Category: squirrels

Posted on

A grey defends his rights in britain

There aren’t many sites in defense of the grey squirrel. Here’s one written in the first person, with some good arguments on defining “nativeness:”

http://www.grey-squirrel.org.uk/

“NATIVE BY BIRTH – CONDEMNED BY ORIGIN”

Key points at a glance

1. “Nativeness” is based on political boundaries rather than sensible concepts of the range of a species, or the birthplace of individuals

2. Evidence to support the “nativeness” of red squirrels in the north of the UK is extremely low

3. Humans are part of the environment, and therefore as legitimate a means of transporting species as any other natural means

4. Most Red Squirrels currently in the UK are also “aliens” by conservationists criteria. They were imported from Scandinavia to replenish numbers.

…and if you’re feeling feisty (and up for a clubbing yourself) you can buy one of their advocacy brollies in Professor Acorn’s shop.  Between fights, your head’ll be protected from the shit of the songbirds that the greys might’ve missed.

save the grey.
save the grey.
Posted on

“You hate them, we love them.”

Another cheerful celebration of the squirrel commando, Paul Parker, just in from the Daily Mail.

Paul Parker right, and journalist Harry Mount. Photo: Matt Lloyd
Paul Parker right, and journalist Harry Mount. Photo: Matt Lloyd

Paul Parker loves grey squirrels. Especially when they’ve been slow-cooked for eight hours with thyme, garlic and tomatoes.

Certainly my braised grey squirrel on a cherry tomato risotto – £12.95 at the Manor House Inn, 15 miles outside Newcastle, near Hadrian’s Wall – falls effortlessly off the bone and leaves a rich, gamey taste in the mouth, not unlike rabbit or pheasant…

‘I can’t sell them quick enough,’ says Paul. ‘I had 300 of them in the freezer. They’re all gone.’

The lean meat – there’s barely a trace of fat on these trim, athletic creatures – tastes particularly good after an energetic morning spent shooting squirrels and skinning them with Paul, up and down the Tyne valley, heading west from Newcastle towards the edge of the Pennines.

Paul, who is 45, runs a pest control company. Bees, wasps, bed bugs, squirrels, fleas, cockroaches, rodents and rabbits are all in his sights.

‘You hate them, we love them,’ is painted on the side of his van.

Posted on

Prince Charles advocates extermination of the greys

HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES, PATRON, THE RED SQUIRREL SURVIVAL TRUST
HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES, PATRON, THE RED SQUIRREL SURVIVAL TRUST (...is it taxidermied?)

From an article by Paul MacInnes / guardian.co.uk, Friday 5 June 2009:

Prince Charles is the patron (naturally) of the Red Squirrel Survival Trust, and as such hates those grey bastards with a passion. So much so that rather than simply using his letter to call for action, he’s instead said that all grey squirrels must be killed because they’re foreign. Which may or may not have been an appropriate tone to strike.

“In order to be able to save the red squirrels and ensure their future in this country, it is absolutely crucial to eliminate the greys which, as you know, are an alien species to the UK and threaten the very existence of the reds,” wrote the heir to the throne in the week in which the BNP put forward an unprecedented number of candidates for election…

And this is from The Daily Mail, June 04, 2009:

As you are also no doubt aware, the greys are doing immense and increasing damage to hardwoods all over the country and threaten to compromise all our efforts to restore native woodlands, let alone to create community forests.’

Tree damage caused by squirrels

Tree damage

The prince said there was a ‘great deal of public support’ for control measures.

Indeed there is; Newcastle resident Paul  Parker, who is the Baron’s lead commando in the  Red Squirrel Protection Partnership (RSPP), states he’s got a lot of help from a volunteer army eager to rid the woodlands of the greys – many of whom are pensioners. Parker himself is up 22,600 dead ones, and counting.



Posted on

There was a time when reds were the villified

BBC April 2009:

…for 43 years, from 1903, there was an active effort on estates across the Highlands to trap, shoot and kill reds.

By 1946, the Highland Squirrel Club had killed 102,900 squirrels and paid out £1,504 in bounties.

Tails were submitted as proof of kills.