Morpeth & District Red Squirrels – Spring 2017

In 2015, the MADRS grey control team removed over 1100 greys from our patch and another 720 were removed in 2016. If a third of these were female and you think about each having 2 breeds with 3-4 young per season….well, it makes for a heck of a lot of greys damaging trees, predating on bird eggs and fledgelings and obviously spreading the killer squirrel pox virus to our native reds. As always, it is this essential work that is the greatest contributing factor to helping to safeguard our endangered native reds. We keep stressing that this is not a side of red conservation that is taken lightly. It is the necessary to ensure the survival of the reds. There is much talk of a grey squirrel infertility drug being researched but the fact is this is going to be a great many years away. Until that time, the concerted effort of our grey control team and everyone who reports sightings and people who monitor a trap in their garden, is the only saviour for the red squirrel.  Read more>>