Nuts About Squirrels

Nuts About Squirrels by Robin Page

Thursday 12^th January was the day of the official launch of the CRT’s red squirrel breeding programme at its Mayfields smallholding at Themelthorpe, in the wilds of Norfolk. And what a memorable time with numerous Friends from all over East Anglia and as far away as central London, arriving to see a fantastic scheme, and for many of them too, a sight of their first ever red squirrels.

The pair of squirrels, Wigeon and Warren have been given luxury accommodation in a hedge and their two penthouses have been built around the trunks of two fine hedgerow oak trees and connected by an overhead tunnel. The penthouses have plenty of room for eating, sleeping, and, we hope, breeding – which is the purpose of the whole exercise.

A small commemoration plaque was unveiled by David Stapleford, one of Britain’s true and unsung wildlife heroes. He has devoted his life to conservation - the captive breeding of some of Britain’s most endangered wildlife, particularly red squirrels and dormice, so that they can be released back into the wild once conditions are suitable. He has done it in his spare time during forty years working as a much loved and admired teacher.

I imagined that the two squirrels would not be happy with the crowd that assembled and would give us just a fleeting view, if we were lucky. Instead they put on a rare show of squirrel dexterity and vanity. It was amazing.

The squirrels are in the care of the CRT’s star tenant, Sarah Jenkins and her daughter Megan, who are being helped and tutored in squirrel management not only by David but also by the gifted Chrissie Kelley who oversees a very successful red squirrel project at the nearby Pensthorpe Nature Reserve. Sarah Jenkins is one of the best sheepdog handlers in Britain and daughter Megan is one of the most up and coming young handlers.

We received a very positive response from our Friends and supporters when we appealed for funds to help build the enclosure and look after the squirrels.  We needed a total of £18,000 to fund the project for the next two years, and you have generously helped us to raise £15,650, leaving only £2,350 to find.  Thank you!  (Further donations are of course still very welcome – can you help us reach our target and ensure we can give the best of care to these precious mammals?). Please click here to donate online.

We hope that Wigeon and Warren will breed and their offspring (kittens) will go to one of the various red squirrel re-introduction programmes that are taking place, and are planned, for various parts of Britain. My personal view is that some captive bred Norfolk squirrels should one day be released into Norfolk, but before this can happen it requires some vision and some action from DEFRA and the Forestry Commission. It would help too if conservation bodies such as the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and the RSPB would stop sitting on the animal rights fence and start promoting positive, red squirrel friendly conservation. The simple truth is that to protect the red squirrel before vaccines have been developed, grey squirrels must be controlled to protect the reds and several so-called conservationists have neither the courage nor the integrity to support this. The problem is that not only is the grey squirrel larger and more aggressive than the red – leading to confrontation and harassment, but the grey squirrel also carries squirrel pox which is virtually harmless to greys but almost always fatal to reds. As a consequence Britain’s red squirrel population is now down to around 120,000 and falling. The grey squirrel population is 3 million and rising.

So we had a fantastic day and all those there will have been convinced, as I am that we are doing the right thing – breeding in captivity until responsible and safe release into the wild can be achieved.