Grey Squirrel scarce??

J.R.

I haven't seen a grey squirrel for weeks & weeks.

Land I walk & hunt have lots of grey squirrels over the years but they seem to be very scarce this year.

I have seen no sign of Pine Martens about that may be preying on them.

The only thing I've noticed is there are a lot of buzzards about. There seems to be two separate families of buzzards living in the area.They may have grey squirrel on their diet but I doubt that they have cleaned the population out.

Anybody else notice the scarcity of grey squirrels in their area this year?

Eddie B

Pine Marten doing a job on them here In the midlands, the last number of years.

sakomatt

Noticed the same around my area also have a lot of buzzards around. Havent seen any pinemartins around. Have noticed buzzards perched in trees where grey squirrels used to be

Half-cocked

I have Pine Martens regularly appearing on my trail cameras and almost no Greys. Place used to be crawling with Greys before the Martens started to show up. They're welcome to the odd pheasant poult if they keep the Greys away. The amount of feed I used to lose from Greys nibbling through the feeder lids and letting rain in was a real pain.

Brianmeath

Yip same here. Not one to be seen. I reckon it's pine Martins here.

cd07

I've no doubt a buzzard would deter a squirrel but i couldnt imagine them actively hunting them. Squirrels are a high risk prey for a lot of birds of prey due to their bite but that aside a buzzard wouldn't have the manoeuvrability to catch them in the trees such as a goshawk might

Birdnuts

In their native lands these squirrels get hit by outbreaks of a pox like disease from time to time. Resitance then builds until a new strain of pox hits again. A bit like Mixi and the bunnies I guess!!

stevep1018

Haven't seen a grey squirrel for a couple of years.place absolutely teaming with red squirrels and also pine martin here.lovely to see so many red squirrels

dodderangler

cd07 wrote: »

I've no doubt a buzzard would deter a squirrel but i couldnt imagine them actively hunting them. Squirrels are a high risk prey for a lot of birds of prey due to their bite but that aside a buzzard wouldn't have the manoeuvrability to catch them in the trees such as a goshawk might

Buzzards are quite agile and well able to move about on greys. Same as Harris hawks and red tails which are excellent squirrel hawks. But only downside to buzzards is that they have extremely small feet for their size. So catching squirrels would be a huge challenge and a risk aswell. If they can't grip it properly and kill it quickly their small feet won't hold em and they will risk a bad bite. I know one lad who's Harris hawk lost a toe to a squirrel and Harris hawks are great at squirrel bashing.

Cass

Eddie B wrote: »

Pine Marten doing a job on them here In the midlands, the last number of years.

They must be.

I've seen a noticeable uptake in the number of Reds while the number of Greys are dropping. Significantly. To the point where i cannot tell you when i last saw a Grey.

However the reds, while not plentiful, are more common and that can only be a good thing.

Without turning this into a Pine Marten Thread (God knows there is enough of them) they are gaining serious ground in Laois too. Its not uncommon to see them any time of the day, and actively hunting.

KE_MAN

Grey Squirrels don't get small pox as they are a carrier and not affected. Sparrow Hawk is most likely predator as we do not have Goshawk here in Ireland. Buzzards predominantly feed on frogs, mice, rabbits on headlands. It was interesting a few years ago when Irish girl Dr Flynn conducted research into Pine Martin that showed no remains of Pine Martens were found in Scat or intestine of dead animals. Remains a bit of a misnomer without conclusive research evidence. Greys are rampant in uk where pine Marten is very scarce. Greys spent more time on ground in Autumn/Winter than Reds which makes them more vulnerable to predators. If you want to see a abundance of Greys go to the Phoenix Park. If you need to translocate Pine Martens causing a nuisance bring them to the Park

Half-cocked

Greys aren't necessarily being eaten by the Pine Martens but it appears that when the Martens move into an area the Greys get highly stressed out, lose body weight and don't breed as readily as before. In the US, Greys don't encroach on the territories of the American Marten, so possibly the appearance of a Pine Marten over here triggers a similar instinct in the Grey to clear off. Whatever is happening, there is plenty on anecdotal evidence that Martens are dislodging Greys and the Reds are benefitting:D

Half-cocked

KE_MAN wrote: »

If you want to see a abundance of Greys go to the Phoenix Park. If you need to translocate Pine Martens causing a nuisance bring them to the Park

Sadly this would be illegal unless licensed, but I'd love it if it was done by NPWS.

Eddie B

Half-cocked wrote: »

Greys aren't necessarily being eaten by the Pine Martens but it appears that when the Martens move into an area the Greys get highly stressed out, lose body weight and don't breed as readily as before. In the US, Greys don't encroach on the territories of the American Marten, so possibly the appearance of a Pine Marten over here triggers a similar instinct in the Grey to clear off. Whatever is happening, there is plenty on anecdotal evidence that Martens are dislodging Greys and the Reds are benefitting:D

This brings to mind, the question of why reds don't get stressed out with the presence of Pine Marten, like grey's are meant to be?

Reds were always a natural prey for Pine Marten, and although not as easy a target as the Gray squirrel, they are fair game to a Marten.

yubabill1

Eddie B wrote: »

This brings to mind, the question of why reds don't get stressed out with the presence of Pine Marten, like grey's are meant to be?

Reds were always a natural prey for Pine Marten, and although not as easy a target as the Gray squirrel, they are fair game to a Marten.

I've heard it said that the red can go onto thin branches to escape the marten, while the larger grey can't.

Saw a young marten chasing a young rabbit in circles on the main road a few weeks ago in the middle of the day. The cars all slowed and the rabbit dashed through a hedge, the marten went back into the wood on the opposite side. Brazen.

Half-cocked

Reds and Martens evolved together. Greys are alien - how they interact with other species wouldn't be the natural order of things here. Greys spend a lot more time on the ground and would be vulnerable while Reds as stated above are lighter and more agile so can avoid the Martens easier. Even if you're not actually being eaten by Martens, you'd be pretty stressed out about a predator sharing your patch. Just look at how scared humans are of sharks even though shark attacks are pretty rare;)

Eddie B

yubabill1 wrote: »

I've heard it said that the red can go onto thin branches to escape the marten, while the larger grey can't.

Saw a young marten chasing a young rabbit in circles on the main road a few weeks ago in the middle of the day. The cars all slowed and the rabbit dashed through a hedge, the marten went back into the wood on the opposite side. Brazen.

Yea I've heard that too, and it seems very plausable. But surely the red Squirrel feels stress from the presence of Pine Marten, just like the Grey. Surely all don't make it to that thin branch either.

Maybe I'm thinking to much into the whole thing.

cd07

KE_MAN wrote:

Grey Squirrels don't get small pox as they are a carrier and not affected. Sparrow Hawk is most likely predator as we do not have Goshawk here in Ireland. Buzzards predominantly feed on frogs, mice, rabbits on headlands. It was interesting a few years ago when Irish girl Dr Flynn conducted research into Pine Martin that showed no remains of Pine Martens were found in Scat or intestine of dead animals. Remains a bit of a misnomer without conclusive research evidence. Greys are rampant in uk where pine Marten is very scarce. Greys spent more time on ground in Autumn/Winter than Reds which makes them more vulnerable to predators. If you want to see a abundance of Greys go to the Phoenix Park. If you need to translocate Pine Martens causing a nuisance bring them to the Park

Highly doubt sparrowhawks take grey squirrels as they're predominantly bird eaters although they do take small mammals too. But a grey squirrel is an intimidating prospect for larger birds of prey let alone the smaller sparrowhawk! Also there are small numbers of goshawks here contrary to belief mostly escaped falconers birds