THE terseness of the text message belies the emotion that Bernie the Squirrel Man will be feeling: ‘Regret to inform you dead red found on Arbigland yesterday. Suspected squirrel pox; we have sent to lab, will let you know results.’ It’s a bitter blow after all our trapping of the grey invaders, especially by Bernie and other dedicated volunteers. The assumption had been that the local grey population is free of pox. That theory is quashed when the lab report comes back a few days later.
It may not be terminal for Nutkin, however. Nature allows perhaps 5% of red squirrels to survive the pox and pass on a resistant gene to their offspring. There is a small chance if we can keep killing the greys, but trapping is fraught with danger for reds, a percentage of which die of stress when trapped.
Meanwhile, there is mixed news on the Green State’s preferred weapon of choice, the pine marten. It is appearing to our north since its reintroduction, which may yet be seen as an act of state-sponsored terrorism on our fauna. Although it is undoubtedly true that grey squirrels are more susceptible to pine martens than reds, which have evolved alongside them, I suspect the last red-squirrel drey in Dumfries and Galloway, if it comes to that, is most likely to be predated by a pine marten.
この記事は Country Life UK の March 15, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Country Life UK の March 15, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
