In article ,
says...

On Fri, 27 Sep 2013 11:44:28 +0100, Sacha
wrote:

On 2013-09-27 11:31:19 +0100, Broadback said:


Many magpies here, though there seems a dearth of Squirrels. An
newspaper article recently claimed that the grey squirrel population
has, for no known reason has dropped, and red squirrels are on the up.

Yes, I read that, too. And they've recently released red squirrels on
Tresco, which has no greys. Jersey has only red squirrels but some of
those are almost black.

ISTR that they released several red squirrels there last year, but
only two survived the winter. I know it was rather a long and cold
winter, but it raises the question as to whether Tresco the ideal
place for them. I thought they liked dense, mostly conifer, woodland.

Despite the previous deaths they've just brought in 20 more.

http://www.scillytoday.com/2013/08/2...rrels-joining-
tresco-colony/

Sounds crazy to me; having been to tiny Tresco I can't believe
there's enough territory, trees, cover or natural food supply to support
so many. Reds eat eggs; if they multiply there, it doesn't sound like
many birds will be breeding on Scilly :-(

Arran also has only red squirrels, (introduced a very long time ago)
but it's a far larger island with a great deal of undisturbed forest
and woodland offering natural food and dense shelter from the force of
winter gales. We notice in the garden, how territorial individual red
squirrels are and how aggressive they can be to others.

Janet (Arran)