Greys Vs Reds - Come on you Martens!

[10 Bears]

I have just read a quite interesting article. Although this is not a particularly scientific review, it puts forwards a case for a sensible solution to the "Grey squirrel" problem we have, and as the article says, it doesn't involve firing a shot.

 

How to eradicate grey squirrels without firing a shot

 

It's a solution that I personally would like to see rolled out where possible, but as the article summarises "the governance of the countryside is still dominated by titled amateurs, while those with professional knowledge and expertise are frozen out". OK, perhaps this is a little over-egged by a journalist, but in some respect, I feel he is correct.

 

Anyhow, an interesting read...

[Aunt Maud]

They should just import some Danes, they have a habit of shooting everything.

[TIMON]

There have been reported sightings of pine martens near where I live in Warwickshire. Fabulous animal.

[NFG]

They should just import some Danes, they have a habit of shooting everything.

 

Just like the French, see plenty of reds & not so many greys

 

its not often you see a fox as well.

 

 

N

[Aunt Maud]

We've been here for 5 years now and I've seen one squirrel, a red one funny enough, in someones back garden in town.

 

We do have Pine Martens though, so that may explain things on the squirrel front.

 

But I've seen about 10 different Deer, one Badger and one Hedgehog in all that time and we live in the middle of the country, surrounded by fields and woods.

 

There's nothing here, it's weird.

[Python]

Depends how you look at the squirrel situation....... They both have their flaws and since greys took over the universe the wild bird population has actually benefited! Reds are more carnivorous than greys and eat eggs and chicks as a staple where as greys only predate bird nests when they get desperate

[sloth]

On Mersea island where I live there are no grey, a couple of years ago they introduced reds. So far, it seems they are starting to breed, so a success...

[peatff]

Depends how you look at the squirrel situation....... They both have their flaws and since greys took over the universe the wild bird population has actually benefited! Reds are more carnivorous than greys and eat eggs and chicks as a staple where as greys only predate bird nests when they get desperate

 

Where did you find that "fact" ? Greys are omnivorous and being bigger and more populous they obviously eat more so can you show me a reference to your evidence please ? I have looked myself and can find nothing to support this.

[drinksloe]

Depends how you look at the squirrel situation....... They both have their flaws and since greys took over the universe the wild bird population has actually benefited! Reds are more carnivorous than greys and eat eggs and chicks as a staple where as greys only predate bird nests when they get desperate

 

 

Most people/conservationists/charities believe the oppisate that greys are more canivorous than reds . Thats the 1st time i've ever heard that.

 

Generally greys tend to live at 6-10 times the density of reds, so even if they are less canivorous they'd have to be 6-10 times less canivourous to make any diference.

Most reeasrch/best practice also points to grey squirrel control to help song bird populations. Pretty sure Songbird Survival (a very good bird charity) have proved this and are carrying out more studies on this

 

As for the article, the man's a complete idiot and lives with his head is some fantastical disneyfied world.

While it is true PM's will actively target greys and in quite a few places in scotland are noticing reds coming back as PM become far more common, not really that rare in some parts now, infact quite common.

 

Assuming we go do the intro PM route, wot happens in 10,20,30 years time if they are so succesfull and PM have bred to such numbers to wipe out greys and see reds spread back into new areas.

Wot will all these PM now eat? Will they just lie back, job done and starve?

Or will they turn thier attention to anything else they can catch (any ground nesting birds, song birds or rabbits).

PM will happyily raid hen houss etc and are tremendous predators and very clever

 

If u look on the BTO list there is an awful lot of amber and red listed species that used to be pretty common, while everyone like to blame nasty farmers/foresters for habitat destruction in the past 30 yrs when the biggest decline has happened they're has been very little habitat loss as farmers are so tied up with CAP/SFP schemes, and in many cases habitat has improved in that time but birds still declining rapidly.

The 1 thing that has increased massively in that 30 years is pedattion wether from corvids, badgers BoP or cats, introing another predator to strained ecosystems is not a good idea long term.

 

Bit like the cane toads in OZ, solved a problem but created a far bigger problem

[felixthelogchopper]

On Mersea island where I live there are no grey, a couple of years ago they introduced reds. So far, it seems they are starting to breed, so a success...

 

That's something I never knew.