THE drive is on to fill the gaps in a mammals map of the North East. Throughout this month people are being asked to report sightings of any mammal in the region, from rats and mice to rabbits and otters, or any evidence of their presence.

The information will feed into the first new book for 150 years about mammals in the North East, due to be published next year.

The Northumbria Mammal Group, which was set up in 1997, is behind both the book and the September Mammal Sightings Race.

The group has been given a grant to fund the sightings venture by the Open Air Laboratories project, which encourages people to discover, enjoy and protect their local environments.

“The mammal race aims to allow anyone to contribute information towards plotting the geographical distribution of mammals in the North East, and at the same time provides a competitive edge and the opportunity for people to win prizes,” said Northumberland-based ecologist Tina Wiffen, who is also Northumbria Mammal Group treasurer.

The prizes of nature books will be awarded for the most mammal records submitted in September; records from the most 1km squares; the greatest number of species recorded, and for the most unusual mammal recorded.

Tina said: “As people drive or walk around, or look in the garden, we are encouraging them to write down the mammals or signs of them that they find within the region of Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne & Wear and Cleveland, and send them in. All of the information from the race will contribute towards the forthcoming Mammals in the North East publication and will aid in the conservation efforts of many species.”

The deadline for entries is October 8. Any entry also qualifies the sender for free membership of the Northumbria Mammals Group until next May.

It is hoped that people who take part will continue to send in sightings long after the race ends.

Lecturer and mammal group member Jonathan Pounder said that the flow of sightings will provide information to measure how species are faring.

“Water voles were everywhere 25 years ago, but populations are now 94% down. Hedgehogs were considered common 20 years ago, but their decline now has people worried,” he said.

Gaps in the regional mammal map tend to be of the most common species, because people assume that their abundance makes them not worth recording, although that is not the case.

“People are far more likely to tell us about otters than rabbits, rats, mice or molehills,” said Tina.

“Birds have been recorded comprehensively for a lot longer than mammals. Birds are much more easily observed, while mammals are more secretive.

“But if we don’t have the mammal data we can’t know how populations are changing.”