Mortality due to trauma in cats attending veterinary practices in central and south-east England

Objectives: To identify important demographic and spatial factors associated with the risk of trauma and, more specifically, road traffic accident‐related mortality, relative to other diagnoses in cats. Methods: A sample of 2738 cats with mortality data derived from the VetCompass primary‐care veterinary database was selected for detailed study. Generalised linear models investigated risk factors for mortality due to trauma and due to road traffic accidents versus other causes

Wild bird feeding in an urban area: intensity, economics and numbers of individuals supported

Wild bird feeding is popular in domestic gardens across the world. Nevertheless, there is surprisingly little empirical information on certain aspects of the activity and no year-round quantitative records of the amounts and nature of the different foods provided in individual gardens. We sought to characterise garden bird feeding in a large UK urban area in two ways. First, we conducted face-to-face questionnaires with a representative cross-section of residents. Just over half fed birds, the majority doing so year round and at least weekly. Second, a two-year study recorded all foodstuffs put out by households on every provisioning occasion. A median of 628 kcal/garden/day was given. Provisioning level was not significantly influenced by weather or season. Comparisons between the data sets revealed significantly less frequent feeding amongst these ‘keen’ feeders than the face-to-face questionnaire respondents, suggesting that one-off questionnaires may overestimate provisioning frequency. Assuming 100% uptake, the median provisioning level equates to sufficient supplementary resources across the UK to support 196 million individuals of a hypothetical average garden-feeding bird species (based on 10 common UK garden-feeding birds’ energy requirements). Taking the lowest provisioning level recorded (101 kcal/day) as a conservative measure, 31 million of these average individuals could theoretically be supported

Effects of winter food provisioning on the phenotypes of breeding blue tits

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Throughout the Western World huge numbers of people regularly supply food for wild birds. However, evidence of negative impacts of winter feeding on future reproduction has highlighted a need to improve understanding of the underlying mechanisms shaping avian responses to supplementary food. Here, we test the possibility that carry-over effects are mediated via their impact on the phenotypes of breeding birds, either by influencing the phenotypic structure of populations through changes in winter survival and/or by more direct effects on the condition of breeding birds. Using a landscape-scale three-year study of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), we demonstrate the importance of nutritional composition of supplementary food in determining carry-over effect outcomes. We show that breeding populations which had access to vitamin E-rich foods during the previous winter were comprised of individuals with reduced feather carotenoid concentrations, indicative of lower pre-feeding phenotypic condition, compared to fat-fed and unfed populations. This suggests that supplementary feeding in winter can result in altered population phenotypic structure at the time of breeding, perhaps by enhancing survival and recruitment of lower quality individuals. However, supplementation of a fat-rich diet during winter was detrimental to the oxidative state of breeding birds, with these phenotypic differences ultimately found to impact upon reproductive success. Our findings demonstrate the complex nature by which supplementary feeding can influence wild bird populations.This work was funded by a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) CASE studentship (to KEP, JDB, SB and DEC), a Royal Society Research Fellowship (to JDB), the British Trust for Ornithology and Gardman Ltd