Wildlife UK Forum - Discuss the UK countryside and wildlife - Do Grey squirrels do anything positive?

Another issue that hasn't been discussed yet is that grey squirrels can carry a virus that is fatal to red squirrels, but dosen't seem to affect grey squirrels. The virus has been in england for a while, but the first case discovered above the border has just been found in Scotland which obviously is bad news.

Xeract Wrote:

Thanks for bringing that up, its something I had temporarily forgotten. It's worrying that a case has been found in Scotland but I think it was enevitable. There have been cullings of grey squirrels around the border I think to try and stop this, but obviously it could not work forever. Lets just hope this is an isolated case.

I think this was an isolated case, but it soon won't be. You can't expect squirrels to respect human country borders! Even if it is the grey squirrel.

I had a very interesting e-mail from the red squirrels in South Scotland group member Richard Wales today about the problem of red and grey squirrels. It's a great read, so thanks Richard.

Quote:

For the information of your members, red squirrels have been present in the UK since the last ice age. Grey squirrels were introduced from America in 1876.

The grey squirrel, being a much larger animal requires a higher calorie intake than the red and as such eats far more animal protein. Unfortunately it is likely that the grey squirrel is responsible for the decline of a number of woodland and garden bird species. One study found that grey squirrels were responsible for over 90% of spotted flycatcher nest raiding in the south of England. The grey squirrels ate both the eggs and hatchlings. A 2 year study of the affect on ground nesting and woodland bird species has just begun in the north of England and Scotland.

Grey squirrels occur in much higher densities than red squirrels and as such have a far more detrimental effect on their surroundings. Bark stripping alone causes millions of pounds of damage each year and raiding of crops such as maize is also becoming a problem in fields that have forest boundaries.

As your member (Kingfisher) correctly pointed out, the conflict between red and grey squirrels is all a fact of ecosystem function and niche separation. Two species can not occupy the same ecological niche. One has to either adapt or die. Unfortunately it is our native, and now critically endangered red squirrel that is losing this battle and the knock on ecological effect could be catastrophic as nothing in the UK ecosystem has evolved to compete with the alien grey squirrel. An ecosystem is like a house of cards. Remove a card or add a card and you could bring the whole house crashing down.

I hope this brief synopsis of the red vs grey issue furthers and adds to your discussion.

Kind regards,

Richard

The website of Red Squirrels in South Scotland is http://www.red-squirrels.org.uk if people want to read more.

Very interesting read. Thanks Richard!

I had no idea the huge cost of bark stripping from grey squirrels. It's an effect grey squirrels have that isn't in the media very much.

riana Wrote:

Very interesting read. Thanks Richard!

I had no idea the huge cost of bark stripping from grey squirrels. It's an effect grey squirrels have that isn't in the media very much.

Yes, most interesting, especially as I am getting a different perspective.

I also had no idea that the introduced grey squirrel did that much damage to trees.

Kingfisher

I also didn't fully realise that the effect of grey squirrels on the environment could stretch beyond our native red squirrels,
as none of the British ecosystem has evolved do deal with the increasingly high numbers of the grey squirrel.

I applaud organisations such as Red squirrels in South Scotland for their efforts to help our red squirrels, without them who knows how bad the situation could be.

Kingfisher Wrote:

The only good point to Eastern Grey squirrels is that they can be eaten.

This is true even in the United States, where they are native!

The state where I reside has a population of state-threatened Western Grey squirrels:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/diversity/soc/wgraysquirrels/

I've never seen a native Western Grey squirrel, and I frequently hike where they should be present.

However, each creature has a purpose. In this case, squirrels bury nuts which they occasionally neglect to eat, and therefore aid in the spread of nut-bearing tree species. Since that is what the Red squirrel also does, the Grey squirrel has usurped that role, and decimated the native Red squirrel population.

So, eat more grey squirrels (I should mention that I have never eaten one, myself Icon_biggrin

)

Kingfisher

Eat more grey squirrels,what a horriable thought,I say live and let live,I like squirrels,leave them alone.

copperfirefly Wrote:

Eat more grey squirrels,what a horriable thought,I say live and let live,I like squirrels,leave them alone.

I'm sorry Copperfirefly, but no matter how cute they may look, the grey squirrel is a pest and a very destructive one. Their numbers are out of control and as has already been pointed out, they are having a detrimental effect on many aspects of our native wildlife - trees, wild birds as well as the red squirrel. They need eradicating and sooner rather than later. If I could, I would shoot every one I see - and I don't normally believe in killing, but I'm prepared to with this one species.

copperfirefly Wrote:

Eat more grey squirrels,what a horriable thought,I say live and let live,I like squirrels,leave them alone.

Unfortunately, while my rejoinder to 'eat more squirrels' was said in fun, the sad truth of the matter is that wild canon is correct.

Eastern Grey Squirrels are a horribly destructive animal, and they are not native to the UK.

The United States was overrun years ago by Starlings, which were originally supposedly introduced by someone who thought that all of the animals mentioned by Shakespeare should exist in the United States. Billions of dollars of damage later, Starlings are entrenched in the United States. They are not considered a good thing.

Just because an animal is 'cute' does not mean that it is not capable of doing damage to the environment. Introducing a non-native species is a task fraught with difficulty, and should be rarely, if ever, undertaken. There are enough bad examples to show that the introduction is rarely a good idea, and that each introduction can seriously affect a native species in a fashion not foreseen by the person introducing the animal/plant.

Kingfisher

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