2006 & 2005 news archive

2007 news archive - 2008 archive

 

Latest News:

Local Support, Local Action, Local Success - JOIN ONLINE

Active community support is an essential component in any successful conservation project. We recognised this fact very early in our project, and consequently we established the first red squirrel ‘Friends' group in the UK back in 1999. The 'Friends of the Anglesey Red Squirrels' now has a membership of over 400 people and groups who all share our aim to 'Save Our Squirrels'.

We are therefore very pleased to announce that you can now become a member of the 'Friends' online! Membership and merchandise can now be purchased in our online store

 

REPORT RED & GREY SQUIRREL SIGHTINGS HERE...

Greys caught 2008 - 93 adults & 53 juveniles

Greys caught 2009 - 34 adults & 20 juveniles (Jan 1st - Aug 14th)

 

Spet 2009 - Anglesey school-children & The Big Draw

Yesterday morning Judith Moss opened her Boat House studio to 13 pupils from Llandegfan school to come and paint for the BIG DRAW; the Draw for Britain Art Competition, which our 'Friends' group is supporting.

We had a delightful and rewarding time with the children who came accompanied by their teacher Julie Owen.

 

 

August 2009 - Online petition

We have now started our online petition to give site visitors the chance to register their objection to the CCW deforestation plans:

SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION - Join the fight to save Newborough Forest

August 2009 - Spectre of forest oblivion

Those of you involved in the 2004 protests against CCW plans to destroy vast tracts of Newborough forest will be deeply saddened with the news that CCW have opted to discard commitments to an open consultation on the future of the forest. After five years and thousands of pounds of EU money spent reintroducing red squirrels to the forest, CCW have now reinstated demands for clearfelling. Freedom of Information requests revealed the existance of guidance to the Welsh Assembly outlining extensive felling, felling that senior officers of CCW had concealed from the public consultation.

The document states that " In summary, as a minimum to move towards restoring SAC features to Favourable Condition, we advise that:

A felling zone of 500m is undertaken around the coastal perimeter of Newborough Forest , from the Cefni Estuary (SH395658) to Newborough Warren (SH409631). There should be no planting of a protective screen as this will have a negative impact upon both embryonic shifting dunes and shifting dunes SAC features;

Clear-felling, rather than thinning, should be undertaken in the 87ha block adjacent to the warren as an initial measure to enable partial hydrological recovery of the system. We advise that further modelling is undertaken based on the approach developed by CCWs consultants to assess the actual extent of clear-fell required to bring the hydrological regime of the site to within the target range required for humid dune slacks in favourable condition. The re-aligned forest edge should be scalloped and thinned to allow a more ‘natural' line against the dunes. "

Petitions, media press releases and the campaign to halt these plans have started up all over again.

July 2009 - Concern grows about forest future

The Newborough Forest Partnership spent four years producing a comprehensive forest design plan for the Newborough forest. This followed a public backlash against plans to remove up to 277 hectares or 40% of the site, and significantly alter large tracts of the remaining stands (see our media pages). In February 2008, a one day meeting allowed Forestry Commission Wales (FCW), Countryside Council for Wales (CCW), interest groups, and local community representatives, to produce detailed stand management protocols which successfully integrated often conflicting wildlife requirements. After an interval of 14 months, CCW have instructed the Welsh Assembly Government that the plans will not be sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the EU in relation to neighbouring sand dunes.

At a small meeting hosted by CCW and FCW in April 2009, local people were told that the EU had threatened legal action against the Welsh government as a result of the forest adversely affecting the dune system and that forest areas must be felled. The legal assertion turned out to be incorrect, and since then Freedom of Information requests have revealed that public statements made by CCW in September of 2004 were either deliberately misleading or show an agency that misunderstood the Habitats Directive. The Directive covers both the forest and open dunes, as both land areas are within an European Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

It was also discovered that a large amount of material and expert opinion has been withheld from the Newborough Partnership, either deliberately or through incompetence. The five year consultation process has cost tens of thousands of pounds and large amounts of time and effort has gone into discussing forest management that CCW now believe would be illegal, including options to extend the forest into the dune system... At the very least, CCW have failed to present a public understanding of the EU Directive, and when married with the discovery that assessments of dune habitats which should use the EU Common Standards Methodology have in fact employed an altered version, this is of great concern.

The non government members of the local Newborough Forest Liason Partnership have, following consultations with the independent partnership facilitator, written a 3 page letter (Download Word doc) to several Welsh Assembly Government Minsters and await a response by 13th July. In the meantime the Welsh Assembly have issued a one page position statement. This makes reference to ecological impacts of the forest upon the dunes, impacts that either have not been demonstrated, or which are based upon tenuous and often conflicting evidence.

A complaint has been made to the EU in relation to a breach of the Habitats Directive and Aarhus Convention by CCW in relation to public consultation and transparency in environmental decision making.

May 2009 - Welsh move for Norfolk Squirrels

This year young red squirrels born at the Pensthorpe Wildlife Park, near Fakenham, Norfolk, will be travelling across the A14 and up the M6 to their new home on the island of Anglesey. Along with youngsters from the Wildwood forest park in Kent, these enchanting little animals will help recolonise a broadleaved woodland from where the species died out over twenty years ago. This will be yet another broadleaved release site, and will further advance us towards our goal of Painting Anglesey Red.

Anglesey has the largest single red squirrel colony in Wales is a wonderful example of country wide partnership and our strong links with Northern Red Squirrels, Save Our Squirrels, Red Squirrels South Scotland, Saving Scotlands Red Squirrels and the Red Squirrel Protection Partnership.

April 2009 - Grey Squirrel Pâté helps safeguard island Reds

The Patchwork Traditional Food company have very generously made their delightful Grey Squirrel Paté with Hazelnuts and Frangelico available COMPLETELY FREE to anyone kind enough to make a donation to them for the Friends of Anglesey Red Squirrels. Allowing customers to select the price to pay, but with an advised minimum donation value of £5.00, and modest delivery charge, the money paid for the Paté is being given to The Friends of Anglesey Red Squirrels and will be used to help develope the Clyddyn cottage into a woodland education centre for local schoolchildren.

We were thrilled when Jenny from Patchwork told us about this very generous gift, and would like to thank everyone at the company for their wonderful support for red squirrels in Wales.

For more information about the fantastic range of local produce please visit the Patchwork website.

March 2009 - Forestry Commission enhance forest for reds

Much of the Pentraeth forest consists of even-aged and mature conifer stands. Wind-throw, where trees blow over in pockets, is becoming an increasing problem. Over the last few months, we have worked closely with Forestry Commission Wales staff in order to improve the age-structure of the woodland. A twenty hectare area of Sitka spruce was clear-felled in February, and this will be restocked with larch, pine, hazel and Norway spruce to create a wonderful new habitat for reds, and one which will offer much more natural food than the original Sitka stand. The seed of Sitka spruce is small, and unlike other conifer species, it is lost from the cones during the winter months, which means that red squirrels cannot use it.

It is standard practice for clear-cut areas to be left fallow for two years before replanting take place, but the Forestry Commission have rescheduled this and will restock earlier. A careful plan of mitigation was put in place prior to the Sitka being removed, and this included the retention of areas of larch and pine within the spruce. The bands of larch provide woodland links or corridors for the squirrels to be able to move through the clear-felled ground, and continue to provide a valuable food source for the red squirrels.

March 2009 - Six reds released at the latest release site

Over the winter months, six red squirrels have been released at a new site in the south west of Anglesey. This is a location where the last wild red squirrels were seen in the mid 1980s, and once was an island stronghold for the species.

The mixed deciduous woodland, with its high cathedral canopy and great arching boughs offers a fantastic location for the reds, it is also a site where local people and visitors to the island alike will have a great chance of seeing wild reds. Anglesey reds are going from strength to strength.

March 2009 - Red Squirrel Cottage!!

After a year of negotiation, surveys, legal searches, and correspondence between solicitors, we are thrilled to have finally purchased 'Clyddyn' a delightful stone cottage located within a third of an acre of mature woodland in an area with resident red squirrels.

With red squirrels an established feature of the adjacent stands, we hope to sympathetically restore the cottage and create a woodland education centre; a base for field studies and a wonderful interface between local schools and the islands red squirrel population. Woodland management will move the stand away from a dominance of Sycamore towards a rich and varied habitat with larch, pine, cherry, beech and oak above a hazel understorey.

February 2009 - Reds continue expansion across the island

The Friends are delighted to announce that red squirrels are becoming an increasingly common sight in woodlands in the south west of the island. We were recently sent this delightful picture of two regular visitors to a small wooded garden near Llanfaes. The animals were first spotted in September 2007 and have become a regular feature since, and will sit feeding on the patio each day.

Elsewhere, the first red squirrel to be caught in the Cadnant area of Menai Bridge was found in early February. The young female was trapped in a small Scots pine copse, she was examined and then released quickly, running immediately into the tree-tops and off into the canopy. It is now estimated that around 20 adult red squirrels are present in the late winter months, a modest population but one which we hope will increase this year with a favourable summer.