Grey squirrels threaten reds in Kielder heartland

Jul 4 2009 by Amy Hunt, The Journal

THE last bastion of red squirrels in England is under threat from their grey counterparts.

A grey squirrel has been caught just a mile and a half from the Kielder Forest shelter in the national park, Northumberland, which is home to about 50% of England’s native reds.

It is the closest a grey has come to its red cousins in Northumberland and is a huge worry to conservationists trying to protect the reds. As well as being larger and better at competing for survival against reds, grey squirrels carry a virus, squirrelpox, which does not affect them but is deadly to reds.

Squirrelpox has been responsible for wiping out many communities of red squirrels in Northumberland.

Blood was taken from the grey which was captured at Donkleywood near Falstone and has been sent for tests to find out if it was carrying the virus.

Sue Morgan was working at the computer at her home in Donkleywood near Falstone when she saw the grey squirrel.

Thinking fast, she grabbed a fishing net and chased it around her garden until she managed to trap it. Then she called squirrel trapper Paul Parker, of the Red Squirrel Protection Partnership.

Paul, who has been involved in a mass cull of grey squirrels since January 2007, as part of efforts to protect the reds, took the grey away and “dispatched” it.

Sue said: “I thought it’s a grey squirrel, it’s less than a mile-and-a-half away from the red squirrels in the national park, that’s a bit too close for comfort.

“People are quite proud of the fact that we have this protected area where squirrels can live happily and people can come and see them.

“I think if we could save both the reds and the greys that would be great. But the reality is that we can’t.”

Paul has now laid some traps in the area to catch any greys which remain.

He said: “It was only a baby, five weeks old, so there’s obviously a breeding group of them.

“If just one gets through with squirrelpox it will be the end for the red squirrels. The greys can cover five miles a day if they want to, so it’s really important that we get them caught.”

Paul has been involved in the cull of grey squirrels for two-and-a-half years, which has seen 22,800 killed in an effort to protect the native reds.

Last month he claimed to have found the North East’s first black squirrel, larger and more aggressive than a grey.

Log on to www.saveoursquirrels.org for details about the work of the RSPP. Report sightings of grey squirrels to Paul on 07890 600 243.

For more stories about the fight to save the red squirrels, go to www.journallive.co.uk