At long Last

When we arrived at our house in the Lakes, we'd been told that red squirrels frequent the garden (along with roe deer).  I'd kept a look out all week in the hope of seeing one, but was becoming resigned to being out of luck.  

On this, our last morning, I'd popped down to the Lake first thing.  On returning I took one last look towards the feeder only to see a flash of red heading across the grass and towards the nearest tree.  Shooting conditions were poor; low light, shade and a cluttered scene that made auto focus a poor option.  I tried a couple of shots without any hint of a sharp image and then the little fella headed higher.  I was about to hang my head in shame at my failure when it stopped and took one last disdainful look at me, before heading into the leafy canopy and away.

I was chuffed to get anything, particularly with a slow shutter speed.  I'm not suggesting it stands up to critical review, but at least I saw it and got a half decent image.

A question for those more knowledgable; While I saw this fella, there were also grey squirrels in the area (I'm an expert on identifying the 'common tree rat'!).  Can they co-exist?  I assumed they were mutually exclusive due to the lack of natural immunity of the red to the diseases carried by the grey of the species.  

**Postscript**

Thanks for the advice.  I took Clickychick's advice and reported the sightings.  This is the response:

"The only reason reds remain in Grasmere is the constant removal of greys coming into the area, for over 25 years in my case!

You will see in the media population figures of 2.5M greys in the UK. This is a totally incorrect figure repeated by lazy journalists since a survey 20 years ago. There have been no surveys since then - a current figure of 10 to 15M has been conservatively suggested and it's rising exponentially.

The greys outcompete the reds for food and habitat, inhibit reds breeding through stress and transmit parapox virus which the grey is immune to but is deadly to the reds.

The main problem of greys in the UK is costly damage to forestry. We already have the lowest percentage of tree cover in Europe and it is getting worse due to falling investment in tree planting due to inevitable grey damage.

This is the most obvious and extensive example of an invasive (does harm) non native species (INNS) rapidly destroying the biodiversity of the UK. There are many others (23 plants, 26 animals, plus many viruses and bacteria) which are/will be much more difficult to deal with.

The UK public are largely oblivious to the problems.

At long last the Government is putting some effort into dealing with INNS as required by 2015 Regulation (EU) 1143/2014 on invasive alien species (the IAS Regulation). An effective immuno-contraceptive, Gonacon sterilising both M and F greys is due to be deployed, via grey only feeders, in a couple of years time.

In the meantime, rest assured, the Grasmere Red Squirrel Group continues to maintain a remnant, healthy red population to contribute to restoring the natural biodiversity of the UK."