tegwini Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 Just back from France & saw a couple of RED squirrels in my garden there- amazing! First time I've seen them in the wild.Tegwini Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Thought they didn't exist anymore in the UK? Good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Red squirrels certainly do still exist in UK and in some areas there is active culling of greys going on to try and protect them.http://www.forestry.gov.uk/fr/INFD-6A4LVQThey are quite common in this area but we also have black ones which I recently learnt are in fact just a subspecies of reds which are very very dark red and not black at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Good news.I'd heard about the black squirrels a while back. but didn't know they were a subspieces of the reds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tegwini Posted October 12, 2009 Author Share Posted October 12, 2009 Hi RichardSome REDS left in the UK - here in the south only on Isle of Wight, Brownsea Island & a few odd places. Lake district too, but seen plenty of greys in Wilts garden, never RED. Greys imported from the USA by the Victorians. I expect there were more in the time of Beatrix Potter and Squirrel Nutkins.Don't know anything about 'black' ones you mention.There is a programme to cull/slaughter the greys - not sure if this will work- England too crowded anyway for much wildlife to live naturally.Tegwini Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 [quote user="tegwini"]England too crowded anyway for much wildlife to live naturally.[/quote]Oh I don't know, the hoards of feral youths and other low life's seem seem to thrive and multiply [blink] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Maybe the fox hunt could be rebranded into low life hunts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celine Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Can red squirrels mate with grays and vice versa? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 [quote user="Richard"]Maybe the fox hunt could be rebranded into low life hunts?[/quote]My cousin shoots and eats them (the grey squirrels that is). Apparently they are a delicacy - though heaven knows how many you'd need for a decent meal.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 In strict biological terms I can't see why not but I think the differences between the two species means that they would likely fight rather to the death than mate. I'm not sure their mating cycles are complimentary either [:'(]A bit like a few married couples I know come to think of it [:D]It's widely assumed that competition for food is the major factor in the decline of the native red but according to this study that seems perhaps not to be the case:Document titleThe mechanism of replacement of red squirrels by grey squirrels : A test of the Interference Competition HypothesisSchool of Biological Sciences, Queen Mary & Westfield College, London,AbstractIntroducedAmerican grey squirrels have replaced native red squirrels in most ofthe range currently occupied in Britain and northern Italy. Themechanisms of the replacement are not yet fully understood. We restatedthe commonly cited Interference Competition Hypothesis (ICH) that greysquirrels interfere with the behaviour of red squirrels in threepossible ways: 1. by direct aggressive interactions; 2. by interruptingred squirrel mating-chases; or 3. by forcing red squirrels to activelyavoid areas intensively used by grey squirrels. We compared theactivity pattern, behaviour and reproductive performance of redsquirrels in two study areas in northern Italy, one with only redsquirrels (control area C1), the other with both species (experimentalarea El). The following predictions were tested: 1. the total timespent in both intraspecific and interspecific interactions by redsquirrels increases in the experimental area; 2. most interspecificinteractions are aggressive, with grey squirrels being the dominantspecies; 3. the proportion of breeding female red squirrels that areunsuccessful at weaning offspring increases in area El; 4. greysquirrels take part and interfere with red squirrel mating-chases, andthereby decrease the reproductive output of red squirrel females; 5.the activity pattern of red squirrels in the mixed-species area isshifted with respect to that in the control area to the hours of theday during which grey squirrels show little activity; and 6. redsquirrels will shift their home range (or at least their core-area)when grey squirrel densities increase to avoid interspecific core-areaoverlap. Our results supported only the first prediction of the ICH:they failed to support all the other predictions. Moreover, theincrease in the percentage of active time red squirrels spentinteracting with other squirrels in the experimental study area wasvery small (only 1-2 min/day). Red squirrels did not avoid the woodlandpatches most intensively used by grey squirrels and the interspecificcore-area overlap was similar to red squirrel intraspecific core-areaoverlap. This suggested that red squirrels avoided spatial overlap withgrey squirrels in a similar manner as with conspecifics and that anincrease in grey squirrel numbers will augment the intensity ofresource competition. We therefore conclude that our results do notlend support to the Interference Competition Hypothesis and thatinterference competition by grey squirrels cannot explain thelarge-scale replacement of red by grey squirrels that has occured inBritain and in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 No Celine, they can't and Black squirrels aren't a sub species of Red squirrels.In the UK the Black squirrels are now understood to be a sub species of the American Grey.Red squirrels: Although they are named Red squirrels that can be a bit misleading as their colour can vary from virtually black, though all shades of brown, red, and grey. In some cases this will depend on the time of year, in other instances they can maintain a dark coat all the time. This is all the same species.Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 I thought we touched this subject a while ago Chris and it was you who told me that blacks were in fact reds ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 In France that is the case as above "Red squirrels: Although they are named Red squirrels that can be a bit misleading as their colour can vary from virtually black, though all shades of brown, red, and grey. In some cases this will depend on the time of year, in other instances they can maintain a dark coat all the time. This is all the same species."In the UK, as above "Black squirrels are now understood to be a sub species of the American Grey."The American Grey and the Eurasian Red are quite different in their size and other characteristics. In France there are no Grey squirrels, in most of the UK there are no Reds.Keep it simple.[:)]Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 The reds are beautiful little perishers. We are lucky enough to have them in our garden and these two are youngsters chasing each other about just outside our back bedroom window[IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/Johns/Redsquiggles29cropped.jpg[/IMG]And this cheeky one was trying to line it's winter nest with some plant cover fleece. This was about a foot outside our lounge window![IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/Johns/Squiggleonthewall1.jpg[/IMG]And a more traditional nesting material just outside our bedroom window[IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/Johns/Squiggleneststuff1.jpg[/IMG]When they are about all activity stops to watch them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now