2006 & 2005 news archive
2007 news archive - 2008 archive
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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 - 27 adults & 9 juveniles (Jan 1st - June 15th)
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.
