2022 Archive of RENATURED, Marina Zurkow's Research Blog
ANIMALS, PEOPLE AND THOSE IN BETWEEN
My first red squirrel today – actually 2 of them. Not a hard find- there is a very nice, very fancy, very comfortable, and very well-stocked wildlife hide set up in Kielder Water, at Leaplish. It’s rather National Geographic- except with no effort to conceal the lure of an arsenal of feeding stations, in all of which the reds were happy to partake.
Those flirty, spoiled little bastards, I kept thinking; they run in, snack it up, run out, scamper off, run back in, snack… & cet. After an hour, the pair conceded to frolic round their proper feeding box. And gambol they did.
I missed the first shot: the distended, carved wooden red squirrel effigy you can see along the path (above photo), with its spry referent in sight (which had fled by the time I snapped the photo).
It was raining when I got to the hide, so I had the place to myself. It was a shady wonderland; then the sun came out; then the squirrel fans came. Reverentially. With huge whispered sighs and wide eyes. It’s amazing what we are willing to look through, in order to experience nature (me too!). But I’m through blocking the intercessions. In this case, one couldn’t – these reds are on welfare assistance, propped up in a managed forest (their last stronghold), essentially a timber concern full of caravans, water skiing lessons and motor boats.
Lest I mislead with my semi-acrid tone, it was a thrill. They’re as cute as their pictures: petite, scampering, with ginger coats, tufty ear extensions, alert expressions, and compact physiques. I’m charmed, and querulous.
Fashion swings this way and that, with regard to the construction of nature on offer – its pendulum swung farther towards novel or traditional. Currently, the tastemakers want indigenous, and are beginning to pay well for green (privileged locavores and nationalized tree planting subsidizers, to name two user groups willing to cough up the surcharge).
I found this quote from Christopher Smart in Keith Thomas’ Man and the Natural World: Changing Attitudes in England 1500-1800:
“I pray God for the introduction of new creatures into this island,” Christopher Smart would sing, “For I pray God for the ostriches of Salisbury plain. the beavers of the Medway and silver fish of Thames.”
(from Jubilate Agno)
It’s a fever.. of xenophobia:
An army of foreign mammals, birds and amphibians is poised to invade Britain – changing the countryside and threatening our best-loved native wildlife, scientists warn.
They have identified 84 exotic species – from the raccoon to the snapping turtle – which could become established within the next few decades.
Some, like the leopard cat, could escape from zoos or private collections, while others, such as the eagle owl, are already living in isolated pockets of the countryside.
from the “Raccoons and Snapping Turtle Join the Foreign Threat to our Native Wildlife,” Daily Mail, May 2009
the operative word is could…
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.
