SquirrelWeb

On 18th March 2014, Oliver Heald, the Solicitor General, informed a government committee on deregulation: “The order requires occupiers to report the presence of grey squirrels on their land to facilitate the eradication of that species. However, it is no longer considered feasible to eradicate grey squirrels, so the requirement to report their presence on one’s land is no longer useful or observed” ((See TheyWorkForYou). The Grey Squirrels (Prohibition of Importation and Keeping) Order of 1937 therefore is to be abolished. It is noteworthy that it does not appear that anyone has ever been prosecuted for failing to report grey  squirrels in their garden. Apparently, the Environment Minister (Owen Paterson) will maintain the power to order the destruction of grey squirrels in parts of the country where red squirrels are present. For reaction see: The Journal,  The Telegraph, The Telegraph (Steven Swinford), The Telegraph (James Kirby), The Telegraph (Joe Shute).

A study recently published in PLOS ONE (also see Publications Page) by a team of leading researchers led by Quercus, the biodiversity and conservation research centre at Queen’s University, Belfast, indicates that the virus could be spread from grey squirrel to grey squirrel or grey squirrel to red squirrel in various ways. The virus, which is invariably fatal to red squirrels but benign to grey squirrels, may be passed in urine, faeces or by ectoparasites such as fleas, mites and ticks. Moreover, the scientists found that the virus can survive outside the body, especially in warm, dry conditions in spring and summer. At the present time, keeping the two species apart to reduce encounter rates is the only real way of slowing or preventing the spread of the disease.

A recent study by a team of scientists led by Prof. Anna Meredith (Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh) has found that the red squirrels on the Isle of Arran are fit and in good health with no signs of the presence of squirrelpox virus. Arran is one of 19 Scottish red squirrel strongholds and particularly important because there are no grey squirrels on the island. The study, funded by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species and Forestry Commission Scotland, has featured widely in the news (Times, Scotsman (photo!!!), Metro, Daily Mail, Daily Express, Daily Record, Herald, Courier, Evening Telegraph, CBBC, STV News) also looked at ways to safeguard the population into the future including managing the forests in ways that will benefit the red squirrels.

Some 10% of the red squirrels captured at the National Trust’s Red Squirrel Reserve at Formby, Lancashire in recent years have had antibodies to squirrelpox virus in their blood. Red squirrels at the Reserve were hit badly by an outbreak of pox in 2008, and the population has been recovering since then (BBC News) The recent studies carried out by the University of Liverpool show that at least some  wild red squirrels can recover from infection but further work is required on whether there is sufficient protection in the population to prevent another outbreak.

In October 2012, five red squirrels (one female and four males), were transported by helicopter from the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey, England to the Island of Tresco (297 ha) in the Scilly Isles off the coast of Cornwall in SW England. The aim  is to produce an island safe haven for the animals. A further 20 squirrels were moved by helicopter in September 2013. It is hoped the animals will breed next year in the woodlands around Abbey Gardens. The Establishment of red squirrels on Tresco has been organised collectively by Robin Page, the countryside editor of the Daily Telegraph, the British Wildlife Centre and the Countryside Restoration Trust (also see scillytoday, BBC News Cornwall, This is Cornwall).

Red Squirrels Northern England (RSNE) have recently published the Spring 2013 Report of their standardised squirrel monitoring programme across the north of England. The good news is that there has been  a 7% increase in tetrads (2 km by 2 km squares) reporting the presence of red squirrels since last year and an 18% decline in tetrads reporting the presence of grey squirrels. These positive findings reflect the very considerable efforts to monitor the presence of red and grey squirrels, and carry out targeted grey squirrel control, by conservation organisations and large numbers of volunteers. The story has been reported in The Telegraph.

Numbers of red squirrels seen on the Isle of Wight appear to have fallen this year. In a BBC News Hampshire and Isle of Wight article, it has been suggested that this results from a combination of the wet summer in 2012 affecting the survival of young animals, an increase in the number of buzzards hunting over the island and an increase in squirrels being infected by the parasitic disease toxoplasmosis from the faeces of domestic cats.

The 7th International Colloquium on Arboreal Squirrels will be held at the Finnish Museum of Natural History, LUOMUS at the University of Helsinki. Finland, on June 1–5, 2015. Further details can be found here.

In his introductory remarks to a conference about red squirrels held at Exeter University on 19th April 2013,  Richard Benyon, the Environment Minister, called for a sustainable and long term solution to stop the decline of the British red squirrel – see the report in the Western Morning News. The meeting attracted over 120 delegates from Britain, Ireland and Europe and included papers on work that is being undertaken to try and save the red squirrel.  One presentation by Natasha Collings from the Cornwall Red Squirrel Project outlined what is being done to return the red squirrel to two peninsulars, the Lizard and West Penwith, in the south-west of England where they have been absent for more than 25 years.

One for the pot?