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Latest Newsletter
November 2008
The Naked Oak
Stripped Bare by Greys
Photograph by Bede Howe
EDITORIAL
GREY SQUIRREL DAMAGE
We are indebted to Bede Howell for the dramatic photograph of the naked oak at LeaseowesPark near
Dudley. At the same time we hear that trees planted at Highgrove in Gloucestershire have been severely damaged this summer and Andrew Falcon can be seen below, examining a promising young oak in Norfolk
where grey squirrels have turned timber potential into firewood. Britain’s lowland landscape in 100 years
may look very different as our tall forest trees are replaced by scrub. If we are to maintain productive
woodland, keep the landscape looking as it does, save our native squirrel from oblivion and maintain a
healthy population of woodland birds, then the American squirrel must go. Otherwise, It’s Goodbye to all That.
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Fortunately the tide of public opinion is turning. The active support of red squirrels by the Scottish
Government marks a significant shift in the way public bodies view red squirrels. For the first time in
Britain, a government has openly taken steps to protect this threatened species. This action gives huge encouragement to the hundreds of hardworking volunteers across the UK.
Press reports increasingly support efforts to save the red squirrel.
The birth of a new national charity, the Red Squirrel Survival Trust, under the patronage of the Prince of
Wales is therefore well timed to take advantage of growing support.
THE NATIONAL FOREST
The National Forest consists of 200 square miles where previous mineral extraction had severely damaged
parts of the landscape in the area where Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire meet. The National Forest Company, backed by the Countryside Commission and now by DEFRA has dramatically improved the
landscape by tree planting and helped the community, restoring a sense of local pride.
This whole project was startlingly new in 1993, when Sir John Johnson, Chairman of the Countryside Commission wrote in the Strategy document
"The whole philosophy of the Forest is to be imaginative in outlook and dynamic and enterprising in approach".
Later the main document states in various places "It is possible to grow up to 100 or so top quality
broadleaved final crop trees per hectare from commercial plantations and farm woods. Production of high-quality, marketable timber should be the prime planting objective from these sites."
“Woodland management will be encouraged to grow high quality timber”.
An objective is to “promote best management practice for the control of wildlife pests and injurious weeds”, finally, leading to “ensuring that the Forest is a test bed for new ideas and an exemplar of
sustainable development and best practice”.
Tree planting is an excellent way of bringing separate groups of people together and instilling a lasting
interest in the trees which they have planted. The National Memorial Arboretum just outside Burton-on-Trent is the jewel in the crown where the sense of community runs strongest.
Will this community sense turn very sour when grey squirrels are seen to do serious damage to “our”
trees? Therefore in September 2008 interested parties were called together by the National Forest Company to discuss how this great challenge is to be met, and overcome.
Sporadic damage by grey squirrels was seen in Willesley Wood (The Woodland Trust) as early as March
2004, the victim being sally willow; by 2008 many planted trees, including superbly growing oaks, were stripped of their bark.
What will happen in the wood called “Royal Tiger”, largely beech planted by the Leicestershire Regiment?
Will their hopes and proud tradition end in a scrubby deformed woodland?
Within the National Memorial Arboretum each of the British-flagged merchant ships lost to enemy action is
represented by an oak – 2,535 of them. Are grey squirrels – originally imported from our allies in America – to mutilate these trees, as torpedoes mutilated the ships and their crews?
To prevent this, the September meeting looked at the tree damage situation to date; assessed the areas
at greatest risk and agreed to set up a Woodland Owners’ club where awareness and training in effective grey squirrel control can be integrated.
Over all of this the Management of the National Forest Company must keep, (if the Chief Executive will
excuse the term), a paternal eye – and discipline - so that the excellent ideas which set up the Forest continue to be realized both on the ground and in the people.
CUMBRIA AND NORTHUMBERLAND
Good news of any kind seems very welcome at the moment so it is a pleasure to report that red squirrels
are showing signs of making a comeback in the north of England.
There has been much written about the demise of the British red squirrel in favour of the introduced
American grey. About 15 years ago, many people in the north of England realised what was happening
and formed red squirrel conservation groups in an effort to save this beautiful little creature. The groups
have increased in strength and numbers so that Cumbria is now about 90% covered and Northumberland
groups are rapidly spreading across the county, all forming a well coordinated network under the umbrella of Northern Red Squirrels.
In 2007 it seemed as though we were losing the battle because no matter how hard we worked, the greys
seemed to just keep coming and coming, breeding vigorously in those areas with no control and spreading
into the red territories, bringing the squirrelpox virus with them. However, the results in 2008 have been
very encouraging with more people getting involved in controlling the greys, thus enabling the reds to breed well and disperse into new territories. Throughout the summer there have been sightings of red
squirrels in places where they have not been seen for years in gardens, parks, on farms, small woodlands, plantations and even some urban areas. This story has been repeated over the whole of Cumbria and
much of Northumberland but only where there is consistent and ongoing grey control.
Red squirrels have also been seen in north Lancashire, in areas where they were thought to be extinct.
Unfortunately their future does not look good since there is no widespread grey control there at the moment, although there are some volunteers starting to set up groups. The Yorkshire Dales National Park
Authority is reporting more sightings of reds and is actively encouraging grey control with volunteer groups. With more people becoming interested it is hoped that grey control can be started in Durham in
the near future and north of the Border, Scotland has an intimidating force of squirrel officers making sure that there are no incursions from the south.
The food supply this winter may present a problem for the reds in that beech mast and hazel are almost
non-existent in most areas, although there do seem to be plenty of smaller fruits, seeds and berries. We are therefore encouraging supplementary feeding by means of regularly disinfected feeders to keep the
reds strong through the winter and spring.
There are still plenty of grey squirrels left but we are constantly working to attack the ‘black spots’ and to
have continuous control in all other areas. Could we end up with one big Red Squirrel Reserve in the north of England? Wouldn’t that be wonderful!
Jackie Foott and Sally Hardy
Northern Red Squirrels
www.northernredsquirrels.co.uk
BATTLES IN CUMBRIAN WOODLANDS
Anthropomorphic? Perhaps. Published at the beginning of World War II, Richard Church’s delightful tale, A Squirrel Called Rufus, is written with prescient foreboding, and in the manner of woodland lore and
language. It tells of the epic struggle our native reds have with the introduced North American greys.
That was sixty years ago; in Cumbria now, we have declared war on greys. This we have done in conjunction with our Northumbrian neighbours, and it is encouraging to acknowledge the excellent work of
Lord Redesdale’s Red Squirrel Protection Partnership in that county.
We receive not a sou, nor a word of encouragement from government; but it does not deter the numerous
voluntary groups across the county. Fund-raising and publicity events are necessary; we occasionally
lock horns in the press with those who disagree with us. Traps are essential and expensive; the grey
tsunami is a constant threat. Trapping has led to our equipment being vandalised. Trapping also demands commitment:
consider the nurse who, on leaving night duty, goes off to the woods to check her traps. Later, after sleeping, she returns to the woods to inspect them again before resuming night duty once more
. We can find those who have raised, and released into the wild, orphaned Reds. Squirrel feeders and other devices are made and distributed to those whose gardens
might be visited by reds.
A couple of veterinary practices have made sterling efforts to treat infected Reds. Yes, we have
outbreaks of squirrelpox virus and adenovirus; and our dead squirrels are taken to the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Penrith, but we soldier on. There is a Cumbrian co-ordinator for our voluntary groups
and, to link us with our Northumbrian neighbours, we have the umbrella activities of Northern Red Squirrels.
There are not enough of us; we would like more volunteers; but with apologies to the great man himself –
never in the field of woodland conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. This missive is a battle
cry to government, local authorities and the public to act and help us to hang on to what is arguably our
greatest natural treasure. The volunteer groups of Cumbria are determined that they will play their part to
save the red squirrel and to ensure that there is always a place for ‘Rufus’ in Cumbrian woodlands.
Bernard Widdowson
SOUTH SCOTLAND
Red Squirrels in South Scotland (RSSS) was started in 2000 to promote red squirrel conservation and the
control of grey squirrels. It is now in its fourth phase and there has been a significant shift in focus away from survey, monitoring and habitat management to a much greater emphasis on grey squirrel control.
For some time, there had been a feeling in south Scotland that the top down approach to red squirrel
conservation had not worked and that there was resistance from the public sector to deal with the most obvious threat to red squirrel conservation, the grey squirrel.
The arrival of squirrelpox and the devastating effects it has on the red squirrel population has galvanised
locals into a bottom up approach to confront the spread of the virus. RSSS is a private sector led project
which has received significant ministerial support from Mike Russell and has brought us into partnership with the public and voluntary sector.
RSSS feels that this a last ditch attempt in saving the red squirrel in the south by stopping the spread of
squirrelpox and keeping the infected grey squirrel from meeting up with the uninfected grey squirrel pushing down from the Central Belt.
RSSS has two project officers, one funded by Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Wildlife Trust and
one by the Red Squirrel Survival Trust; two trappers funded by Scottish Natural Heritage, four trappers funded by Forest Enterprise and one funded by the Scottish Wildlife Trust.
The project officers will recruit landowners and managers into a grey squirrel Control Network across south
Scotland using the Scottish Rural Development Programme to help fund grey squirrel control. Our aim is to create a cordon sanitaire across south Scotland and we will use the trappers to fill in any gaps in the
private sector ownerships within the control zone.
RSSS will monitor and prioritise the grey squirrel control effort, initially targeting the squirrel pox outbreak
areas to protect the red squirrel populations and then targeting the grey squirrel incursion routes from the south and from the north to keep the infected and uninfected populations apart.
Everyone involved in the project is aware of the importance of what we are trying to do. If we fail – we
lose the native red squirrel in south Scotland and it will massively speed up the local extinctions of red squirrel in the rest of Scotland.
For many years, we have been calling for consistent and concerted grey squirrel control across the land
ownership boundaries. We now seem to have the political will to make this happen. We need champions and ambassadors to recruit and to promote collaboration in this united cause. And we need the public
onside to feed in information, to support the clearance of grey squirrel which will allow the red squirrel to expand and recolonise its lost territory.
Andy Wiseman
Scottish Red
Photograph by Gareth Pritchard
SQUIRRELPOX VACCINE FOR RED SQUIRRELS
The research phase of the project to develop a vaccine to combat the squirrelpox virus in red squirrels will
take three years at a cost of £408,000. The Wildlife Ark Trust has already raised the required £255,000 to pay for the first two years work. Further donations and interest on the capital means that it has also
secured a further £65,000 of the £153,000 required for Year 3 of the research. It means that the Trust now has a breathing space of two years in which to raise the remaining £88,000. It is already exploring
three different avenues for raising the outstanding amount and is very confident of success.
More disappointingly, the Trust was informed that the scientist who had been appointed to lead the
research, which was scheduled to start on the 1st October, has decided to take another job. The search
is now on for another suitable candidate and the Trust expects the research to start before the end of the year.
Robert Wilkin, Chairman, WildlifeArk Trust
REVIEW OF RED SQUIRREL CONSERVATION IN NORTHERN ENGLAND
ESI has contributed to the cost of a review of methods used to protect red squirrels in northern England.
The review is supervised by Natural England who have sought information from red squirrel groups and others. There has been a stronger than expected response which has delayed the date for the findings to
be published. The report is now due out at the end of January 2009.
THE RED SQUIRREL SURVIVAL TRUST
A new national charity under the patronage of HRH, The Prince of Wales will be launched in the New Year.
Its purpose is to raise funds to prevent the extinction of red squirrels in Britain. Funding will be sought from both charitable trusts and the public, and channelled to groups culling grey squirrels near the
red/grey interface.
The Trust director Joshua Perry previously established a successful African charity, the MicroLoan Foundation.
Joshua is based in London and may be contacted on joshua.perry@rsst.org.uk. “We will work closely with
existing red squirrel groups and assist them in ways that they themselves suggest. After all, they have
been in the field for years and know their own territory better than any outsider” he said. The Trust has also appointed squirrel experts Charles Dutton, author of The Red Squirrel and Dr Craig Shuttleworth of
Anglesey Red Squirrels to help in its work.
RSST VISIT TO NORTHERN ENGLAND
Dr Craig Shuttleworth and Miles Barne travelled to northern England in early November to meet some of
the people involved in red squirrel conservation.
“I was hugely impressed with the vigour and dynamic approach being adopted by local groups, especially
their unilateral decision to form a Northern Red Squirrel federation which although independent of Natural England, Red Alert, SoS and RSPP, is willing to foster relations with such groups.
A common theme was a desire not only to protect local red squirrels through grey control, but to see
greys removed completely from the northern landscape.
I did not expect to see such a well organised network of local groups. It is impressive and has the media
and political advantage in that it is truly local people fighting for local reds rather than a government-run
regional project in the form so often seen before. These local groups were formed and exist without significant external support or financial backing. They evolved
and are unlikely to disappear (contrast with the ephemeral nature of the 2-3 year funded regional projects). Their message is simple and defiant and I liked it.
Craig Shuttleworth
ANGLESEY
Following from the successful reintroduction of red squirrels into the Newborough pine forest and coastal
broadleaved woodland near Beaumaris, this autumn will see red squirrels return to another former stronghold. Animals will be released into oak, beech and sycamore dominated woodland in the south west
of Anglesey.
More than twenty years have passed since the last reds graced the magnificent broadleaved boughs in
the south west of the island. Calloused beech stems bear testament to the fact that the non-native grey squirrel once abounded within the woodland, but the pest has now been eradicated to herald the
triumphant return of our indigenous red.
Carefully developed release protocols are being followed, with the red squirrels held in woodland
enclosures for four weeks prior to their release. A network of forest nest boxes and supplemental feeders provide transitional support as the animals gradually adjust to the wild.
In a further interesting update, David Everest of Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Weybridge has
discovered that the sudden and significant group mortality recorded in the Newborough forest reintroduction enclosures during the summer of 2005, was associated with adenovirus. The virus was also
linked to deaths of wild red squirrels in 2006 and captive juvenile red squirrels during the autumn of 2007.
Adenovirus is clearly of significance in the husbandry of captive red squirrels and a surveillance program is now in place on the island to detect further cases.
Craig Shuttleworth
NATURAL ENGLAND
ESI exchanged views on red squirrel conservation with senior officers at Natural England in October.
Natural England has signed up to the defence of red squirrel reserves in northern England but accepted
that the reserves were not working well. They questioned the level of public support for grey squirrel culling and ESI has since sent them the detailed analysis of the 2008 survey of public opinion. The
independent survey conducted annually for the past five years shows a consistently strong level of public support for culling greys to protect reds.
The contrast between the robust action of the Scottish Government to save its red squirrels and the limp-wristed apathy of Natural England is striking.
OUTRAGE IN LONDON
Ham & High 24 of North London ran a piece entitled Residents outrage as squirrels threaten woodland, in
late June. The paper reported that grey squirrels had greatly increased and were stripping bark from trees
in Highgate Wood and in the grounds of Kenwood House. “By stripping bark from trunks and branches, the ravenous rodents are causing potentially deadly damage to mature trees on the Heath and in Highgate
Wood.”
BERN CONVENTION
ESI has been invited to attend the next meeting in Strasbourg this month. ESI’s views will be expressed in
a discussion concerning the continued existence of grey squirrels in northern Italy and the threat they pose to Italy and to the rest of Europe.
LOBBYING
At Westminster, Parliamentary questions concerning Britain’s commitment to the Bern Convention and the
release of grey squirrels into the wild under licence from Natural England were asked during the summer.
In answer to a question on warfarin usage, the minister, Joan Ruddock, said that any increased use of
warfarin would go against the stringent requirements in the UK Woodland Assurance Scheme, an answer which suggests that the Minister had not given the subject much thought.
On September 25th, Murdo Fraser, MSP, initiated a debate in the Scottish Parliament on action to
protect red squirrels.
In Brussels Avril Doyle MEP (Ireland) asked parliamentary questions relating to the apparent change in
funding priorities when it came to biodiversity. The downgrading of biodiversity is a matter of grave concern to conservationists.
SQUIRREL ATTACK
An injured red squirrel named Elvis the Pelvis left a pensioner who came to his rescue in need of hospital
treatment. The six-month old rodent sank his teeth into squirrel fanatic Ernie Gordon’s finger and
thumb—leaving the retired civil servant in need of a tetanus injection and a course of antibiotics.
Mr Gordon who wrote children’s book The Adventures of Rusty Redcoat Volume 1, had been called out to rescue the squirrel after workmen spotted the injured animal in a timber yard in Alnwick, Northumberland.
Eastern Daily Press
Photograph by Niall Benvie
ITALY
The grey squirrel area in Piemonte is constantly spreading. It is interesting to note that private parks
around old mansions in south west Piemonte are more severely hit. Through several members of the
"Dimore Storiche" association I can map out and update the actual spread, and have reports on new territories freshly invaded.
When grey squirrel density explodes in these private parks, they colonise isolated buildings destroying
shutters and settling under the roof. They have now reached the lower part of the hills around Torino,
which means that they have an open road to the hilly, nut-rich Monferrato, and will join somewhere in the
Langhe/Roero region, the other group coming from south east (Racconigi and Savigliano, Cuneoprovinc).
Local authorities seem to follow "ostrich" politics and - so far - are not helping the territory and its dwellers at all.
Some good news is coming from Lombardy. Its Environment Department, together with the Museum of
Natural History have organised a congress on "Alien species in Italy: invasiveness and action plans", for
November 27-28th. Our good friends Sandro Bertolino, Luc Wauters and Piero Genovesi will be speakers on the grey squirrel issue. I shall most likely attend.
On the Swiss side I am glad to report that the TV grey squirrel documentary being created by Andreas
Moser is now being shot, with the first part filmed here during the September hazelnut harvest. It should be ready by late Spring 2009.
Filippo Gautier
ESI WISH ALL OUR READERS A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR
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