Autumnwatch

Autumnwatch started again tonight. Fascinating to hear about the reintroduction programmes in the UK. Some positive stories of hope for wildlife!

Just watching tonight’s episode. A very interesting segment on red and grey squirrels! Apparently it’s been discovered that pine martens could be a natural control for grey squirrels.

They showed an experiment of a bird feeder that was attended by both types of squirrels, then they sprayed it with pine marten urine. The red squirrels completely avoided the feeder afterwards but the greys kept coming back.

They explained that because the reds evolved natively with pine martens, the reds know that pine martens are a threat therefore whenever they sense their presence they have a ‘predator avoidance response’, whereas the grey don’t know this and don’t avoid the area so get eaten by the pine martens.

magicbastarder

yep, it was in ireland first that that was first noted/theorised. it had been surmised that the shannon seemed a natural border for the reds, that they hadn't made it across the shannon, but it's just as likely that it's because the pine martens hadn't.

one other thing i read was that the martens don't necessarily need to predate on the greys to keep their numbers down, they possibly generally just scare them back up into the trees (they'd tend to spend more time on the ground than reds) so may simply reduce their breeding success.

Have there been any efforts to reintroduce pine martens (as rare as they are!) to the Irish grey squirrel strongholds?

Birdnuts

SnowyMuckish wrote: »

Have there been any efforts to reintroduce pine martens (as rare as they are!) to the Irish grey squirrel strongholds?

Alot of the parks in Dublin could do with them

Bsal

Loved the bit about the bearded vulture what a beast and so beautiful.

magicbastarder

Birdnuts wrote: »

Alot of the parks in Dublin could do with them

IIRC they would generally have a territory of 150 acres each. That'd mean 12 in the Phoenix park, albeit with a large caveat that a huge amount of the park is grassland.

amadangomor

SnowyMuckish wrote: »

Have there been any efforts to reintroduce pine martens (as rare as they are!) to the Irish grey squirrel strongholds?

No need to they are already coming back and the result is Greys disappearing from these areas and Reds returning. I have seen Reds in my locality in the last few weeks and they haven't been seen there for decades.

Joe_ Public

The squirrels segment was fascinating alright. I assume the greys would eventually cop on that these animals present a mortal threat? I couldn't get over the size of those bearded vultures, on the photo they showed its leg looked like a mini tree stump though that may just partly have been camera angle. Still, an looking sight all the same.

mossie

Just on the subject of red squirrels, I seem to be seeing them a lot more often. I'm in North Cork and I've seen several in different places recently. Wonder if they are more common or just coincidence.

mattser

Back tonight BBC2 @ 8pm.

Eddie B

I never really bought the whole concept of grey squirrels not recognising pine marten as a predator. I think the fact they spent more time on the ground might be a more realistic reason.

Scotty #

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/115114204#Comment_115114204

Are they still considered endangered here? I've seen one live one and about 5 road kill in the East Meath area in the last few years. I know they were critical not so long ago, but is that still the case?

Eddie B

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119825172#Comment_119825172

Far from it. They are now thriving in many parts of the Country. I see them regularly on my trailcams.

gzoladz

According to records submitted by the public, they are well established in Dublin on the outside of the M50, S, W and N of the city. There is a handful of sightings also inside the M50 limits although some of those may be missidentifications i.e. mink. I am aware of one reported in UCD a few years ago that was legit, and there was another one reported in Phoenix park what was very likely.

It should not take long before they are reported in the "bordering" parks i.e. Cabinteely, Phoenix Park, Kiliney Hill, Waterstown Park, etc, and I would be surprised if there is still none there.