News about Paul Walters

Endemic animals and plants, which are uniquely vulnerable because of their scarcity, are a key barometer for measuring the health of an ecosystem. The Scottish crossbill (Loxia scotica), a small bird in the finch family Fringillidae, is found only in the Caledonian Forest of Scotland. It is the only terrestrial vertebrate species endemic to Britain. A species consists of a population that cannot interbreed successfully with another species. A subspecies consists of a group within a species that is physically and genetically different from the rest of the group, yet can still interbreed. The Orkney vole, the Skomer vole and the St Kilda field mouse are endemic mammal subspecies. Regarding fish endemic to Britain, a freshwater fish called the vendace has particularly suffered population loss. At one time there were four native populations of vendace known in the UK: two in the Lake District (at Bassenthwaite Lake and Derwentwater) and two near Lochmaben in south-west Scotland (Castle Loch and Mill Loch).