SquirrelWeb

A 2017 survey by Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS) has indicated that red squirrels in Scotland have stabilised throughout much of the country, although there are regional differences. For example, there have been gains in the north-east around Aberdeen where grey squirrels have been extensively culled, and gains around Loch Lomand and the Trossachs National Park, but few red squirrels are now seen in Berwickshire in the south. The full report by Mahboobeh Shirkhorshidi and Mel Tonkin is available to download (also see The Scotsman, the Mail Online, Pressreader). SSRS was awarded a £2.4m National Lottery grant last year towards the conservation of red squirrels in Scotland.

Recently the UK Government has stressed out the need to control grey squirrels to prevent bark-stripping damage to trees. The BBC Programme, Daily Politics,  debated the issue on 30/1/18 with Craig Shuttleworth from Bangor University, and Natalia Doran from the group Urban Squirrels (see a clip BBC News).

A new 354 ha forest is to be planted at Doddington North Moor, in Northumberland in the north of England over the next two to three years. The Forestry Commission have approved plans for planting >600,000 trees,; these will include 146 ha of Sitka spruce, 72 ha of native broadleaves and 46 ha of Scots pine/native broadleaves. The site is within the Kyloe red squirrel reserve buffer zone, and the new forest will benefit the red squirrels in 15 to 20 years time when the conifers start to produce seed. (See Doddington North Afforestation Project, The Telegraph, The Independent, Confor, Smallholder).

Police in Sea Girt, New Jersey apprehended a squirrel on Saturday morning accused of vandalising the annual Christmas Lights display (IBTimes, India, UK PressFrom, MSN). Whilst this probably results from some cheeky wire nibbling by the grey squirrel; the picture of what looks suspiciously like a Eurasian red squirrel that accompanies some of these reports is rather worrying!

Over 80 red squirrels moved from various parts of Scotland to areas in the north west Highlands which did not have squirrels, are doing well and starting to spread into new areas (BBC News). The relocations were first carried out in spring 2016 and spring 2017. The project is led by Trees for Life.

Studies on a ~1000-year-old skull of a Medieval woman from Hoxne in the East of England by scientists from the University of Cambridge, showed signs that she had suffered from leprosy. Similar signs of the same strain of leprosy have been found in skeletal remains from Denmark and Sweden from the same period. It is believed that the leprosy bacteria could have been transmitted to England from Europe on red squirrel meat and skins, traded by the Vikings at this time. Leprosy is believed to have been common in the British Isles for hundreds of years. In the early parts of this century, leprosy was identified in red squirrels from Scotland, and from  the Isle of Wight and Brownsea Island off the coast of southern England. The strain of leprosy is similar to that in the Hoxne woman. The original paper was published in the Journal of Microbiology and has since been widely reported (e.g. BBC News, Forbes, Hospital Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Daily Mail Online). Although thought to have died out over 200 years ago, cases of leprosy continue to be reported in the UK (The Telegraph).

*Avanzi, C., del-Pozo, J., Benjak, A., Stevenson, K., Simpson, V. R., Busso, P., . . . Meredith, A. L. (2016). Red squirrels in the British Isles are infected with leprosy bacilli. Science, 354(6313), 744-747. doi:10.1126/science.aah3783

**Inskip, S., Taylor, G. M., Anderson, S., & Stewart, G. (2017). Leprosy in pre-Norman Suffolk, UK: biomolecular and geochemical analysis of the woman from Hoxne. Journal of Medical Microbiology, 66(11), 1640-1649. doi:doi:10.1099/jmm.0.000606

Also:

Rawlcliffe, Carole (2016)Leprosy in Medieval England. 440 pages. Boydell & Brewer, UK.

A poxvirus called BerSQPV has been isolated from red squirrels near Berlin in Germany. Several abandoned weak young red squirrels were given to a squirrel sanctuary in 2015 and 2016. Each one showed some signs similar to squirrelpox virus in red squirrels in Britain and Ireland including exudative and erosive-to-ulcerative dermatitis and scabs to the ears, nose, tail and in the genital/perianal region. The orthopoxvirus identified by Gundren Wibbelt from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin and colleagues appears new and could not be assigned to any other known poxvirus group. Comparisons with a SQPV virus identified from a red squirrel in Spain in 2011 have yet to be made. It is possible that the disease has been established in the area for several years. Further details can be found here.

The Grey Squirrel: Ecology & Management of an Invasive Species in Europe(2016) Eds. Craig Shuttleworth, Peter Lurz & John Gurnell. European Squirrel Initiative, Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, UK. ISBN-10: 0954757645; ISBN-13: 978-0954757649. This book can be ordered from European Squirrel Initiative, 26 Rural Innovation Centre, Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, CV8 2LG using this form.

From the cover

Love them or hate them, grey squirrels in Britain and Ireland evoke a wide range of reactions and emotions in people. Some consider these ‘alien’ invaders the usurper of our native red squirrel, a forest pest or a nuisance to gardeners but others love them and watch and feed them in woodlands, parks and gardens. To many people, grey squirrels are one of the few endearing wildlife encounters they may have. This volume presents a comprehensive and unique collection of peer-reviewed papers by scientists, experts and managers on critical aspects of grey squirrel biology, their parasites, diseases and management.

There are papers that provide an overview of grey squirrels in their native range, their reproduction, diet and ranging behaviour, morphometric differences between red and grey Love them or hate them, grey squirrels in Britain and Ireland evoke a wide range of reactions and emotions in people. Some consider these ‘alien’ invaders the usurper of our native red squirrel, a forest pest or a nuisance to gardeners but others love them and watch and feed them in woodlands, parks and gardens. To many people, grey squirrels are one of the few endearing wildlife encounters they may have. This volume presents a comprehensive and unique collection of peer-reviewed papers by scientists, experts and managers on critical aspects of grey squirrel biology, their parasites, diseases and management.

Other papers discuss pine martens and their potential impact on grey squirrel populations, grey squirrel economic damage, population management and the use of computer modelling research to help predict likely grey squirrel expansion and target limited resources. For the first time, wider ecosystem impacts of grey squirrels in different European habitats are also examined and knowledge gaps clearly identified. Despite a long presence of grey squirrels in Britain and Ireland, research funding has largely been focused on forest damage, red squirrel competition and disease, and many other impacts of grey squirrel ecology remain unexplored.

We hope that this volume will provide informative and interesting reading for managers, naturalists and researchers alike and anybody who wishes to know more about the biology, ecology and management of this highly successful species. The Editors.

There have been several recent reports in the media of a family of at least four white ‘grey’ squirrels living in the Barnton area of Edinburgh, Scotland. White morphs, which are not the same as alibinos with red eyes, result from a gene mutation that codes for pigmentation. They are rare in the UK. See: BBC News; The Scotsman; Edinburgh Evening News; Angle News; World News Metro

An EU funded and National Lottery Sciurus Life project is launched that will enable local communities across the north of England and Wales to become involved in conserving the red squirrel. The Sciurius Life project aims are to:

• Develop mechanisms to prevent the unintentional introduction of grey squirrels to currently uncolonised woodland landscapes;
• Develop early warning/rapid response mechanisms to ensure the island of Anglesey in North Wales is not recolonised;
• Develop rapid response mechanisms to mitigate the impacts of grey squirrels in urban woodlands with high biodiversity and tourism value;
• Develop early warning systems to detect grey squirrels in sparsely populated rural landscapes;
• Develop more efficient strategic mechanisms to evolve community-based grey squirrel management;
• Quantify the financial and community-based resources needed to achieve regional eradication;
• Share knowledge gained across the EU;
• Use knowledge exchange and trust building processes to aid the development of a broader invasive alien species management;
• Test the impact of measures to increase public awareness and community capacity associated with grey squirrel management;
• Inform the development of a long-term management framework for grey squirrels in the UK.

The project will run until December 2019. Further information and a full list of partners can be found at: SciuriousLIFE and Red Squirrels Trust Wales.