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BlueTongueDan
Sub Adult
United Kingdom
1462 Posts |
 Posted - 15/10/2009 : 21:38:25
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Hey guys,
Got an assignment to do on the Red Squirrel vs Grey Squirrel conflict.
Problem im having is Why were the Grey Squirrels introduced? I cant find any real reason why they were introduced 
Only thing ive found so far is
'released merely as a curiosity to satisfy the Victorian penchant for novelty'
Hmmmm,
Any help would be awesome!
Thanks  |
www.youtube.com/BlueTongueDan
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Kellog
the nice one
United Kingdom
7308 Posts |
Posted - 15/10/2009 : 22:04:43
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| Grey squirrels were invaders from North America, let loose deliberately by 19th century landowners. Between 1876 and 1929 grey squirrels were 'liberated' on over 20 occassions. They spread with enormous rapidity and although importing or keeping of gey squirrels was made illegal in 1938, this was like locking the door after the horse has bolted! Natural home of grey squirrel is entire eastern half of USA and part of Southern Canada. British grey squirrel population now in excess of a quarter of a million. Hope this helps....cant believe you cant find answer on internet! xxx |
  
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BlueTongueDan
Sub Adult
United Kingdom
1462 Posts |
Posted - 15/10/2009 : 22:29:30
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Thanks, Kellog
Still havent managed to find out the actual reason for them being released. Guess there was no reason. |
www.youtube.com/BlueTongueDan
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Kellog
the nice one
United Kingdom
7308 Posts |
Posted - 15/10/2009 : 22:47:07
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| I guess because of the stupidity of the owners and their wanting to 'see what would happen' if they let them loose. Will keep looking. xxx |
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Kehhlyr
ǝʞɐɔ sǝʌoן
United Kingdom
8173 Posts |
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PunkAsF82
Yearling
United Kingdom
909 Posts |
Posted - 16/10/2009 : 08:34:40
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| i always thought it was one of those "got on the ship and jumped ship in england" kind of thing myself... I'm not alltogether sure though tbh |
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n/a
deleted
213 Posts |
Posted - 18/10/2009 : 12:43:49
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The most informed answer I could find (and even then it's not great) was on page 8 of Google, from a website called www.woodlands.co.uk. in the section called blog, under the question How Did The Grey Squirrel Arrive in the UK?
I've copied and pasted the first paragraph for you, the rest is probably not very relevant....
Grey squirrels (Scirius caroliniensis) are native to North America and were first released in the UK in 1876 in Henbury Park, Cheshire. It’s not clear why they were introduced and the Victorians had no idea of the risks of introducing non-native species. Perhaps they were just a decorative and interesting “exotic” in the park; part of the fashion for collecting that the Victorians enjoyed so much. There were further introductions around the country and it wasn’t long before it became clear that they had taken to their new home like a duck to water (or a squirrel to trees). Within the space of 25 years, for instance, grey squirrels had colonised an area of some 300 miles between Argyll and Stirlingshire in Scotland.
This probably the first time ever I've not managed to find pretty definitive answer to something via the internet. It's shaken my faith in technology that there may be information out there that isn't online!! Say it ain't so!!
Hope this helps a bit BTD |
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n/a
deleted
213 Posts |
Posted - 18/10/2009 : 12:49:03
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Just a note to say the site is owned and run by;
Company name: Woodland Investment Management Limited, registered in England and Wales
Company number: 1705939
Registered Office: Woodlands House, 19 Half Moon Lane, London, SE24 9JU
They seem like a kosher compnay with plenty of good information on the rest of the site so, unlike a lot of websites out there, the data may be fairly trustworthy!
LOL.....edited to say that after all that I've just seen that one of the links already supplied was for this site!!! Sorry about that but nonetheless, it still seems to be the most well informed  (unlike me, it would appear)! |
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Edited by - n/a on 18/10/2009 12:50:36 |
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BlueTongueDan
Sub Adult
United Kingdom
1462 Posts |
Posted - 18/10/2009 : 20:12:41
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Thanks a lot every one!
Appreciate the help
Ive finished the assignment now.
I asked my tutor and he said there was no definate reason as to why they were actually released.
I think it was just a case of, I like the look of those, let have some in this country. |
www.youtube.com/BlueTongueDan
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n/a
deleted
348 Posts |
Posted - 04/12/2009 : 01:23:06
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| Just as a point of interest there is a new species of Black squirral (a mutation/sub species of the grey) that is now endangering the Grey squirral population in parts of the South and in a few years time the Grey may be as scarce as the native Red!! |
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Kellog
the nice one
United Kingdom
7308 Posts |
Posted - 04/12/2009 : 05:37:19
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quote:
Originally posted by widey
Just as a point of interest there is a new species of Black squirral (a mutation/sub species of the grey) that is now endangering the Grey squirral population in parts of the South and in a few years time the Grey may be as scarce as the native Red!!
Seriously Widey? Live in the south and havent seen or heard about the black squirrel...is it pure black and easily distinguishable from the grey?
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n/a
deleted
876 Posts |
Posted - 04/12/2009 : 16:24:22
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Ive heard on the Black squiz- BBC Breakfast did a slot on them a while ago... heres the BBC link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7839653.stm
Also interesting (to me but not to anyone else) The UK Native Fox was introduced to Australia when we "colonized" so that The English gentleman could go hunting with his chums- and that caused all sorts of chaos over there and also managed to wipe a few native OZ species off the face of the earth as well!
Makes you proud dunnit ?
xx
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"My Heart has joined The Thousand for my friend stopped running today" |
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eeji
The Morph Master
United Kingdom
4335 Posts |
Posted - 04/12/2009 : 18:32:22
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quote:
Ms Thomas disagrees, saying: "I don't think the black squirrels we have here in the UK are the result of a genetic mutation.
"That would require too big a jump; I just don't think that's plausible at all. Such a big change just doesn't happen like that in nature."
That would be a perfectly plausible explanation if that genetic mutation just affected the colouring - all it would take is two 'het black' squirrels to breed and the blacks are the result.
It happens in the wild with snakes (its where most morphs are found) so why not sqirrels
A quick google gives pretty much 50/50 results as to whether the blacks are a seperate sub species or just melanistic grey squirrels |
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n/a
deleted
348 Posts |
Posted - 14/01/2010 : 05:01:20
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| Dan going back to the quote on your first post is pretty much how it all started! They escaped and bred and a i think more were introduced and hey presto we have what we have today! |
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n/a
deleted
352 Posts |
Posted - 21/01/2010 : 16:10:16
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You guys can thank us crude Americans for providing you such good eatin' with all that squirrel meat.When are ya'll gonna invite us to dinner?[quote:
Originally posted by BlueTongueDan
Hey guys,
Got an assignment to do on the Red Squirrel vs Grey Squirrel conflict.
Problem im having is Why were the Grey Squirrels introduced? I cant find any real reason why they were introduced
Only thing ive found so far is
'released merely as a curiosity to satisfy the Victorian penchant for novelty'
Hmmmm,
Any help would be awesome!
Thanks
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Edited by - n/a on 21/01/2010 16:11:07 |
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eeji
The Morph Master
United Kingdom
4335 Posts |
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n/a
deleted
348 Posts |
Posted - 27/01/2010 : 08:10:58
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| its great done peking duck style!! I kid you not......... |
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Kare
Egg
86 Posts |
Posted - 04/03/2010 : 08:16:36
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Wish I had been here when you did this as I have spent a great deal of time on Squirrels and the 3 colours in the UK.
If you want to see the Black squirrel and are passing Hertfordshire on the A1 a great place to see them is Lister Hospital grounds in Stevenage, very close to Bedfordshire where the earliset reports came from.
The leading issue the Greys seem to have against the black is that the lady greys seem to prefer their men dark and handsome.
With regards to the Red v Grey issue the fact is we are really not the type of country the Red thrive in, naturally the UK would be bearly the environment that the Red needs the very very edge of their natural population area. When we were attached to Europe the trees covering the UK would have been more of the scandanavian trees, firs and such, when the island detached the squirrels were still here but slowly as the island drifted southwards the trees to thrive were those enjoying the now warmer climates rather than those the red squirrel needed. Where as the Grey is from similar environments to that in the UK, so they thrive.
Sorry to bring up an old subject, but I love the blacks. Though actually their spread seems to have been fairly limited to that expected 10 years ago. |
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BlueTongueDan
Sub Adult
United Kingdom
1462 Posts |
Posted - 04/03/2010 : 17:13:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Kare
Wish I had been here when you did this as I have spent a great deal of time on Squirrels and the 3 colours in the UK.
If you want to see the Black squirrel and are passing Hertfordshire on the A1 a great place to see them is Lister Hospital grounds in Stevenage, very close to Bedfordshire where the earliset reports came from.
The leading issue the Greys seem to have against the black is that the lady greys seem to prefer their men dark and handsome.
With regards to the Red v Grey issue the fact is we are really not the type of country the Red thrive in, naturally the UK would be bearly the environment that the Red needs the very very edge of their natural population area. When we were attached to Europe the trees covering the UK would have been more of the scandanavian trees, firs and such, when the island detached the squirrels were still here but slowly as the island drifted southwards the trees to thrive were those enjoying the now warmer climates rather than those the red squirrel needed. Where as the Grey is from similar environments to that in the UK, so they thrive.
Sorry to bring up an old subject, but I love the blacks. Though actually their spread seems to have been fairly limited to that expected 10 years ago.
Very interesting!
Thanks for posting the info |
www.youtube.com/BlueTongueDan
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Sta~ple
qeeun speler
United Kingdom
6129 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2010 : 10:33:10
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Sorry to revive but if you catch a grey squirrel by law, your are supposed to kill it. If you realise it after it has be caught it is illegal as they are classfied as vermin. They are many in number and cause a lot of damage, they are also part reasonable for the decline in the red squirrels numbers. Also there are diseases that the greys carry and might not get that effected by but can pass them onto red squirrels and it can kill them.
Grey squirrels also steal birds nests and if they have eggs or chicks in them, they get rid of them... as do magpies but it's illegal to kill magpies yet.
http://f4bscale.worldonline.co.uk/quarry.htm |
  
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DannyBrown91
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
3070 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2010 : 11:26:03
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quote:
Originally posted by Sta~ple
Sorry to revive but if you catch a grey squirrel by law, your are supposed to kill it. If you realise it after it has be caught it is illegal as they are classfied as vermin. They are many in number and cause a lot of damage, they are also part reasonable for the decline in the red squirrels numbers. Also there are diseases that the greys carry and might not get that effected by but can pass them onto red squirrels and it can kill them.
Grey squirrels also steal birds nests and if they have eggs or chicks in them, they get rid of them... as do magpies but it's illegal to kill magpies yet.
http://f4bscale.worldonline.co.uk/quarry.htm
Does that mean next time i'm up my uncles we should dust off the air rifle hehe. |
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Grey Squirrels...
