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poacher113 · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 1

hi,i have just read that lord reedsdale claims he has removed all grey squirels from northumberland,i couldnt believe what i was reading.i will admit that i am an ex poacher and have spent some years in the countryside that is for sure.there are not many days go by that i am not in the countryside and believe me i do some miles in a days outing.lately i have seen greys in consett county durham,i seen grey squirels chasing eachother just past the entrance to dissington next to a fishing pond,and supposedly theres a red squirel group in ponteland?.i do not want to dishearten anyone but my personal view on ridding this country of grey squirels is virtualy impossible,eradicate squirels from an area ,others will move in and replace them almost overnight.the grey squirel has had ample time in this country to gain a tremendous foothold,and as per usual the action being taken against them should have started 20 years ago.i will be reporting squirel sightings in the future but please dont jump to conclusions and expect people to believe themthere are people out there who can visibly see there are squirels in northumberland at this present time.good luck to all that persues.thanks p

admin · Site Admin Joined: 20 Dec 2006 Posts: 5

I am not suprised you have seen many grey squirrels in County Durham as we have only operated in the North of the county and are making no claims about clearing Durham so far. If you have spotted any grey squirrels in Northumberland give us a call, becuase when we hear of any we do tend to kill them.

prs · Joined: 28 Feb 2009 Posts: 2 Location: Ponteland

I was interested in your comments. However, if you have seen greys in Dissington and know there is a group in Ponteland why not inform us. We, at Ponteland Red Squirrels, respond to sightings and reply on the general public and RSPP and SOS to report sightings to us. Please can you give me the information of where and when you saw the greys in the Dissington area. Thanks

norrisatthey · Joined: 19 Aug 2007 Posts: 9 Location: Ulgham Morpeth

Lord Redesdale is well known up here in Northumberland for making wild claims. I have personally despatched about 20 greys this year in the Morpeth area and there are still a lot more around.The numbers claimed by RSPP have been massaged by taking credit for actions by landowners over several years. Any one involved in this area know his figures do not stand up to scrutiny. See my web site www.morpethredsquirrels.org.uk

OuzelBird · Joined: 21 Jun 2009 Posts: 5

I find this a little worrying. Organisations sharing the same aims would be far better off working together. Can this not be done somehow?

I saw the Channel 4 programme you mention and got the impression that both Lord Redesdale and Paul Parker are genuine red squirrel conservationists doing an excellent job whether or not the figures are accurate. I had hoped that in the wake of the programme more funding would materialise which would enable Parker to carry on, after all, it was his livelihood.

Just my thoughts on the matter!