Magnificent lynx could return to its island home

Indeed, there was a time when the lynx used to be a more common element of our native British fauna than people were.

Unfortunately, the last couple of millennia have not been kind to the lynx and it ended up being persecuted by humans until very few individuals now exist.

It can still be found in remote areas of Greece, the former Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia and has fared slightly better in the remote wildernesses of Russia and Scandinavia.

While things still look desperate for the lynx there is currently a small ray of hope.

In recent years, the lynx has been part of a successful animal reintroduction programme in Germany, France and Switzerland where they have taken up their rightful position as top predator in their ecosystems, helping to control deer and mountain goat populations.

There is even a school of thought that as the lynx was, until medieval times, part of our native fauna it should be reintroduced to Britain to help control our dangerously blossoming deer populations and even renegade pheasants.

Whether we could cope with sharing our island with a top predator once again is the main thought that occupies conservationists' minds.

While lynx are nowhere near as large as the big cats of Africa and Asia they are still a sizeable animal. From nose to tail tip, a large male could be over 1.5m in length and weigh up to 45kg, which is about the same as a roe deer or twice that of a Scottish wild cat.

However, lynx are a rather secretive animal and when their range does happen to cross with that of us humans there is very little interaction.

Being nocturnal hunters and occupying a huge range for an animal (approximately 11 square miles), means they are very rarely seen.

Bearing this in mind, it certainly looks like a possibility that at least in the more sparsely populated areas of this country, a lynx re-introduction project may be viable in the near future and this magnificent animal will once again call this island its home.