Talkback: Grey squirrels - Page 2

Reds cause damage and eat birds eggs and fledglings too. That is why they were hunted in the past. There were clubs set up solely to hunt red squirrels. They were considered a pest. People saw reds as vermin. How things have changed. Now the grey is called vermin and a pest. It is vilified just as the red was. Now the red squirrel can do no wrong. Has any-one considered how many reds are actually native. Reds from Norway were introduced into this country to try and boost the population. How many of our native reds are truly native. Yet again we have decided to blame another creature for our own short comings. If we hadn't depleted the red populations by over hunting and habitat destruction, thay might have had a fighting chance when the greys were introduced. And how far do we go when we talk about introduced species. Domestic animals and pets are non-native. Most plants and flowers in our gardens are non-native. Our crops are mostly of non-native origin. There are many tree species that are non-native. Pheasants are introduced but no-one seems to mind thousands of them being let loose in our countryside each year so rich people can have their bit of fun. If you look at it we are an introduced species. Our original home being Africa. So shall we get rid of the lot of them and get the countryside back to the way it was just after the last ice age. To be honest what is native to the UK. Ecosystems have changed over millions of years. What is considered a native species now wasn't a few million years ago for instance. We can not preserve our wild life in amber. It has changed in the past and will continue to do so. What we must do how ever is try not to mess things up any more than we have done already. Time to live with and not against nature.

A couple of weeks ago I was in my garden when my 6 year old son alerted me to a grey squirrel, he was absolutely fascinated by it. Seeing the obvious enjoyment he was getting from the little fellow spurred me to try and fight a place where he could perhaps see a lot of them. As I live in Suffolk my wife decided that we should visit the local a href=“http://www.suffolkwildlife.co.uk/reserves.htm“>nature reserve We had a fabulous time, and my son did in fact see a great many more squirrels!

Update The distinction between native and non is not a very helpful one when deciding how to manage wildlife. The real question is whether the non-native species is invasive and detrimental. These are not easy questions for which to give a straight answer. The best I can offer is my usual fairly glib response: it is only a pest if it reaches pest proportions.

Why are grey squirrels taking rounded stones about 2"-3" long from the garden rockery I can understand moss etc for dreys but why stones!

we recently took delivery of a bird table fitted with squirrel proof bird feeders (Aspect2)within 2 days the sqirrels hand learnt to open the hinged lids which I have now had to tie down with wire clips but they still keep trying and are now making do with one nut at a time but I bet they will find a way in.