Red Squirrel, good & bad news.

FUDGEY · #1 (**permalink**) 29-07-2009, 07:25 PM

Good news is that I live in a small town with approx 3000 people & yesterday a RS was found to be in the church yard right in the middle of town. The closest ever report of one before was around 5 miles away so it's great to know they are moving closer. Bad news is it had been ran over and died. Found out later in the morning that it was a women from my work who did it at 5am that day. I called the ranger to inform him & he asked me to get it if it was still there. I went & picked it up & seemingly it's to be sent away for blood tests. I'm not sure what they test for but I'll ask him tomorrow when I see him.

Kayleigh · #2 (**permalink**) 29-07-2009, 07:39 PM

That's terrible Fudgey hope you gave her what for lol..

No it was probably an accident.

sounds like they will test it for pox.

the good news is that its unlikely to the only one.

wild flower · #3 (**permalink**) 29-07-2009, 07:48 PM

This is seriously depressing and I am left with a sense of pointlessness and fury at the sheer sense of helplessness when something like this happens. I need to vent my spleen.... I think it's aimed at people generally and our love of simple solutions that never solve anything

Contentious, provocative and admittedly 'somewhat' tongue-in-cheek, but here I go....perhaps we could start shooting all the drivers in the area, after all they are a recent arrival, destroying the reds habitat, killing the 'red' and preventing them making a come back. Shoot em! Its a simple, cheap and generally very effective (allowing for the inevitable mishap but hey bygones). Oh hang on, I forgot we are talking about people. Sorry back to the drawing board - but lets go ahead and shot everything else.

Dogghound · #4 (**permalink**) 29-07-2009, 07:52 PM

I think grey squirrels would be a better starting point than genocide.

FUDGEY · #5 (**permalink**) 29-07-2009, 08:00 PM

Ee whiz Wildflower I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of you lol what amazes me is the church yard is in the centre of town. To get here it must have travelled through housing estates with virtually no trees. Is this unusual for a red?

wild flower · #6 (**permalink**) 29-07-2009, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FUDGEY

Ee whiz Wildflower I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of you lol what amazes me is the church yard is in the centre of town. To get here it must have travelled through housing estates with virtually no trees. Is this unusual for a red?

I think I am quite a nice person really

I have been very fortunate in my time and have worked in the environmental sector for a little over 20 years. In all that time one thing that has always struck me is the ability of nature to be unpredictable and often do something which is quite the opposite of what any book tells me.

As such, and on the basis of most knowledge/experience Im sure most would agree the behaviour of the recently departed red squirrel is not typical. Sounds like he/she was something of a maverick, heading out to explore new frontiers and set up a new territoty - it may have paid off. Sadly this time was not that time.

Im rambling I know but I often think of nature as having similar laws on all scales. So the way we have mutations in genes that sometimes give rise to benefits for the organism and persist, so the red (the mutant in my analogy)was behaving a very untypically but in a typical way. Is the glass of cider I have had permitting any sense from me at all? I'm aware of a watervole (not personally) that travelled 10km over moor from one brook to another!

FUDGEY · #7 (**permalink**) 29-07-2009, 09:42 PM

Wow, impressive stuff. The animal looking for new territory was my 1st thought, I just wasn't sure if they did this at this time of year? Any thoughts on this?

Dogghound · #8 (**permalink**) 30-07-2009, 09:11 AM

You will get Red Squirrels coming into urban gardens which are near suitable habitat, they will also live in urban parkland. The time of year towards late summer is rite for dispersal (usually animals 2-3 years old).

Regarding Wild flowers water Vole (off topic sorry) in Europe they are a far more terrestrial species. However the distance travelled is quite impressive considering they usually remain along roughly 200m of river bank most if not all of their lives (in general).