Reds on the rebound
Animals entrance us, especially if they are bright eyed and bushy tailed.
Thus I’m sure that one Mr Brocklehurst, a Cheshire landowner, came under the spell of grey squirrels whilst on a visit to America. Indeed so charmed was he that he determined to bring some of these entertaining little fellows across the Atlantic and release them on his estate.
Unfortunately others were also charmed. Mr Brocklehurst’s two pairs of grey squirrels, released in Cheshire in 1876, were merely the thin end of what was to become a very large wedge. A procession of grey squirrels was soon to follow up and down the land. In 1896, a little bevy of them was released near Loch Long, the first grey squirrels to be seen in Scotland.
Conditions here in the UK suited these incomers so well that very soon they were doing what well-provisioned squirrels always do. They went forth and multiplied with a vengeance.
I don’t suppose that Mr Brocklehurst or any of the other landowners swept up in this tidal wave understood how devastating their actions would be.
The grey squirrels swept all before them. Being larger and considerably more aggressive than our own red squirrels, they soon established a dominance in what had been red squirrel territories, commanding the food supply and forcing the reds out.
And, worse, the grey squirrels carried a virus to which they were immune but which was deadly to red squirrels.
Introductions of greys to various parts of the country continued into the 1930s and included imports to both Dunfermline and Edinburgh.
When I arrived in this airt many moons ago, grey squirrels were everywhere. The place was hoaching with them. Not a red squirrel to be seen. However, the situation has been completely transformed.
Now I see no grey squirrels whatsoever but on a regular basis I do see red squirrels. And what has caused this transformation? The unexpected arrival of pine marten has been the catalyst for this very welcome change.
It must be 20-odd years ago since I saw my first pine marten in this area. I had seen them in the far north and west of Scotland, just as I had seen red squirrels there. Highland Scotland, by and large, was the one part of Great Britain where the grey squirrels had not established themselves. Certain gamekeepers located along the southern fringes of the Highlands had gone to considerable lengths to prevent grey squirrels colonising the region and were ready to shoot on sight.
Pine marten had been driven close to oblivion by those responsible for the welfare of game on sporting estates. However, a rump of the creatures had somehow managed to cling on in some of the remoter glens in the north and west. At last, when they received the protection of the law via the Wildlife and Countryside Act in 1981, pine marten began to expand their range.
One of the attractions for this new generation of pine marten, as they penetrated territory south of the Highlands, was the presence of grey squirrels. Grey squirrels, being larger than reds, are not as agile as their native counterparts.
They cannot seek salvation on narrow branches so they are relatively easy prey for martens and a better square meal to boot. Thus have pine marten prospered and quite rapidly expanded their range.
As a direct result the alien grey squirrels here have totally disappeared and red squirrels have slowly filled the vacant territories. Now, happily, hereabouts we only see red squirrels and in recent days I have enjoyed regular sightings as they busy themselves laying in stores for the forthcoming winter.
Of course, pine marten also feed on red squirrels but find them rather more elusive, able to avoid capture by their greater agility and the fact that they can get out on to those light branches, beyond the reaches of the marten.
During the “felling years”, when timber from Scotland was in huge demand for emerging new industries and the demands of war, squirrel numbers plummeted. Scotland’s timber resources were soon dwindling so rapidly that red squirrels were even thought to have become extinct north of the Border. The Duke of Atholl became the red squirrel’s saviour, reintroducing them here from Scandinavian stock.
Such was the new vigour by Scottish estates to plant imported pine trees during the 19th century that red squirrel numbers rapidly increased. Now they were regarded as pests for the damage they did to this new generation of trees.
Squirrel clubs were established in many parts of Scotland during the late 19th century with the object of culling these expanding populations. The Highland Squirrel Club, formed in 1903, accounted for no fewer than 85,000 red squirrels over the course of some 30 years.
Nowadays reds have become our favourite squirrels once more. It is the alien grey squirrel that everyone wants to get rid of. Swings and roundabouts.