The coastal pine woodlands at the National Trust Reserve at Formby hold one of the few remaining strongholds for red squirrels in northern England. However, recent news that the deadly squirrelpox virus, carried by alien grey squirrels, has entered the population is very worrying for their continuing survival. Walkers and local residents have been asked […]
A red squirrel was seen by passengers on a pleasure boat on Lake Ullswater in the Lake District in northern England; the animal was at least 270 m from the shore. The squirrel hitched a lift on the boat and returned to shore unscathed. For more on this story see news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cumbria/7096816.stm
A sick red squirrel with signs of squirrelpox virus was found near Lockerbie in south-west Scotland (20 miles from the border with England) on Tuesday 8th May. The squirrel was killed and tested at the Moredun Institute in Edinburgh, who confirmed the presence of the deadly virus believed to be carried by grey squirrels. This […]
Squirrels have bitten to death a stray dog which was barking at them in a Russian park. This is a story reported by the BBC News on the 1st December 2006 and has just come to the notice of the SquirrelWeb team. Black squirrels apparently attacked a dog in a park in the village of […]
The SquirrelWeb team wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2007. Please let us know about squirrel research being undertaken, update reports on current research, useful equipment and contacts, publications and any other items of general interest. Thank you.
It’s easy to make the right choices in a world that is predictable. For example we plan our holidays around average weather patterns and work schedules. Similarly, animals in the wild, time reproduction to match seasonal increases in food supply. However, if the world is unpredictable, making the right choice is far more difficult. That’s […]
The presence of alien North American grey squirrels is of extreme concern and could have potentially devasting impacts on native Eurasian red squirrels and woodland ecosyetms in central and southern Europe – see the Aliens and Current and Recent Projects web pages. A study on a recently discovered population of grey squirrels in Ticino Park, Lombardy (N […]
Andrea Grill from Italy has started a new project on the phylogeography and post-glacial history of the European squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris – see the Projects Page. You may be able to help if you have tissue samples of red squirrels from known locations throughout Western, Central, Southern and Eastern Europe. If this is the case, please […]
Recently, it was pointed out to us that a list of lesser known holidays published in the Washington Post included January 21st as Squirrel Appreciation Day. Apparently, this holiday only dates back to 2001. Further information about this holiday can be found at :www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/January/squirrelappreciation.htm Let’s all observe and celebrate Squirrel Appreciation Day by putting out […]
Happy New Year to everyone from the Squirrelweb Team.