowned’ cats, both for wildcat conservation and animal welfare reasons. Wildcat conservation messages will spread widely amongst pet owners, veterinary and animal welfare professionals, with responsible cat ownership becoming the norm in priority areas long after the project has finished. |
Volunteers |
You can help conserve your local wildcats by becoming a Wildcat Action volunteer |
During the project, a team of dedicated and committed volunteers are recruited from different backgrounds (animal welfare and conservation) and through different partner organisations. These volunteers will help monitor wildcat populations and help to control the spread of feral cats through TNVR. Once the project has concluded, the partnerships that have been established will hopefully persist, supporting wildcat conservation in the long-term. |
Annex 2: Communications tools and activities used by the project.
Communications tool / activities |
Purpose |
---|---|
Logo |
Our logo provides a consistent brand to allow easy identification of our work. |
Website |
A focal point online that people can visit to learn about wildcats, learn more about the work of the project and discover ways they can help wildcat conservation – whether it is volunteering, participating in a campaign or report cat sightings. |
Wildcat ID and recording app |
To allow easier reporting of cat sightings that help us target wildcat conservation and TNVR. |
Social media |
Engage with the public and a way for the public to keep track of the latest news on our work. |
Wildcat mascot |
To encourage more engagement with children, resulting in closer involvement. |
Leaflets and posters |
Simple advice on key issues such as responsible cat ownership. |
Branded clothing |
Staff and volunteers have a sense of identity, are readily identified by people in priority areas and the project brand is identified with conservation in the areas. |
Display material |
Strong and simple material to showcase our work and educate. |
Merchandise |
Members of the public can show their support for (and engagement with) Scottish Wildcat Action – brand identity is easily understood and widespread in target areas. |
Education programme |
To promote key messages to a younger audience in priority areas, and by extension their families. |
Attendance at agricultural shows and other events |
To ensure the project staff and volunteers and our conservation activities are clearly visible and easy to approach. |
Annex 3: Top Facebook Posts
This annex details the top Facebook posts for each year of the project, which have been categorised as top ‘reached’ post (number of people who have viewed the post) and top ‘engagement’ post (number of people who have liked, commented and shared the post).
Annex 4: Top Twitter Posts
This annex details the top Twitter posts for each year of the project, which have been categorised as top ‘impressions’ (number of people who have viewed the tweet) and top ‘engagements’ (number of people who have liked, commented and re-tweeted).
2015 Top Impressions Post: 1 September 2015 – 8,754 impressions – Unable to obtain any further data due to analytical limitations.
2016 Top Impressions Post: 27 January 2016 - 26,730 impressions - Unable to obtain any further data due to analytical limitations.
2017 Top Impressions Post – 4 October 2017 - 18,308 impressions:
2018 Top Impressions Post – 22 June 2018 - 56,276 impressions:
2019 Top Impressions Post – 23 May 2019 - 65,685 impressions:
2020 Top Impressions Post – 1 January 2020 - 54,284 impressions - The project ran until March 2020, so the top post for 2020 has been taken from the period covering January to March:
2015 Top Engagements Post - Unable to obtain any further data due to analytical limitations.
2016 Top Engagements Post - Unable to obtain any further data due to analytical limitations.
2017 Top Engagements Post - Unable to obtain any further data due to analytical limitations.
2018 Top Engagements Post – 22 June 2018 – 1,611 Engagements:
2019 Top Engagements Post – 2 April 2019 – 1,827 Engagements:
2020 Top Engagements Post – 17 February 2020 – 2,714 Engagements:
Annex 5: List of Blogs Published
A version of this table is available at the bottom of this report.
Date |
Blog Name |
Number of Views (to 31st Mar 2020) |
06-Aug-2015 |
The glamorous assistant: an event round-up |
193 |
13-Aug-2015 |
Here Kitty Kitty…curiosity saves the cat |
358 |
20-Aug-2015 |
Wildcats are go! Green light for Scottish Wildcat Action |
163 |
27-Aug-2015 |
Have you seen this cat? Six wildcat priority areas to watch out for |
1,278 |
01-Sep-2015 |
NEWS: William the wildcat spotted at Scottish Parliament |
216 |
10-Sep-2015 |
Breeding for release: the wildcat insurance policy |
346 |
17-Sep-2015 |
Scottish wildcat seeks loving female |
996 |
21-Sep-2015 |
NEWS: Scottish wildcats threatened by feline form of HIV, study finds |
283 |
24-Sep-2015 |
Stealing the show – camera monitoring for Scottish wildcats starts soon |
244 |
01-Oct-2015 |
Scottish Wildcat Action – why we are trying to save the Scottish wildcat |
541 |
15-Oct-2015 |
On the hunt for Scottish wildcats: A day in the life of a project officer |
731 |
22-Oct-2015 |
It’s official! Angus Glens has most Scottish wildcats, says Hebe Carus |
1589 |
29-Oct-2015 |
Monitoring for Scottish wildcats in Morvern: from deadly diseases to fertile ferals |
800 |
05-Nov-2015 |
In search of a stripy needle: renowned wildlife photographer, Peter Cairns, talks about his experience with Scottish wildcats |
832 |
12-Nov-2015 |
Breeding and the Scottish wildcat studbook: update from RZSS cat conservation officer, David Barclay |
643 |
19-Nov-2015 |
Working with vets to save Scottish wildcats: an update from Project Officer, Emma Rawling |
570 |
26-Nov-2015 |
Volunteering to save the Scottish wildcat: from photography to fundraising |
1,088 |
03-Dec-2015 |
The Vet’s Tale of Scottish wildcats |
564 |
10-Dec-2015 |
Scottish Wildcat Action in North Strathspey is GO! |
515 |
17-Dec-2015 |
Wildcat Christmas dinner – a partridge in a pear tree? |
585 |
21-Jan-2016 |
Better the ferals you know – first images released from wildcat cameras |
975 |
22-Jan-2016 |
Largest ever survey of Scottish wildcats commences |
1,213 |
28-Jan-2016 |
Dr Kitchener on how to identify a Scottish wildcat |
957 |
04-Feb-2016 |
Life as a volunteer for Scottish Wildcat Action |
709 |
05-Feb-2016 |
NEWS: Possible Scottish wildcat found in Angus Glens |
705 |
11-Feb-2016 |
Heroes of the Angus Glens – Scottish Wildcat Action face the wettest winter on record |
308 |
18-Feb-2016 |
Scottish wildcat breeding programme – what, where and when? |
1,880* |
25-Feb-2016 |
Thinking like a Scottish wildcat |
365 |
04-Mar-2016 |
All in a name? Should Scottish wildcats be called woodcats or bar-tailed cats instead? |
611 |
10-Mar-2016 |
Trail camera visitors and some unusual antics |
768 |
24-Mar-2016 |
How volunteering helped me find my dream job |
454 |
31-Mar-2016 |
Talking about wildcats – Biodiversity Champions back cats in Aberdeenshire |
523 |
31-Mar-2016 |
Ghostly wildcats in Wester Ross? |
283 |
12-Apr-2016 |
A statement from Scottish Wildcat Action |
1,530 |
21-Apr-2016 |
The journey of last year’s litter of Scottish wildcat kittens |
840 |
12-May-2016 |
The Highland Tiger Fling – raising money for Scottish wildcats |
632 |
26-May-2016 |
Scottish Wildcat Action – Delivering a partnership project |
499 |
01-Jun-2016 |
Celebrating Volunteers Week |
256 |
08-Jun-2016 |
Local event raises over £1000 for Scottish wildcats |
522 |
30-Jun-2016 |
The unexpected visitor – Scottish wildcat found in fox cage trap |
183 |
08-Jun-2016 |
Looking for Scottish wildcats |
3,066*† |
15-Jul-2016 |
NEWS: Chester Zoo carnivore experts breed Britain’s rarest mammal, the Scottish wildcat |
260 |
05-Aug-2016 |
NEWS: Scottish wildcats are out there |
2,378* |
18-Aug-2016 |
NEWS: Scottish wildcats – next phase of official action plan to tackle threats |
248 |
19-Aug-2016 |
How do you protect the best and neuter the rest? |
198 |
24-Aug-2016 |
NEWS: Minister gives seal of approval for Scottish Wildcat Action project |
445 |
30-Aug-2016 |
NEWS: Pharmaceutical company helps vets in wildcat priority areas |
76 |
02-Sep-2016 |
Have you seen a Scottish wildcat, hybrid or feral? |
2,841* |
02-Sep-2016 |
NEWS: New app used to track down Scottish wildcats |
430 |
08-Sep-2016 |
Scottish wildcat kittens are out and about |
358 |
16-Sep-2016 |
Cat Conservation Officer talks about his career |
187 |
23-Sep-2016 |
A wonderful wildcat experience |
443 |
30-Sep-2016 |
My back garden is a hybrid haven |
721 |
07-Oct-2016 |
Post-mortem of a hybrid cat – how research informs wildcat conservation |
256 |
14-Oct-2016 |
Thinking inside the box – camera-trapping Scottish wildcat prey |
1,501 |
28-Oct-2016 |
Top 10 facts about Scottish wildcats |
10,648*† |
03-Nov-2016 |
Kittens cause conundrum for Scottish Wildcat Action |
586 |
04-Nov-2016 |
Farm cats neutered and vaccinated in bid to save Scottish wildcats |
384 |
11-Nov-2016 |
Wildcat manager gets his pet microchipped to help conservation efforts |
198 |
11-Nov-2016 |
Interview with the Chair of Scottish Wildcat Action |
117 |
12-Nov-2016 |
Tips for staff and volunteers on creating video |
210 |
18-Nov-2016 |
Cat owner competition could help Scottish wildcats |
380 |
02-Dec-2016 |
Scottish wildcat conservation breeding for release a lifeline for the species? |
1,755* |
02-Dec-2016 |
NEWS: Students give wildcats a helping hand |
229 |
09-Dec-2016 |
Making dens – being a wildcat volunteer for a day |
304 |
11-Dec-2016 |
Highland Council Countryside Ranger helps with important wildcat conservation |
277 |
16-Dec-2016 |
BBC Countryfile presenter, Joe Crowley, talks about his day with Scottish Wildcat Action |
362 |
09-Jan-2017 |
NEWS: National Trust for Scotland finds cats at two sites |
410 |
13-Jan-2017 |
Female Scottish wildcat moves house |
772 |
20-Jan-2017 |
Farming with Highland tigers |
428 |
27-Jan-2017 |
Why become a Trap Neuter Vaccinate Return volunteer? |
366 |
01-Feb-2017 |
Morvern wildcat survey reveals some familiar feline faces |
993 |
10-Feb-2017 |
Neutering feral cats in the Angus Glens to help Scottish wildcats |
361 |
18-Feb-2017 |
Catching Bobby – Saving Scottish wildcats |
241 |
28-Feb-2017 |
NEWS: “Supercats” can save the day for Scottish wildcats |
311 |
03-Mar-2017 |
Some land managers are the cat’s whiskers – Sharing Good Practice with Scottish Wildcat Action |
173 |
17-Mar-2017 |
Shooting Scottish wildcats |
835 |
24-Mar-2017 |
My top 10 tips on how to camera-trap for cats |
941 |
31-Mar-2017 |
Painting of a Scottish wildcat |
314 |
14-Apr-2017 |
Being run over, shot and dying from disease – university research helps us save Scottish wildcats |
458 |
26-May-2017 |
Phew, that’s another winter done! |
545 |
28-Apr-2017 |
Getting started with camera traps |
514 |
26-May-2017 |
Top 10 blunders with camera-trapping and how to avoid |
424 |
30-Jun-2017 |
How to find the Scottish wildcat |
3,545*† |
03-Jul-2017 |
It’s not a hard life being a Supercat |
133 |
21-Jul-2017 |
Our project officers never poo poo reports of cat scat |
1,243 |
27-Jul-2017 |
Possible wildcat kitten found in Strathbogie Priority Area |
857 |
30-Jul-2017 |
Celebrating TNVR success in Strathbogie Wildcat Priority Area |
163 |
10-Aug-2017 |
More than 100 cats trapped in fight to save endangered Scottish wildcats |
1,027 |
10-Aug-2017 |
Results from our largest ever trail camera survey in the Morvern Wildcat Priority Area |
178 |
17-Aug-2017 |
Scottish Wildcat Action responds to unfair criticism from Wildcat Haven |
1,748 |
18-Aug-2017 |
SWA to work in the five areas which are of most benefit to Scottish wildcat preservation |
373 |
04-Sep-2017 |
Scottish wildcat conservation breeding programme not just a numbers game |
997 |
08-Sep-2017 |
Emma’s working day and night to protect wildcats in Aberdeenshire |
259 |
13-Sep-2017 |
Biker Trove – Dutch riders donate to Scottish Wildcat Action |
87 |
27-Sep-2017 |
Living with wildcats – a forester’s view |
413 |
03-Oct-2017 |
A hair’s breadth away from the perfect sampling solution – a volunteer’s story |
186 |
12-Oct-2017 |
Where are we in the wildcat’s annual life cycle |
556 |
19-Oct-2017 |
The devil’s in the detail when it comes to pelage scoring wildcats – Andrew Kitchener |
232 |
25-Oct-2017 |
A tail of two kitties – a look at domestic cats and Scottish wildcats |
3,145*† |
31-Oct-2017 |
Scottish Wildcat Action - Meet our team |
943 |
08-Nov-2017 |
Meet the SWA Steering Group chairman Allan Bantick OBE |
223 |
16-Nov-2017 |
SWA volunteer reveals she’s “addicted to camera trapping” |
284 |
23-Nov-2017 |
Crisis Communications – My move from emergency services to a wildlife emergency |
159 |
01-Dec-2017 |
Researching and writing the Scottish Wildcat with Chris Clegg |
303 |
05-Dec-2017 |
SWA partners waving the flag for Scottish wildcats at international conservation conference |
131 |
08-Dec-2017 |
WildCRU’s Dr Kerry Kilshaw on her work to plug the wildcat knowledge gaps |
494 |
27-Dec-2017 |
Artist paints a brighter picture for endangered wildcat with new partnership with SWA |
283 |
11-Jan-2018 |
Walking in a wildcat wonderland – Comms reviews of a day in the field |
544 |
16-Jan-2018 |
Crucial winter work to help save the Scottish wildcat – a look at SWA’s work over winter |
347 |
18-Jan-2018 |
Exciting find in Strathspey – wildcat tracks and a blog from Dr Keri Langridge |
789 |
22-Jan-2018 |
‘The Clash’ – SWA and Forestry Commission Scotland answering wildcat calling in Strathbogie |
1,131 |
23-Jan-2018 |
Curiosity found the wildcat – blog with volunteer Ana Luisa Barros |
760 |
01-Feb-2018 |
Meet another of our volunteers, Lara Semple |
342 |
07-Feb-2018 |
More than 100 volunteers out this winter helping save the Scottish Wildcat |
255 |
13-Feb-2018 |
When you go down to the woods today you may or may not be surprised – blog on camera trapping, how the public identify a trapping site and our new wildcat camera trapping leaflet |
331 |
22-Feb-2018 |
The winter’s not over yet, neither is SWA’s hard work |
226 |
08-Mar-2018 |
Wildcat bootcamp – latest blog from Portuguese volunteer Ana Luisa Barros |
154 |
22-Mar-2018 |
Volunteer and NatureScot ecologist Phil Baarda talks camera-trapping and helping SWA |
175 |
03-Apr-2018 |
Local councillors step up as Scottish wildcat champions |
66 |
05-Apr-2018 |
Wildcats in the snow – Project Officer Emma Rawling’s winter 2018 |
351 |
12-Apr-2018 |
Bingeing badgers and wandering wildcats – exciting update from our Portuguese volunteer Ana-Luisa |
196 |
17-Apr-2018 |
SWA report theft and vandalism of conservation equipment to police |
612 |
20-Apr-2018 |
A forester’s life with Strathbogie volunteer Norman Davidson |
345 |
26-Apr-2018 |
Thank you to our supporters and warning about misleading internet address |
683 |
04-May-2018 |
Valerian helps conservationists get to the root of the baiting game |
435 |
18-May-2018 |
The work we are doing at Clashindarroch Forest – the facts |
4,309*† |
04-Jun-2018 |
Huge praise for SWA supporters who raised £1110 at Highland Tiger Fling 2018 |
132 |
22-Jun-2018 |
Be proud to be part of #GenerationWildcat – we’re their last chance |
731 |
09-Jul-2018 |
Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham backs launch of #GenerationWildcat campaign |
111 |
18-Jul-2018 |
It’s kitten time again – but what should you do if you find wildcat kittens alone? |
1,385† |
24-Jul-2018 |
Meet Deery – our 200th cat to have been Trapped, Neutered, Vaccinated and Returned (TNVR) |
667 |
07-Sep-2018 |
Caution! Young wildcats crossing |
935 |
25-Oct-2018 |
The sex lives of cats |
757 |
10-Dec-2018 |
The day my parents caught a real Scottish wildcat |
947 |
07-Jan-2019 |
What is a wildcat? |
1380 |
24-Jan-2019 |
The cat-ematics of colony TNVR (Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, Return) to protect Scottish wildcats |
466 |
27-Feb-2019 |
New international report sets out how Scottish wildcats can be saved from extinction |
2,701*† |
29-Mar-2019 |
SWA welcomes new Steering Group Chariman Dr Andrew Kitchener |
139 |
12-Apr-2019 |
Purr-formance and cocktails for French bartender going for a ‘chat’ at world competition glory |
125 |
23-Apr-2019 |
Abstract peek at popular Scottish artist’s latest wildcat work |
210 |
31-May-2019 |
Felis silves-trip |
463 |
13-Dec-2019 |
Wildcats take another step forward |
1,020† |
20-Dec-2019 |
Could you spot a wildcat? |
552† |
TOTAL views |
99,370 |
* Top 10 blogs by number of page views (not corrected for time)
†Top 10 blogs by page views per day from publication to 31 Mar 2020
Annex 6: Education
Example of a lesson plan and material for young children aged 5-7 years.
Materials in event box:
Stuffed wildcat
Wildcat and domestic cat skulls
Wildcat paw print
Fake wildcat poo
Wildcat diet (rabbit in a tin and cat food tin)
Photos of scratch marks, food remains, den sites
Postcards
Posters
Photos of GPS tracks
Camera trap
Camera trap images
Map of Priority Areas
Additional:
Blank wildcat colouring in sheets
Wildcat ID sheets
Wildcat Or Not sheets
Stickers
Colouring pencils
Lesson plan
Hello and introduction
What is a Scottish Wildcat, and has anyone ever seen one?
Is it the same as a pet cat?
What do they eat and where do they live?
Why are we worried about them?
What are we doing to try and save them?
Learning outcome: they know what a Scottish wildcat looks like, and that it is not the same as a pet cat. They know there are not many wildcats left because they don’t have much room to live, they have less food, they get hit by cars, and they breed with pet cats to make cats that are not wildcats. They know that pet cats should have a simple operation when they are young to make sure they can’t have kittens, as this will stop them having kittens with wildcats and also mean there aren’t too many kittens born without homes.
Annex 7: Outreach/Events
All outreach, including talks, attendance at events and training to volunteers and professionals. Note that some outreach prior to March 2016 was not recorded: A version of this table is available at the bottom of this report.
Date |
Event |
Number of Attendees |
28/05/2015 |
Wildcat Forum |
Approx. 50 |
07/08/2015 |
Scottish Game Fair at Scone – host SGA |
Approx 50 visited |
15/11/2015 |
Volunteer survey training – Angus Glens |
19 |
24/11/2015 |
SRUC staff development day |
26 |
05/12/2015 |
Volunteer survey training – Strathspey |
19 |
09/02/2016 |
Talk to Highland Council Rangers Service |
22 |
06/03/2016 |
Guided walk at Greenmyres Community Woodlands open day |
12 |
09/03/2016 |
Talk to Edinburgh University Zoological Society |
- |
17/03/2016 |
Talk to Scottish Wildlife Trust Aberdeen Group / North East Nature Network |
60 |
19/03/2016 |
Presentation at North East Scotland Biological Records Forum |
Approx. 90 |
19/03/2016 |
Talk to HPCLT – Dùn Coillich Project |
30 |
21/03/2016 |
Talk to Evanton Rainbows, Brownies and Guides |
45 children and 9 adults |
23/03/2016 |
Presentations at Aberdeenshire Council Partnership Biodiversity Champions Launch |
Approx. 90 |
23/03/2016 |
Talk to Inverness Field Club |
19 |
08-10/04/2016 |
Presentation at the Mammal Society Easter Conference |
Approx. 120 |
03/04/2016 |
Volunteer and stakeholder survey feedback – Strathbogie |
40 |
10/04/2016 |
Talk to Dingwall British Legion |
95 |
16/04/2016 |
Presentation and stall at the Highland Wildlife Fair. With Clare Sevar (vol). |
60 people attended presentation and others at stall. |
20/04/2016 |
Talk to Marybank Primary School, with Clare Sevar |
40 children |
21/04/2016 |
Talk to Contin Women’s Institute |
|
21/04/2016 |
Volunteer and stakeholder survey feedback – Strathavon |
32 |
26/04/2016 |
Daffodil Tea at Foulis Estate, with Clare Sevar |
150 people engaged |
27/04/2016 |
Talk to RSPB Highland |
26 |
28/04/2016 |
Loan of trail cameras and provision of wildcat tracking info to support Glenlivet Ranger Service’s Junior Ranger Week |
- |
14/05/2016 |
Cairngorm Nature Festival, two guided walks |
12 people, 2 of which offered to volunteer |
15/05/2016 |
Cairngorm Nature Festival, stall at Tomintoul Museum |
50 |
23/05/2016 |
Volunteer and stakeholder survey feedback – Strathspey |
20 |
25/05/2016 |
Scottish Land & Estates Spring Conference |
Approx. 120 delegates |
26/05/2016 |
Volunteer and stakeholder survey feedback – Angus Glens |
20 |
04/06/2016 |
Highland Tiger Fling fundraiser |
50 people, raised £1,100 |
04/06/2016 |
TNVR volunteer training – Strathbogie |
4 |
16/06/2016 |
TNVR volunteer training – Strathavon |
- |
16/07/2016 |
Tomintoul Highland Games |
Approx. 150 people visited the SWA stand |
24/07/2016 |
Public presentation at SWT (Scottish Wildlife Trust) Loch of the Lowes |
38 |
31/07/16-01/08/16 |
Turriff Show – hosted by partner |
Approx. 400 people visited the SWA stand |
04/08/2016 |
Black Isle Show – hosted by partner |
Approx. 200 people visited the SWA stand |
07/08/2016 |
Keith Show – hosted by partner |
Approx. 220 people visited the SWA stand |
11/08/2016 |
Granton Show |
Approx. 110 people visited the SWA stand |
17/08/2016 |
TNVR volunteer training – Strathbogie |
10 |
20/08/2016 |
Rhynie Gala |
Approx. 80 people visited the SWA stand |
30/08/2016 |
Talk for Muir of Ord Trefoil Guild |
26 people |
09/2016 |
TNVR volunteer training field sessions x3 – Strathbogie |
8 |
29/09/2016 |
Brownies Evanton |
25 |
29/09/2016 |
Volunteer survey training – Strathpeffer |
6 |
06/10/2016 |
Marybank School talk |
Approx. 40 |
07/10/2016 |
Talk for Glenurquart local group |
Approx. 30 |
11/10/2016 |
Volunteer training for TNVR – Strathspey |
8 |
03/11/2016 |
Talks for Strathpeffer Primary |
200 |
08/11/2016 |
Wilderness Foundation Youth Group talk |
17 |
09/11/2016 |
SWA Forum |
57 |
12/11/2016 |
NTS Guided wildcat walk |
16 |
15/11/2016 |
Talk for Huntly Farmers Group |
25 |
24/11/2016 |
NESBREC (North East Scotland Biological Records Centre) Wildcat course |
25 |
02/12/2016 |
Volunteer survey briefing – Strathavon |
12 |
03/12/2016 |
Volunteer survey briefing – Strathbogie |
32 |
12/12/2016 |
Volunteer training for TNVR – Strathspey |
4 |
20/01/2017 |
Edinburgh Napier University talk |
45 |
09/02/2017 |
Talk for HC Ranger service |
22 |
23/02/2017 |
Liverpool John Moores University talk for students |
60 |
06/03/2017 |
Huntly Rotary Club talk |
21 |
15/03/2017 |
Inverness SWT talk |
30 |
20/03/2017 |
Glasgow SWT talk |
30 |
21/03/2017 |
Huntly Field Club talk |
20 |
23/03/2017 |
Talk for Inverness Field Club |
19 |
31/03/2017 |
Aberdeenshire Biodiversity Event |
60 |
10/04/2017 |
Dingwall British Legion |
95 |
27/04/2017 |
RSPB Highland |
26 |
10/04/2017 |
Dingwall British Legion – public talk |
95 |
27/04/2017 |
RSPB Highland – public talk |
26 |
29/04/2017 |
Strathbogie Wildcat News Event – volunteer/stakeholder meeting |
50 |
13/05/2017 |
Cairngorms Nature Festival guided walk and stall combined with wildcat news for volunteers – public talk |
35 |
25/05/2017 |
Strathpeffer wildcat evening – public talk |
89 |
13/06/2017 |
Edinburgh RZSS Education team talk – training event |
30 |
13/06/2017 |
Talk Edinburgh Zoo – public talk |
40 |
21/07/2017 |
Deveron Arts Association Lunch |
20 |
28/07/2017 |
Aberdeen JHI (James Hutton Institute) Bioblitz |
150 |
30-31/07/2017 |
Turriff Show hosted by SLE |
300 |
05/08/2017 |
Moy Game Fair hosted by SLE |
50 |
07/08/2017 |
Keith Show hosted by FCS |
200 |
10/08/2017 |
Grantown Show |
- |
16/09/2017 |
Bennachie Centre volunteer group |
12 |
27/09/2017 |
Talk, Huntly - general to church group |
23 |
03/10/2017 |
Turriff U3a group talk |
35 |
09/10/2017 |
Lothian and Borders Mammal Group |
40 |
10/10/2017 |
Biodiversity Conference, Edinburgh (presentation) |
80 |
19/10/2017 |
RZSS Education day, stall, Highland Wildlife Park |
200 |
23/10/2017 |
Statslife presentation (Royal Statistical Society) |
30 |
08/11/2017 |
Scottish Countryside Rangers Association research talk |
38 |
09/11/2017 |
Wildcat Forum |
39 |
11/11/2017 |
Strathbogie volunteers autumn gathering, talk |
60 |
14/11/2017 |
Huntly Probus Club, talk |
32 |
18/11/2017 |
Donside Camera Club fundraiser |
50 |
19/11/2017 |
Glenlivet wildlife group camera trap and wildcat training |
4 |
24/11/2017 |
Vet farmers gathering, Strathbogie, display and meet/greet |
60 |
30/11/2017 |
Volunteers TNVR training day, Strathpeffer |
6 |
06/12/2017 |
Angus Glens volunteer event |
35 |
07/12/2017 |
Angus Glens den building event run by FCS |
18 |
30/12/2017 |
TNVR volunteer training – Strathpeffer |
6 |
19/01/2018 |
Lochaline pre-survey talk |
25 |
26/01/2018 |
Aberdeen University Students |
12 |
01/02/2018 |
Strathpeffer P7s - camera monitoring |
20 |
05/02/2018 |
Rainbows/Brownies Evanton |
12 |
08/02/2018 |
Moray Bird Club |
30 |
21/02/2018 |
Ruthven SWI |
24 |
20/03/2018 |
Cairnie School visit |
14 |
22/03/2018 |
School visit Lochaline with RZSS Wild About Scotland |
24 |
27/03/2018 |
SWT Stirling group |
30 |
06/04/2018 |
Blair Atholl volunteer ranger group camera trap course |
9 |
11/05/2018 |
Laggan Field Skills day for Cairngorms Big Nature Weekend |
150 |
13/05/2018 |
Highland Wildlife Park Wildcat Family Day |
Approx. 100+ |
14/05/2018 |
Talk to NHS retirees, Inverness |
35 |
17/05/2018 |
Public talk with KL, with DB as guest at Boat of Garten |
Approx. 100 |
22/05/2018 |
Den-building in the Angus Glens for Angus Council and partners |
7 |
26/05/2018 |
Strathbogie Volunteer Event |
55 |
02/06/2018 |
Highland Tiger Fling (fundraiser info stall) |
Approx. 40 |
02/06/2018 |
Wildcat Fling, Alford, Aberdeenshire |
45 |
02/06/2018 |
RSE Scotland Biodiversity Family Event, Eden Court Inverness |
60-80 |
04/06/2018 |
Dingwall with RZSS Wild About Scotland bus |
Approx. 40 |
05/06/2018 |
Strathpeffer P4-P7 with RZSS Wild About Scotland bus |
Approx. 140 |
26/06/2018 |
NTS Meadows Day collaboration |
50 |
28/06/2018 |
Insch School Eco Group |
5 |
29/06/2018 |
Scone Game Fair (hosted by SLE) |
Approx. 50 |
05/07/2018 |
Cairnie School Follow Up |
38 |
05-06/07/2018 |
Turriff Show with SLE |
Approx. 300 |
10/08/2018 |
Grantown Show |
150 |
12/08/2018 |
Keith Show |
Approx. 150 |
18/08/2018 |
Rhynie Gala |
Approx. 40 |
18/08/2018 |
Talk at SWT |
32 |
31/08/2018 |
Rhynie with the RZSS Wild About Scotland bus |
- |
13/10/2018 |
Public talk for Assynt field club |
26 |
09/10/2018 |
Talk for the Montrose Natural History and Antiquarian Society |
29 |
30/10/2018 |
Talk at Durham University (following a MammalWeb meeting) |
30 |
16/11/2018 |
Support talk and stand at Doug Allan’s ‘Natural Born Thrillers’ talk, Huntly |
290 |
22/11/2018 |
Public talk for Loch Broom field club |
25 |
06/03/2019 |
Talk and survey training to Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority rangers |
23 |
08/03/2019 |
Seminar at Gloucester College – conservation genetics for reintroductions at Bristol Zoo Gardens |
~40 |
25/03/2019 |
Stand at BASC gamekeepers training event – Blair Castle |
~90 |
30/03/2019 |
Three talks and one workshop for the Mammal Society Conference |
~100 |
10/04/2019 |
Talk for Nevis Landscape Partnership and public, Fort William |
38 |
24/04/2019 |
Volunteer/ community project update Morvern |
29 |
26/04/2019 |
SWA Forum |
70 |
11/06/2019 |
Volunteer/ community project update Strathpeffer |
26 |
26/06/2019 |
Volunteer/ community project update Angus Glens |
32 |
05/07/2019 |
Roving outreach at the Scottish Game Fair |
NA |
27/09/2019 |
Presentations at the European Wildcat Symposium, Germany: Hybridisation and introgression in the Scottish wildcat (Jo Howard-McCombe et al.) Using GPS radio tracking data of wildcat hybrids to help conservation management of wildcat in Scotland (Kerry Kilshaw). In-situ conservation of the Scottish wildcat and lessons from Europe (Keri Langridge). Poster: Assessment of rodenticides in the critically endangered Scottish wildcat (Lydia Peters). |
~100 |
TOTAL events |
145 |
|
TOTAL people |
8,205+ |
Annex 8: Media coverage
Start-up of the project:
- 4 May 2015 - The Scotsman - Scottish wildcat taskforce unveiled
- 4 May 2015 - Press and Journal - New team on the prowl to save Scottish wildcats
- 5 May 2015 - The Inverness Courier - Wildcat initiative
- 5 May 2015 - The Courier - Action team on wildcats
- 5 May 2015 - The National (Scotland) - Challenge on to save wildcat
- 7 May 2015 - Shooting Times and Country Magazine - Project to save wildcats begins
- 14 May 2015 - Strathspey Herald - New Faces Behind Conservation Project
- 1 July 2015 - Scottish Field - The Cat’s Out Of The Bag
- 1 August 2015 - NFU Countryside - Wildcats
- 2 September 2015 - Ross-Shire Journal - Highland MSP helps launch wildcat website
- 3 September 2015 - The Press And Journal - Project to rescue wildcat from extinction
- 4 September 2015 - Inverurie Advertiser and Ellon Advertiser - Aberdeenshire Council signed up to SWA
- 11 September 2015 - Turriff Advertiser - Action plan to protect wildcats - Aberdeenshire Council signed up to SWA
- 11 September 2015 - Huntly Express - Council backs bid to aid wildcats
- 24 November 2015 - The Press And Journal - Scottish wildcats hanging on by a whisker
- 25 November 2015 - Aberdeen Evening Times - 'Join effort to save wildcats'
Priority Areas and Camera Trap Survey Announcement:
- 14 October 2015 - Country Life - On the trail of the Highland tiger
- 24 October 2015 - The Courier (Angus) - Best chance to see endangered animal in glens
- 24 October 2015 - The Scotsman - Wildcats hailed as best quality in the country
- 2 December 2015 - Shooting Times and Country Magazine - We can save the wildcat
- 19 December 2015 - The Ecologist - Saving Scotland's 'Highland Tiger'.
- 22 January 2016 - The Scotsman - Scots wildcat to be studied by 300 live cameras
- 27 January 2016 - Scotsman/Press and Journal/BBC DriveTime - Largest ever survey of Scottish wildcat begins
- 28 January 2016 - The Press And Journal - 300 Scottish wildcat cameras to go live this week
- 28 January 2016 - The Scotsman - Wildcats on camera as new bid to save them gets ahead of the game
- 28 January 2016 - The Herald - Motion cameras to capture the secret lives of wildcats
- 28 January 2016 - Strathspey Herald - Hunt is on for elusive wildcats in the strath
- 28 January 2016 - The Courier (Angus) - Scottish wildcats on camera in survey
- 19 August 2017 - The Times (Scotland) - What’s new pussycat
- 20 August 2017 - Press and Journal - Wildcat project to concentrate on five key areas
- 21 August 2017 - The Courier - Angus Glens key to saving wildcat
- 22 August 2017 - Evening Telegraph (Dundee) - Wildcat campaign
- 25 August 2017 - Northern Scot - Moray has priority role to play in survival of wildcats
- 29 August 2017 - Buchan Observer - Five-year project launched to save Scotland’s wildcats
- 31 August 2017 - Fraserburgh Herald - Wildlife five-year project launched to save Scotland’s wildcats
- 1 September 2017 - Mearns Leader (Kincardineshire) - Five-year project launched to save Scotland's wildcats
- 3 September 2017 - Sunday Mail - Purr-fect wildcat plan
Hybridisation:
- 28 October 2017 - Aberdeen Evening Express - Caught on camera: Wildcat returning from her hunt in north-east
- 7 December 2017 - The Courier - Scottish wildcat ‘does not have a chance’ in feline ‘war zone’
- 8 January 2018 - The Press And Journal - Wildcats ‘at risk of extinction’ by hybrid breeding
- 9 January 2018 - The Herald - Clawing back wildcats from the brink as pure breeds dying out
Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, Return Programme:
- 11 October 2016 - The Mirror - Domestic moggies to be castrated and sterilised in last ditch bid to save the Scottish wildcat
- 3 November 2016 - The Scotsman - Hopes rise of wildcat survival as kittens caught on camera
- 22 February 2017 - BBC News - Feral cats neutered to protect rare Scottish wildcats
- 29 May 2017 - The Courier and Advertiser - Remote glens hinder bid to get cats in the bag
- 1 August 2017 - Metro - Stray cats rounded up so they protect the gene pool of the Scottish wildcat
- 1 August 2017 - Scottish Farmer - Feral cats trapped and neutered to protect Scottish wildcats
- 2 August 2017 - Daily Record - Scheme to save wildcats a “success”
- 2 August 2017 - The Scotsman - Stray cats captured in drive to save Scottish wildcat
- 2 August 2017 - The Herald - Feral cats neutered to protect wildcats
- 2 August 2017 - The Courier - Progress in drive to protect Scottish wildcat in Angus Glens
- 2 August 2017 - Badenoch & Strathspey Herald - Major boost for wildcat fight in Highland
- 2 August 2017 - Aberdeen Evening Express - 115 felines caught in bid to save wildcats
- 2 August 2017 - Evening Times - Bid to help save wildcat
- 2 August 2017 - The Metro - Feral felines caught to protect wildcats
- 2 August 2017 - The Press And Journal - Stray felines neutered to save wildcat population
- 2 August 2017 - The National - Feral cats neutered
- 2 August 2017 - The Yorkshire Post - Stray felines neutered to protect wildcats
- 3 August 2017 - Greenock Telegraph - Stray cats rounded up to save Scottish wildcat
- 3 August 2017 - Strathspey Herald - Wildcat bid boosted by netting 115 feral felines
- 4 August 2017 - The Scotsman - Neuter, but nice
- 4 August 2017 - Huntly Express - Feral feline fears after call to keep wildcat safe
- 5 August 2017 - Scottish Farmer - Wildcat workers trap and neuter 100+ feral cats
- 9 August 2017 - East Fife Mail - Initiative Campaign to save Scottish wildcats
- 10 August 2017 - Fife Free Press - Initiative Campaign to save Scottish wildcats
- 11 August 2017 - Fife Herald and Citizen (St Andrews) - Initiative Campaign to save Scottish wildcats
- 12 August 2017 - East Anglian Daily Times (Essex) - Cats captured
- 18 August 2017 - Mearns Leader - Initiative Campaign to save Scottish wildcats
- 1 September 2017 – Farming Scotland Magazine - Protecting our Scottish Wildcats
- 12 September 2017 – The Scotsman - Stray cats captured in drive to save Scottish wildcat
- 27 September 2017 – The Countryman’s Weekly - Cats trapped in fight to save endangered Scottish wildcats
- 17 January 2018 - The Herald - Wildcats to be fitted with GPS collar in project to save the species
- 17 January 2018 – The National (Scotland) - Wildcat DNA tests
- 17 January 2018 – The Courier - Angus glens prime target area for wildcat trapping DNA study
- 20 January 2018 - Scottish Farmer - Working to save Scottish wildcats
- 20 January 2018 - BBC Radio 4 - Wildcats in the Highlands
- 20 January 2018 - BBC Highland - News item about wildcat trapping
- 20 January 2018 - STV News - Wildcat trapping piece
- 25 January 2018 - The Courier - Angus Glens to be prime target area for wildcat trapping DNA study
- 25 January 2018 - The Highland Times - Crucial work to help save Scottish wildcats
- 25 January 2018 - Oban Times - Research will provide insight into Scottish wildcats
- 25 January 2018 - The Scottish Farmer - Working to save Scottish wildcats
- 26 January 2018 - Northern Times - How pure is Scotland’s wildcat population?
- 31 January 2018 - The Countryman’s Weekly - Trapping to help save Scottish wildcats
- 1 March 2018 - Scottish Field - GO WILDCATS
- 19 September 2018 - National Geographic - The Scottish Wildcat is Disappearing. Can it be saved?
Camera Trapping and Tracking:
- 5 February 2016 - BBC News/STV online/Montrose Review/Forfar Dispatch/Arbroath Herald/Brechin Advertiser/Kincardineshire Advertiser/Kirriemuir Herald/Mearns Leader/Ellon Times - Wildcat caught on camera in the Angus Glens
- 5 February 2016 - Wave FM - Wildcat caught on camera in the Angus Glens - Interview with Project Officer Hebe Carus
- 9 January 2017 - Evening Express - Watch: Wildcats caught on camera at north-east castle
- 28 December 2018 - Huntly Express - Farm wildcat helping to save his own species - about tracking Bogie
Tigers of Scotland documentary:
- 24 May 2017 - The London Economic - Tigers of Scotland documentary about the Scottish wildcat to be filmed in 4K
Supercat Campaign:
- 28 February 2017 - The Scotsman - New campaign launched to save Scotland's elusive wildcat
- 8 March 2017 - Kirkintilloch Herald - ‘Supercats’ can help save the wildcat
- 9 March 2017 - Milngavie and Bearsden Herald - ‘Supercats’ can help save the wildcat
- 24 March 2017 - Inverurie, Ellon and Turriff Advertisers - Supercat project
- 15 June 2017 - The Courier - Fact file: Everything you need to know about the Scottish wildcat
- 24 January 2018 - Evening Telegraph (Dundee) - Bid to fight soaring cat population
- 27 February 2019 - BBC News - Pet ownership 'key to Scottish wildcat survival'
- 28 February 2019 - The Times (Scotland) - Inter-breeding risk to wildcat populations - responsible cat ownership
#GenerationWildcat campaign:
- 23 June 2018 - Press and Journal - Last chance to save the UK's most endangered carnivore
- 28 June 2018 - Strathspey Herald - Efforts to save wildcat in last chance saloon
- 29 June 2018 - Ross-shire Journal - Act now or lose wildcats forever
- 29 June 2018 - Deeside Piper - New nature campaign underway to save the Scottish wildcat
- 5 July 2018 - Highland News - Strath hotspot's vital role in wildcat drive
- 6 July 2018 - Huntly Express - Campaign is stepped up to conserve wildcat
- 4 October 2018 - LandBusiness (Scotland) - #GenerationWildcat
- 3 January 2019 - Daily Mail (Scotland) - BORN to be MILD – #GenerationWildcat piece
- 11 March 2019 - Farming Scotland Magazine - Our #GenerationWildcat is the final hope for the Highland Tiger (p.74)
- 1 April 2019 - Farming Scotland magazine - Our #Generation Wildcat is the final hope for the Highland Tiger
- 1 June 2019 - Farming Scotland Magazine – Scottish Wildcat Action
- 4 July 2019 – LandBusiness (Scotland) - Action to save the Scottish wildcat - #GenerationWildcat piece
Community outreach:
- 14 December 2016 - Ross-shire Journal - Strathpeffer pupils help save rare wildcats
- 24 July 2017 - Inverurie Herald - Inverurie pupils go wild about Scotland
- 24 November 2017 - Huntly Express - Wild about cat woman - Huntly Probus Club members enjoyed an excellent presentation by Emma Rawling from Scottish Wildcat Action. Ms Rawling explained that fewer than 300 Scottish wildcats remain and the population is in decline because of the change in habitat, cross-breeding and disease
- 5 April 2018 - Strathspey Herald - Rare cat will be talk topic
Donations/Fundraising:
- 13 June 2017 - The Scotsman - Wild swim organised in memory of Wild Lady of Lochbroom
- 1 September 2017 - Ross-Shire Journal - Brothers tackle wild swim with a personal touch
- 21 September 2017 - Forfar Dispatch - All revved up to protect our wildcats
- 22 September 2017 - Ellon Advertiser, Turriff Advertiser and Inverurie Advertiser - Wildcat donation
- 22 September 2017 - Huntly Express - Tour cash for wildcats
- 22 September 2017 - Deeside Piper - Dutch riders donate to Wildcat Action
- 22 September 2017 - Linlithgow Gazette - Calling all ceilidh dancing fans
- 11 January 2018 - Galloway News - Wild about the cat - artist’s new partnership with SWA
- 17 January 2018 - The Countryman’s Weekly - Painting a brighter picture for endangered wildcats
- 25 May 2018 - Huntly Express - Doric showtime will aid wildcats
- 1 June 2018 - Deeside Piper - Wildcat fundraising night
- 8 March 2019 - The Press And Journal - Donations needed for Highland wildcat centre
- 12 July 2019 - Golf Business News - Dornoch Members Raise Funds To Help Protect Scottish Wildcat
- 12 July 2019 - The Press And Journal - Golfers add wildcats to love of birdies and eagles
- 17 July 2019 - Caithness Courier - Golfers go wild with £2k to help endangered cat
17 September 2019 - The Golf Business Magazine - Royal Dornoch licenses its tartan for a whisky (bottles adorned with a wildcat emblem)
Vandalism at Clashindarroch:
- 17 April 2018 - The Press And Journal - Investigation launched into the vandalism and theft of equipment from SWA
- 17 April 2018 - BBC News - Vandalism of Clashindarroch Forest wildcat conservation equipment
- 18 April 2018 - Aberdeen Evening Express - Theft of wildlife cameras said to 'jeopardise' survey of wildcats: Wildlife team in plea for photos from stolen cameras to be returned
- 18 April 2018 - The Scotsman - Police investigate as wildcat conservation project is targeted by thieves and vandals
- 18 April 2018 - The Press And Journal - Thefts and vandalism strike wildcat study
- 19 April 2018 - The Sun (Scotland) - Wildcats cam raid
- 20 April 2018 - Turriff Advertiser - Wildcat project suffers setback after equipment theft
- 20 April 2018 - Huntly Express - Yobs steal wildcat survey equipment
- 20 April 2018 - Evening Times - Equipment damaged
- 20 April 2018 - Ellon Advertiser - Wildcat project suffers setback after equipment theft
- 20 April 2018 - Inverurie Advertiser - Wildcat project suffers setback after equipment theft
- 2 May 2018 - The Countryman’s Weekly - Disappointment of theft and vandalism of vital conservation equipment
- 13 May 2018 - The Press And Journal – Wildcat conservation group launched campaign to protect Clashindarroch Forest
- 14 May 2018 – BBC News – Fears over tree felling threat to wildcats in Clashindarroch Forest - The NatureScot and Scottish Wildcat Action (SWA) project has named the area as one of its five priority sites for wildcat conservation
- 20 September 2018 - Aberdeen Evening Express - Traps hit by vandals in forest
- 3 October 2018 - The Times (Scotland) - Saboteurs disrupt project to boost wildcat population
- 4 October 2018 - Aberdeen Evening Express - Wildcat work ‘targeted’
- 12 October 2018 - Inverurie Advertiser, Ellon Advertiser, Turriff Advertiser - Police called over wildcat issue
Conservation breeding programme:
- 26 January 2016 - BBC Winterwatch - Wildcat conservation breeding - Several episodes of BBC Winterwatch
- 7 July 2016 - Kent Online - Wildwood near Canterbury introduces Scottish wildcat kittens rarer than the Bengal Tiger
- 14 July 2016 - Third Force News - Fresh hope for Scottish wildcat with two new litters
- 21 July 2016 - Scientific American - Adorable kittens represent hope for nearly extinct Scottish wildcats
- 25 August 2016 - The Scotsman - Scottish wildcat breeding centre opened to save Highland cats
- 26 August 2016 - Third Force News - Scottish wildcat breeding centre opened in the Highlands
- 26 December 2016 - The Guardian - Hopes for saving Scottish wildcat rest on captive breeding plan
- 18 July 2017 - STV Online - Three new Scottish wildcat kittens born at safari park
- 27 July 2017 - Oban Times - Three rare wildcats born at Highland Wildlife Park
- 18 June 2018 - Shropshire Star - Wildcat kittens could provide lifeline for species, say conservationists - two rare Scottish wildcats born at Edinburgh Zoo
- 18 June 2018 - The Scotsman - Wildcat kittens born at Edinburgh Zoo could provide lifeline for the species
- 19 June 2018 - The Herald - Zoo's wildcat kittens offer a vital lifeline for the species
- 19 June 2018 - Northern Echo - Wildcat kittens 'could provide lifeline for species'
- 19 June 2018 - The National (Scotland) - Kittens could offer key to survival of wildcat
- 19 June 2018 - Yorkshire Post - Birth of rare wildcats is a lifeline for species
- 21 June 2018 - Milngavie and Bearsden Herald, Forfar Dispatch, Motherwell Times (20 June 2018) - Nature one step closer to a wildcat success story
- 22 June 2018 - Hawick News and The Buteman - Nature one step closer to a wildcat success story
- 22 June 2018 - Galloway Gazette and Stranraer News, and Linlithgow Gazette, and Cumbernauld News on 20 June - One step closer to a wildcat success story
- 26 July 2018 - BBC News - Wildcat kittens born at reserve in Sutherland - The reserve is working with organisations including Scottish Wildcat Action and The European Nature Trust in an effort to help conserve wildcats
- 7 December 2018 - AOL - Zoo wildcat kitten captured on camera for the first time at Chester Zoo
- 24 December 2018 - The Guardian - Scotland considers continental wildcats to save native species
- 29 June 2019 - The Scotsman - Adorable wildcat kittens emerge from den just weeks after birth
- 16 July 2019 - BBC News - Scottish wildcat kittens born in captivity
- 16 July 2019 - BBC News - Rare wildcat kittens born at Highlands field centre
- 16 July 2019 - STV News - Two Scottish wildcat kittens born at wildlife centre
- 16 July 2019 - Metro - Rare Scottish wildcat kittens born in the Highlands
- 16 July 2019 - The Inverness Courier - Wild things! Pair of wildcat kittens born near Inverness
- 16 July 2019 - The Press And Journal, Highlands Edition - Cute but ferocious wildcat kittens make their appearance at Aigas
- 16 July 2019 - Ross-shire Journal - Aigas Field Centre near Beauly welcomes birth of two Scottish Wildcat kittens amid ongoing conservation programme
- 26 July 2019 - Good Nature Travel Blog - Glynis and the kittens: Wildcat photos from Scotland
- 30 July 2019 - Scottish Field - Watch our exclusive video of Scottish wildcat kittens
- 6 August 2019 - Euro News - Birth of Scottish wildcat kittens is sign of hope for species, conservationists say
- 3 September 2019 - The Press and Journal, Highlands Edition - VIDEO: Conservationists stunned as seven wildcat kittens are born at Highland Wildlife Park
- 3 September 2019 - Irish News - Rare wildcats born at wildlife park
- 3 September 2019 - The Scotsman - Seven rare wildcat kittens born at Highland Wildlife Park
- 6 September 2019 - Country Living Magazine - Scottish animal park celebrates the birth of seven extremely rare wildcat kittens
- 8 September 2019 - The Sunday Post - £5.5m breeding centre bid to save Scotland’s iconic wildcats from extinction
- 19 September 2019 - The Press And Journal, Highlands Edition - Breeding centre designed to save Scotland’s wildcats from extinction could open as early as next year
- 27 October 2019 - The Telegraph - First wildcat kittens in new reintroduction project to be released in England for first time in 150 years
- 4 November 2019 - The Sunday Post - The cats creep in… but experts fear that wildcat reintroduction is doomed in Scotland
- 8 February 2020 - Belfast Telegraph - Just purrfect... wildcats move to Belfast Zoo
- 18 March 2020 - The Scotsman - English-born Scottish wildcat moves north in bid to save species
Countering Misinformation:
- 16 August 2017 - The National - First ever video evidence of pure wildcats in the Highlands
- 16 August 2017 - Scottish Farmer - War of Words Over Scottish wildcat
- 16 August 2017 - BBC Radio Scotland - Story highlighting claims by Wildcat Haven of a “pure” wildcat. Also has counter claims from SWA about the fact this is NOT news
- 17 August 2017 - Scottish Farmer - Pure Scottish wildcat captured on video -
- 17 August 2017 - Press and Journal - Extremely rare wildcat filmed in Aberdeenshire
- 17 August 2017 - Evening Express Aberdeen - ‘Extinct’ pure-bred wildcat found alive and well in Aberdeenshire
- 1 May 2018 - Aberdeen Evening Express - Conservation groups caught up in catfight over web link
- 14 May 2018 - The Scotsman - Fears over impact on rare wildcats from tree felling
- 25 August 2018 - Aberdeen Evening Express - north-east MSP defends government body
IUCN Report:
- 12 June 2018 - The Herald Scotland - Video: Scottish wildcat at "high risk" of extinction say experts
- 12 June 2018 - The Scotsman - Scottish wildcat and red squirrel among UK's most threatened land...
- 12 June 2018 - The Independent - At least fifth of British mammal species could be wiped out within a decade
- 15 June 2018 - The Guardian - Can Scotland save its wildcats from extinction? - The Scottish wildcat is now one of the most critically endangered…
- 20 December 2018 - Press and Journal - Experts reveal threat of hybrids to Scottish wildcat population
- 20 December 2018 - BBC News - Scotland’s wildcats ‘functionally extinct’ in the wild
- 20 December 2018 - The Times - Cross-breeding may have killed off Highland Tiger
- 20 December 2018 - Third Force News – Scottish Wildcats effectively extinct
- 31 December 2018 - The Herald - Saving the wildcat - now only a whisker away from extinction
- 6 February 2019 - Strathspey Herald - Wildcats are clinging on for survival by their claw
- 27 December 2019 - GALLERY: Scotland faces ‘bleak’ future without wildcats, capercaillie and hedgehogs, charity warns - The Press and Journal -
- 27 December 2019 - Don’t let capercaillie become Scotland’s dodo – leader comment - The Scotsman
- 1 February 2019 - The Herald - Saving the wildcat now only a whisker away from extinction
- 27 February 2019 - The Guardian - Scottish wildcat on the verge of extinction
- 27 February 2019 - Press and Journal - Research concludes there is ‘no longer a viable wildcat population living in Scotland’
- 27 February 2019 - The Scotsman - Wildcat no longer viable in the wild after 7,000 years
- 27 February 2019 - The Herald - Scottish wildcat population ‘no longer viable’
- 28 February 2019 - The Courier - Study reveals Scottish wildcat on brink of being wiped out
- 28 February 2019 - Press and Journal - Act now to save iconic wildcats
- 28 February 2019 - Strathspey Herald - Wildcat ‘on the brink’ warning
- 28 February 2019 - Daily Mail (Scotland) - Why captivity is key to saving last of the wildcats
- 28 February 2019 - The Herald - Conservationists say it is too late to save wildcat
- 28 February 2019 - The Scotsman - Wildcats ‘no longer viable’ in the wild after 7,000 years
- 28 February 2018 - Metro (Scotland) - European wildcats could save species in Highlands
- 1 March 2019 - The Scotsman - Wildcats crisis
- 6 March 2019 - Strathspey Herald - No need to write off the Highland tiger just yet
- 13 March 2019 - The Countryman’s Weekly - Scottish wildcat population no longer viable
- 15 March 2019 - Ellon Advertiser - Wildcat population seen as no longer viable in new report
- 27 February 2019 - Scottish Field - New plans to help save the Scottish wildcat
- Breeding - 19 January 2020 - The Sunday Times - Spanish wildcats could secure future of their Scottish cousins
General coverage of the project:
- 27 January 2016 - BBC News - Possible wildcat near Dingwall
- 30 January 2016 - BBC TV - Interview with Emma Rawling and the Moray watch SWT group
- 31 March 2017 - BBC News Online - Native honeybees threatened by imports (mentions how endangered Scottish wildcat is)
- 11 July 2017 - Buchan Observer - Help to spot the rare wildcat
- 14 July 2017 - Mearns Leader - Help to spot the rare wildcat
- 21 April 2017 - The Herald - Claws for concern as Scottish wildcat at risk from new windfarm
- 4 August 2017 - The Edinburgh Reporter - Edinburgh Zoo wonders have you seen our cats
- 4 August 2017 - The Herald - Keeping cats un-neutered should not be an option -
- 16 August 2017 - The Scotsman - Is this one of Scotland’s last true wildcats? -
- 17 September 2017 - The Glasgow Sunday Herald - Mass support for neutering of every cat in Scotland
- 20 January 2018 - The Courier - Angus cat campaigner's return to parliament
- 20 January 2018 - BBC Radio Scotland Brainwaves podcast with Pennie Latin: The Scottish Wildcat
- 25 January 2018 - The Courier - All Sett To Help - Gayle Ritchie talks to some of Courier Country’s conservation heroes - featuring Nicola Tallach, Angus Glens PO
- 25 January 2018 - The Weekly News - Mike’s wildcats were not cuddly kittens
- 11 February 2018 - The Sunday Express (Scotland) - Holyrood set to act on the 'catastrophe' facing wildcats
- 6 April 2018 - Deeside Piper - Councillors back local wildcat project
- 20 June 2018 - Express.co.uk - 115 left - The ultra-threatened beautiful British mammal you've probably never heard of
- 21 June 2018 - The Times - Wildcats 'not threatened' by wind farm expansion
- 18 July 2018 - New Statesman - Letter of the week: Counting Scotland's wildcats
- 29 September 2018 - Express.co.uk - Fears over illegal trade in Scottish wildcats
- 30 September 2018 - The Sunday Express (Scotland) - Illegal trade in wildcats fear
- 22 October 2018 - BBC Online - Wildcat kittens filmed by hillwalker in Cairngorms
- 15 November 2018 - The Independent - Science news in brief: A test for Scottish wildcats to a discovery of a tiny ape
- 11 December 2018 - The Scotsman - We must try to save the Highland Tiger by Jonny Hughes of SWT
- 25 February 2019 - Express and Star - Once threatened British carnivores staging a comeback, research shows
- 9 December 2019 - National Geographic - In Pictures: This national park is Britain's deep freeze - focuses on Cairngorms National Park Authority and mentions wildcats
- 30 December 2019 - BBC News - A look back at Scotland's 2019 in tweets - wildcat kittens were the BBC’s most popular tweet in July 2019
- 1 February 2020 - Farming Scotland magazine - Scottish Wildcat Action - piece on winter
- 26 July 2018 - Strathspey Herald - Don't play mother to ‘lost’ wildcat kittens
- 27 July 2018 - Deeside Piper - Wildcat group offers advice on kittens
- 27 July 2018 - Huntly Express - Watch out for wildcat kittens
- 17 April 2019 - Shooting Times and Country Magazine - Country Diary
- 29 July 2019 - Strathspey and Badenoch Herald - Don't play mother to 'lost' wildcat kittens in Cairngorms
- 1 August 2019 - Farming Scotland Magazine - Scottish Wildcat Action - piece by Dr Roo Campbell
- 6 September 2019 - Scottish Field - 10 More Of The Best Places For Wildlife Watching - Mentions wildcats in the Highland Wildlife Park
- 24 February 2020 - Inhabitat - Saving the Scottish wildcat from extinction
General wildcat coverage:
- 24 December 2018 - The Courier - Angus cat campaigner’s renewed hope for 2019 legislation move
- 28 July 2019 - The Herald - Review: Tracking the Highland Tiger, by Marianne Taylor
- 2 August 2019 - Scottish Field - Story of the Scottish wildcat brought to book - Review of ‘Tracking the Highland Tiger’ book
- 7 August 2019 - The Ecologist - Rewilding in Scotland
- 16 August 2019 - The Telegraph - The flexitarian diet: why eating meat is important for a balanced diet
- 20 August 2019 - BBC News - Wildcats litter: The new arrivals giving hope for the species' survival
- 11 September 2019 - The Press and Journal, Aberdeenshire Edition - Plans for 32 houses approved - despite fears for Trusty the wildcat
- 3 October 2019 - BBC News - More than a quarter of UK mammals face extinction – leads with Scottish wildcat
- 3 February 2020 - The Herald - Scottish wildcat, bee and pearl mussels at risk of ‘severe genetic problems’
- 3 February 2020 - The Sunday Post - Genetic study fuels fears that Scottish wildcats are on brink
Saving Wildcats Announcement:
- 18 November 2019 - The Scotsman - Scottish wildcats to be reintroduced in the Highlands to stave off extinction
- 19 November 2019 - The Times - Threatened wildcats bred to run free in Cairngorms
- 19 November 2019 - The Herald - Reintroduction centre plan for endangered Scottish wildcats
- 19 November 2019 - The Telegraph - Scottish wildcats bred in captivity to be released into wild for first time
- 19 November 2019 - BBC News - Captivity-bred wildcats to be released into wild in Cairngorms
- 19 November 2019 - inews - Wildcats to be released in Scotland in 2022 after project to protect their future secures £3.2m
- 19 November 2019 - The Courier - VIDEO: Wildcats set for big return to the Cairngorms in major £3.2m project
- 19 November 2019 - STV News - Wildcats set to be released into Cairngorms in 2022
- 20 November 2019 - The Press And Journal - Wildcats to be released as £3.2 million secured
- 20 November 2019 - Daily Record - Wildcats to be released in Highlands
- 20 November 2019 - The Scotsman - Wildcat reintroduction to stave off extinction threat
- 20 November 2019 - Your Weather (online) - Endangered Scottish wildcats to be reintroduced to the Highlands
- 20 November 2019 - The Courier (Angus) - £3.2m of EU cash for Highland project to save Scottish wildcats
- 20 November 2019 - Evening Times - Wildcats to be released amid extinction threat
- 20 November 2019 - Greenock Telegraph - Wildcats to be released in 2022 after £3.2m EU funding for project
- 24 November 2019 - The Countryman Magazine - Wildcats in Scotland: Reintroduction project from the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland
- 12 December 2019 - Strathspey Herald - Release of wildcats in Cairngorms will be a complex task
- 9 February 2020 - The Herald - Scottish wildcats: The kittens with a future of a species on their shoulders
- 10 February 2020 - The Times - £5.5m initiative to save the Scottish wildcat
For further information on this report please contact:
Roo Campbell, NatureScot, Great Glen House, Leachkin Road, Inverness, IV3 8NW.
Telephone: 01463 725130
Email: [email protected]
ISBN: 978-1-78391-984-0
This publication is part of a series of specialist reports on the work of the Scottish Wildcat Action (SWA) project that ran from 2015-2020. The work was led and steered by a partnership of organisations: Cairngorms National Park Authority, Forestry and Land Scotland, National Museums Scotland, Scottish Land & Estates, NatureScot, Scottish Wildlife Trust, The National Trust for Scotland, The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, The Scottish Gamekeepers Association, The Scottish Government, Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU).
The many other partners and funders are listed in the SWA Summary report.
For more information, including access to the other reports, contact Martin Gaywood at NatureScot.
This report, or any part of it, should not be reproduced without the permission of NatureScot or the relevant authors. This permission will not be withheld unreasonably. The views expressed by the author(s) of this report should not be taken as the views and policies of NatureScot. © NatureScot 2023.