Wild Cottenham
Cottenham's intensively-managed arable landscape offers limited opportunities for wild animals, so the animals that do live in the parish are even more important. Hedgerows are particularly valuable - they provide habitats in themselves but they also provide vital corridors for animals to find food, to find mates, and to disperse their populations. The various waterways and riparian habitat do the same for our very few colonies of water voles - the most threatened mammalian species.
Small mammals (shrews, mice and voles) are quite common throughout the parish - less common are stoats and weasels, and of course mole populations vary from year to year perhaps more than most! Hedgehogs are reasonably common after declining in numbers for several years and seem to be making a comeback. Among the larger mammals foxes, hares and rabbits can fairly readily be seen, and muntjac deer are occasionally seen right in the heart of the village. At least three species of bats live around the parish - perhaps the least noticed of all our native fauna.
Credits:
Peter Pilbeam