aris Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 The Forestry Commission has drawn up plans obliging landowners to rid their estates of grey squirrels http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/11301638/Millions-of-pounds-of-public-money-to-pay-for-grey-squirrel-cull.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subaru_sti5 Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Interesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitsinhedges Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Isn't that a great photograph at the top of the article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STOTTO Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 I like the little furry devils but in my area the public parks seem to have experienced a population explosion, so unless the local authorities are on board with this as well then to my mind the effectiveness of the initiative is doomed to failure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 We've never seen any Greys in our woods, but have a thriving population of Reds which we see on a daily basis so am assuming there are none of the former. I noticed the Animal Aid bloke in the article blamed humans for the demise of the Reds, but failed to say how we are responsible for the demise of one species but not another, considering the Greys are plentiful. He also claims Greys are indigenous, but that simply isn't true as far as I'm aware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRYAN3 Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 This looks to me like the Public Sector trying to protect its salery at tax payers expense. Also wealth redistribution to benefit the landed Gentry. There are far too many bunny huggers with large gardens who will not co-operate and anti organisations owning land. IT WILL NOT WORK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddy Galore! Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 well we'll just have to do what we can to help... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wymberley Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 in my area the public parks seem to have experienced a population explosion, so unless the local authorities are on board with this as well then to my mind the effectiveness of the initiative is doomed to failure! +1 Just about to make the same point when I got called to lunch. Dramatically reducing the numbers will help but there's not much point if there's a healthy reserve ready to take the place of those culled from surrounding public parkland, gardens, call it what you will, areas. I would imagine that the best we could hope for is more of the isolated areas where the reds are able to thrive. Used to see them regularly as a lad but on returning home after RAF service just some 25 years later, I've not seen one since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow Bear Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 We've never seen any Greys in our woods, but have a thriving population of Reds which we see on a daily basis so am assuming there are none of the former. I noticed the Animal Aid bloke in the article blamed humans for the demise of the Reds, but failed to say how we are responsible for the demise of one species but not another, considering the Greys are plentiful. He also claims Greys are indigenous, but that simply isn't true as far as I'm aware. Yes humans are to blame - 1 they introduced them in the first place 2 They removed the bounty on tails - I can remember getting 1s 6d (7.5p) per tail as a lad. 3 Idiots like animal aid protect and encourage them whilst opposing a cull of any sort Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Yes humans are to blame - 1 they introduced them in the first place 2 They removed the bounty on tails - I can remember getting 1s 6d (7.5p) per tail as a lad. 3 Idiots like animal aid protect and encourage them whilst opposing a cull of any sort Fair points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackpowder Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Have the tree huggers started to protest yet? Blackpowder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotslad Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 This has already been going on in sw scotland for the last 6ish years and is actually working very well. In this area we're very lucky still to have large numbers of Reds but the greys are not far away and the english greys carry squirrel pox which the scottish/central belt greys dinae. Not entirely sure if this is a different scheme but the scottish one paid for estates to have FT grey trappers for 4 months a year. Know a couple of the trappers (1 caught over 100 greys and only 4 reds in his first season now only catching a 30-40 greys but literally hundreds of red catches (obviuosly catching some red squirells multipe times) ) But ironically the money for this scheme is running out and no one is sure wot is going to happen as many estates 5 year funding is up and most of these estates don't have keepers or any other workers to carry it on. Some estates are on a year to year funding until all the 5 years of the later estates finishes. After that no one seems to know Really the cheapest way to make a real dent in their population would be to re-intro the boubty for there tail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossy835 Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 that will come im sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow Bear Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 As a further point there was an article about the Formby Red population on the breakfast program on the BBC this last couple of weeks. When pressed even the National Trust representative admitted that culls of greys were necessary to both control numbers and protect red populations. Whilst I am unsure of the true facts I have been led to believe that there was an "un-official" cordon sanitaire round the Formby woodland that had succeeded in keeping the greys and hence the pox out. this was breached when some of the "land" changed hands and the shooting was stopped. I would be interested to know if this is true. Another snippet reported was that Liverpool Uni researchers think that a pox resistant strain of Reds may be emerging at Formby following the latest pox outbreak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aris Posted January 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Nature, being as it is, unless you exterminate them 100%, they will come back. Best you can hope for is keeping them in check. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotslad Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Keeping them in check would be a massive start an step forard from where we are the now, mibee in the future if we can get them under control a bit u can look at wiping them out I'm sure a lot of birds/wildlife would also benfit from a bounty on grey tails, i think greys live at something like 10+ times the densiies of reds so with being a larger animal must put a lot of pressure on food supplies. There was a documentry on about a lad in the NE who waged a 1 man war on the greys and did actually make a difference and he was covering a big area Ps the FC will be adminestering? the money rather than spendiing it. I think it is EU money rather than UK money, and the FC are only handing it out and checking estates qualify and carry out the work, basically suffling paper work and occasionally field visits. i known for the grants in scotland all traps have to be gps'd so can be checked at any time by the FCS. So while u can argue it is stil public money as we paid cash to europe. Atleast it is coming back to the uk and being used for something worthwhile compared to how most of it will be wasted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keg Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 Animal AId were quoted as saying they were an indigenous species He is also quoited as saying:- "Andrew Tyler, the director of Animal Aid, said: “People have been responsible for wiping out the red squirrel. It’s an excuse to blame the grey squirrel" Really?, i have always been told that the Greys are killing off the Reds with squirrel pox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepThought Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 Animal AId were quoted as saying they were an indigenous species He is also quoited as saying:- "Andrew Tyler, the director of Animal Aid, said: “People have been responsible for wiping out the red squirrel. It’s an excuse to blame the grey squirrel" Really?, i have always been told that the Greys are killing off the Reds with squirrel pox. It was my understanding that the introduction of greys is responsible for the removal of reds, but as a result of out-competing them for food rather than through disease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow Bear Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 It was my understanding that the introduction of greys is responsible for the removal of reds, but as a result of out-competing them for food rather than through disease. In fact it is both but mostly due to the pox south of the border Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KFC Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 We trapped and shot loads of Greys last year and followed it with a drey-poking day. I've been taking a rifle into the woods and shooting loads throughout the year but we've still got enough to justify another drey-poking day next month. We may be able to reduce numbers but I don't think we'll ever eradicate Greys now. Still, it's all money to the rural economy so bring it on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeadWasp Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 (edited) Isn't that a great photograph at the top of the article Disgraceful photo...you can see his nuts! Lot of old damage to trees in the woods near me but I rarely see a squirrel which is quite odd for round here. Edited January 5, 2015 by LeadWasp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powler Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 The father-in-law was chatting to one of the keepers on a local estate and he said they had killed just under 400 last Autumn. There are plenty of them about at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clakk Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 no mention of squirrel pox by the tree hugging retards.mm let me see grey squizzers are pox carriers ,but it kills reds as they have no resistance to it.greys were introduced by idiots who knew no better.the eu hates non native species and wants rid.but the fascist tree huggers say no its mans fault .no it isnt.wake up know nothing animal rights loon,the reds are being wiped out by this grey carried plague.its our native squirrel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Geordie Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 PAID to cull greys? :o Give me the permission to shoot greys, and I would do it for FREE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskyRich Posted January 8, 2015 Report Share Posted January 8, 2015 (edited) Ahh the loonies are out in force in the comment section on that article Kill em all I say. Not only are the reds native but they are far more adorable and loveable than the greys.Also the greys DO cause havoc, on the estate I used to work on we had about 4,000 acres of woodland (largely broadleaf) and it was squirrel central. The level of bark stripping/ringbarking on the trees was substantial. Especially as they seemed to love the more well established beech trees which were a prominent feature of the park but were getting hammered. Being the National Trust though, they'd never dare try a cull though. We weren't even allowed to even tell people off for letting their dogs **** everywhere and not clear it up in case we caused offence... ******* to that soft assed lame attitude! Edited January 8, 2015 by HuskyRich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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