Red Squirrels at Formby

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raythefab

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I went to Formby on wednesday to see the Red squirrels sadly there was notices on the trees, saying sadly due to the pox seeing red squirrels isnt an everyday occurence anymore, 80 of them have had to be treated with the vets, Lets hope they get the all clear:'(
 
Happened a while back Ray. Hopefully they will get sorted.
 
These's some evidence that red squirrels may be developing resistance to squirrel pox, which is to be expected - providing the species is resilient/prolific enough to survive for long enough - and this is encouraging.

They're quite common where we live in SW Scotland and I'd hate to see them disappear. How do you feel about the proposal to exterminate the greys, assuming it is feasible? I can see it running into PR problems, because greys do have a certain "cute" factor and some people are probably going to be horrified. OTOH, the Forestry Commission used to have a bounty on them and we shot them with scoped air rifles/.22s to earn money for shotgun cartridges, which were a lot more expensive. Of course, this was back in the days before guns were demonised.................
 
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MartynK said:
These's some evidence that red squirrels may be developing resistance to squirrel pox, which is to be expected - providing the species is resilient/prolific enough to survive for long enough - and this is encouraging.

They're quite common where we live in SW Scotland and I'd hate to see them disappear. How do you feel about the proposal to exterminate the greys, assuming it is feasible? I can see it running into PR problems, because greys do have a certain "cute" factor and some people are probably going to be horrified. OTOH, the Forestry Commission used to have a bounty on them and we shot them with scoped air rifles/.22s to earn money for shotgun cartridges, which were a lot more expensive. Of course, this was back in the days before guns were demonised.................
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How do you feel about the proposal to exterminate the greys

Id second that:thumbs:
 
I think it's probably a good idea. There is a school of thought that the grey invasion, and the threat to the reds, is just part of an ecological process that has been going on since the dawn of life. Species spread, diversify, succeed and fail through lots of different mechanisms, including human interference, and about 99% of the species that have populated the earth have become extinct. This is different. The species has no history in the UK, doesn't appear to play any positive role in the ecosystem, isn't remotely endangered, and is a deadly threat to the reds. I can't see any particular reasons why we shouldn't just wipe them out and return to the position we were in before the 1870s. I would just prefer that this be done in a humane way, without poisons. This is a filthy way to kill, and creates its own risks. Let's do it now, if we're going to, before the problem becomes completely unmanageable like rabbits in Australia were, or the mynah bird population in South Africa.
 
That is sad news. The reds are a delightful little creature, I'm often in the highlands and the reds with near peroxide tails are wonderful to watch.

One day (no doubt a long way off and numerous disasters later) someone will realise that we shouldn't be introducing non-native species. look at the history of this type of activity, Grey Squirrels, Signal Crayfish the list is long. Rabbits in australia its the, same principle.

I know these were introduced a long time ago but the with this knowledge we shouldnt be looking at repeating the process again anytime in the future.

I was speaking to a wildlife trusts leader and he was reporting that greys have been spotted in Northern Ireland, a location previously without, and further more they were on the news just last month looking introducing a parasite to kill the japanese knot wood plant. A plant that once again was imported.

Isn't this all a little familiar to the lady who swallowed a fly ?
 
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Greys were introduced to the UK in the 1870s, and to Ireland in the early 1900s, which wasn't really all that long ago. About 5 - 6 human generations. They're common in both countires.
 
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