Red Squirrels

[ginger beard 4,653]

back in the mid 80's there was a good population in richmond,surrey living in my grandads bit of a wood at the bottom of his garden.anybody know if there still about.?

[Rabbit Hunter 6,613]

When i was a kid I remember most of them being Red, but all Greys now unfortunately. (County Durham)

[king 11,984]

When i was a kid I remember most of them being Red, but all Greys now unfortunately. (County Durham)

You are lucky to see the reds mate.

I'm coming to the conclusion now that I've probably never seen a red now in the flesh.

As socks was brought up in the next valley to me and he didn't see any as a kid.

[jiggy 3,209]

Reds only around here in this part of Ireland and the antis reckon that Pine Martins will kill greys but not reds which I find hard to believe unless the red can get out on the lighter branches to safety or can travel quicker. I remember seeing greys when a young lad but not in years and the reds are still about. Only 15 or 20 miles away in seperate woods it seems to be all greys so they must not cross open ground that easily and stick to there own woods.

[king 11,984]

Reds only around here in this part of Ireland and the antis reckon that Pine Martins will kill greys but not reds which I find hard to believe unless the red can get out on the lighter branches to safety or can travel quicker. I remember seeing greys when a young lad but not in years and the reds are still about. Only 15 or 20 miles away in seperate woods it seems to be all greys so they must not cross open ground that easily and stick to there own woods.

I'm sure I've read or seen that on tv before jiggy about the thinner branch's.

Have you seen many pine Martins about mate.

[jiggy 3,209]

 

Reds only around here in this part of Ireland and the antis reckon that Pine Martins will kill greys but not reds which I find hard to believe unless the red can get out on the lighter branches to safety or can travel quicker. I remember seeing greys when a young lad but not in years and the reds are still about. Only 15 or 20 miles away in seperate woods it seems to be all greys so they must not cross open ground that easily and stick to there own woods.

I'm sure I've read or seen that on tv before jiggy about the thinner branch's.

Have you seen many pine Martins about mate.

countrys full of them when out bushing for foxes in woods or on bogland we would rise more of them than foxes and they can move very fast ahead of dogs through cover and are 10 times more likely to run into a crack in the bog banks where terriers wouldn't get than to run up a tree. A very odd time the terriers would catch up with them and you have to tell the dog a firm no because they are protected.

[jiggy 3,209]

If pine martins were took off the protected list then squirrel populations would recover. Since the ban on setting poison came in a decade ago they have become a serious problem and will destroy the song bird populations and will take all birds off there roosts at night time. I seen one at night time walking across a branch after 4 or 5 thrushes roosting and they were walking sideways away from it but hadn't the brains to fly away in the dark. I've also seen them several times caught in Larsen traps trying to kill the decoy bird. Dozens of neighbours have lost fowl to them aswell and they are nothing short of filthy vermin and worse than any mink which won't usually climb. Antis claiming they live on fruit,berries and insects my arse.

[Hydropotesinermis 724]

 

Reds only around here in this part of Ireland and the antis reckon that Pine Martins will kill greys but not reds which I find hard to believe unless the red can get out on the lighter branches to safety or can travel quicker. I remember seeing greys when a young lad but not in years and the reds are still about. Only 15 or 20 miles away in seperate woods it seems to be all greys so they must not cross open ground that easily and stick to there own woods.

I'm sure I've read or seen that on tv before jiggy about the thinner branch's.

Have you seen many pine Martins about mate.

Red Squirrels are a more arboreal species that evolved alongside the Pine Marten. Greys spend much more time on the ground, and evolved remote from Pine Marten. The Pine Marten doesn't necessarily kill more Reds but interrupts their feeding patterns leading to less successful breeding.

 

The trade off is you will have an increased population of reds but an increased population of Pine Martens. Their main diet is Voles so i'd be interested to see the effect of increased PM numbers on a species like Barn Owl.

[Rabbit Hunter 6,613]

Has anyone seen a Pine Marten before? Id love to see one.

[zandy01 3,575]

When i was a kid I remember most of them being Red, but all Greys now unfortunately. (County Durham)

There are reds doing really well up on the moors near Blanchland/Edmundbyers (County Durham)

 

I took this back in late August last year up there

 

 

I was amazed just last week to see a red squirrel on my local patch and regular dog walk in Blyth, Northumberland and after speaking to a nearby resident, was informed he had reds coming to feeders in his garden regularly, about 400m from where I'd seen one so looks promising...

[jiggy 3,209]

Has anyone seen a Pine Marten before? Id love to see one.

seen hundreds but would prefer not to see them. I had one stuffed it was roadkill. Lots of people mistake them for mink but the mustard coloured throats and pointy ears is a give away and they are double the size of a mink and you could see one dead on road at least once a week. Edited February 3, 2017 by jiggy

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

The grey originated from USA where martins are common

[Hydropotesinermis 724]

The grey originated from USA where martins are common

Yeah. Different species of Martin to the Pine Marten

[Hydropotesinermis 724]

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-014-0632-7#page-1

 

Here's the research paper. Or one of them.

[Nik_B 3,790]

Apparently they have eradicated the grey squirrel out of Anglesey and the red is thriving there.

 

A map of the sightings of reds on Anglesey.

 

http://www.redsquirrels.info/map-holder/

 

TC

 

Yep thats true they have an eradication program running here. Also no badgers.

 

Best place to see them is newborough forest which is an old warren where they planted loads of conifers after the first world war.