Grumble

[Javelin]

Wrote out a long reply... 10760 characters apparently to an anti SURE zealot on DPR and the forum over there won't let me post if because it's too long.. so I break it up and I can't seem to post it no matter what I do.. dern it.. I was going to win the argument too..

Look a bunny!

[David Kilpatrick]

My neighbour, I think, disposed of our garden rabbit family. He paid to have boards fitted at the bottom of our fences to stop the rabbits getting near his flowerbeds, but that just shows he knows nothing about rabbits! As if... but they are all gone now. They have just culled all the grey squirrels in town too, appointed four squirrel control officers across the whole county, set to eliminate all grey squirrels - entirely.

That would be fine but I've never seen, or heard of, a red squirrel in our town centre. I've seen one once twenty miles north, in the countryside.

David

[Greg Beetham]

Wow Javelin, 10,000+ characters in a reply, now that's what I call a reply

David, how come they want to moider the cute little squirrels, it's not as if their rats, or something nasty...can't figure that one out, and the rabbits are gone as well, I wonder how they did them in.
Greg

[David Kilpatrick]

The cute little squirrels are 'rats with good PR'. The greys carry a virus which wipes out the native British red squirrel, an even cuter variety with beautiful colour and tufted ears, but also very shy and smaller. The greys can take over in urban environments, they monopolise food sources, and they quickly develop familiarity with humans. Our greys have only been around for about five years in the town centre (and visiting our garden) and they have not become 'feedable' yet, that would take another few generations. In Edinburgh, where they will surely cull all the grey squirrels very soon, the Princes Street Gardens colony will sit on the shoulders or arms of people eating sandwiches; they have become completely used to humans.

It's just become government policy in Scotland to encourage eradication of the grey population, in the hope of keeping the virus away from the remaining small pockets of reds. I suspect it will not save the red; they would be better off trapping and breeding red squirrels, and releasing them in safe locations. Scotland had thousands of loch and sea islands - some like Arran very large and well wooded - and red squirrel colonies could be established on islands large enough to support them, with no risk of grey squirrel introduction.

Unlike most shooters I don't have any really good natural squirrel shots and I am unlikely to get any now. Red squirrels are extremely difficult to photograph, as well as being a protected species; a top quality red squirrel eating nut shot, in the world, is worth good money from the calendar market.

They are re-introducing beavers to Scotland (absent for several hundred years), trying to stop the decline in pine marten populations, desperate to stop the extinction of the Scottish Wildcat, and considering the idea of having some wild wolves and bears.

David

[Greg Beetham]

Ah now I see, the grey squirrel is introduced, and carries a disease too boot, fair enough, the decline of woodlands is one of the major causes of animal extinctions, and not very easy too preserve in some places, especially places that have been settled for a few thousand years by "us".... I was looking at the full size reconstruction of the HMS Pandora's (the frigate sent to arrest the mutineers of the Bounty and subsequently struck a coral reef and sank not far from here) bow section in the Museum here some time back, wow the size of those timber frames and the keel..and along with being impressed with the workmanship I sort of wondered about how many of those wooden sailing ships that were built down through the ages, the mind boggles at how much timber that represents, but such is progress..you can't make an omelette etc...
Greg
ps Bears, hmm they would need an entire eco base established just so they could survive in the wild, it would be impressive if they could pull that off.

[Cogito]

And now, we have to watch out for another American import - the black squirrel....

This one was living in Seattle.

[Greg Beetham]

I thought that was a leg pull (black squirrels...yeah right), but I checked Wikipedia and there it was, sorry too be a doubting Thomas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_squirrel
Greg

[PhotoTraveler]

Black squirrels are pretty common. There is an office building near my old apartment where all the squirrels around it are black. Got some photos someplace.