Native Red Squirrels

[Max Power]

Does anyone still regularly see Red Squirrels ?

 

[marcros]

never seen a red squirrel in my 33 years.

 

[t8hants]

Their all we have got over here on the Island, probably see one a month.

G

 

[Alex H]

They've all moved to France - I've never seen a grey one over here :wink:

 

[Harbo]

I think there's a colony on the Isle of Wight where Greys are kept out?

Not seen a red one but black ones in Canada!

Sadly there's lots of introduced species that are causing havoc to our native ones as well as plants, insects and diseases.

Rod

 

[John Brown]

There are some on Trescoe in the Isles of Scilly as well.
As for the Minks being released, I personally think it's a bit of a stretch to refer to "well meaning people". Some of those animal rights activists are just plain nasty.

 

[Graham Orm]

Formby near Southport and there's still some in Scotland I believe.

 

[Scouse]

A good few around here (Formby), they suffered with the squirrel pox virus a couple of years ago, but the numbers seem to be recovering.

 

[Max Power]

I

 

[soulboy]

pay a visit to Brownsea Island, Poole, they have a colony there and which isolated from the mainland (& the greys)
chris

 

[sizsells]

I think there are still a few holding on in north Northumberland, but astonishing how quickly the greys colonised England and all but wiped out the indigenous population.
You never saw a grey around here when I was young and now they're everywhere

We have a few in Bedlington we are 15 miles north of Newcastle, my in-laws see them more than myself, they are near the local woods.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

The Red Squirrel Survival Trust is trying to actively support red squirrels in several ways - http://rsst.org.uk/ - with some successes in places.

 

[Lons]

We still have a healthy population here and the local support groups regularly trap the invading greys. That said, I never saw a grey until 2 years ago when I hit one with my van. It sounds horrible but I was devastated at first as I thought it was a native red then very relieved when I saw it wasn't.

I see at least a couple of reds every time I play golf locally and they are surprisingly bold. Very busy collecting acorns at the minute.

Bob

 

[duncanh]

Plenty of areas with reds in Northumberland but quite a few of them are small so the chances of squirrels moving between them is low.
Kielder is their last big stronghold in England and the greys don't really get in there as they are too heavy for the trees.

A bit of surprising history (from a project that I did at college a few years ago)- their numbers were once so low in Scotland that they started a reintroduction program that was so successful that the reds started to cause damage to forestry and in 1917 they started a culling program and over a 15 year period from 1917 the Highland Squirrel Club alone shot over 60000 reds, with a bounty of 4d per squirrel. In one year over 7000 were killed.
Because of historical reintroduction most of the red squirrels in the UK aren't genetically distinct from those in Europe, although apparently some in Cumbria might be.

Most of the management is trapping and shooting of greys but I suspect that the only long term solution will be something to treat squirrel pox in the greys, although I think this is a long way off and will be difficult/costly.

If you get the chance try eating grey squirrel - there are some very tasty recipes out there, although the small bones are a bit fiddly and there isn't much meat on them so you need a few.

 

[Spindle]

Hi

We're lucky up here in northern Scotland - the greys don't seem to have been sucessful. I don't recall ever seeing a grey here but reds are a frequent sight in the pine woods.

Mick

 

[marcros]

we see loads of greys.

Back in the day, were reds as plentiful, or would seeing a squirrel in the garden be unusual. I thought that the reds prefferred pine forest.

 

[Max Power]

N

 

[dickm]

As Mick (spindle) says, we still have a good (and now increasing) population of reds up here round Aberdeen. By pure blind chance, the greys that were introduced to the city in around 1972 didn't carry the poxvirus. Fortunately also, there is a squirrel-hostile region between us and Tayside, where there are a lot of pox-carrying greys, but they can't get up here without human help. Which unfortunately does get provided by misguided enthusiasts. Even without the virus, the greys had been spreading out from the city and ousting the reds, because they are bigger (typical ***** yanks) and can digest a wider range of foods than the reds. But over the last six years there's been a major project, Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels, which has involved controlling the greys in as many areas as possible, combined with regular surveys of squirrel numbers. I do a transect for this in the woods behind our house and also set up feeder boxes with sticky pads in another woodland to see what species are there. Results have been really encouraging, especially this last year when grey survival over the long, if not snowy, winter was worse than that of the reds.
Reds are now moving back into the city while out in the wilds where we live, numbers have held up or improved; our best sighting is six in the garden at one time.
Back in the early fifties on the Welsh Border, reds were plentiful enough for a local guy to keep half a dozen as pets, but by the late 50s, the greys had completely ousted them.

 

[Lons]

As said, it's the virus which is the real problem though the signs are that a small number are developing a resistance. Though the larger bullying and more aggressive greys are now here for good, I think without the pox problem the reds will regain numbers in many areas, thankfully from my point of view, Northumberland being one of them.
I watched one little fella last week for about 10 minutes during which time he burried at least 20 acorns - doubt he'll remember where they are :lol:

Bob

 

[RogerS]

I'm doing my bit !