{"id":654,"date":"2017-02-05T21:03:35","date_gmt":"2017-02-05T21:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidhealy.dublin13.com\/?p=654"},"modified":"2019-04-08T20:11:16","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T20:11:16","slug":"red-and-grey-squirrels-in-the-howth-special-amenity-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidhealy.com\/?p=654","title":{"rendered":"Red and Grey Squirrels in the Howth Special Amenity Area"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The issue of squirrels has\u00a0recently had some <a href=\"http:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/news\/environment\/howth-s-red-squirrel-population-at-risk-from-aggressive-greys-1.2962240\">media coverage<\/a>\u00a0and so I thought it worthwhile to give some background.<\/p>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">A few key facts:<\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"gmail_default\">Pine martens are associated with success for the red squirrel.<\/li>\n<li class=\"gmail_default\">Red squirrels are recovering a lot of territory in Ireland they had lost to greys in tandem with the recovery of pine martens.<\/li>\n<li class=\"gmail_default\">Red squirrels were (re-)introduced to Howth some decades ago.<\/li>\n<li class=\"gmail_default\">Greys have been moving in which puts the reds at risk.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">My \u00a0conclusions from this, which I will put to the SAAO Management Committee, are that the only \u00a0reasonable and justifiable actions in relation to squirrels would involve encouraging\/reintroducing pine martens, if these are practical.<\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">Much of the Howth peninsula is covered by a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fingalcoco.ie\/planning-and-buildings\/development-plans-and-consultations\/studies-and-reports\/howth-special-amenity-area-order\/\">Special Amenity Area Order<\/a>. The Management Committee, made up community, recreational and conservation representatives along with local councillors, works within the terms of the order to protect the biodiversity, landscape and amenity of the peninsula.<\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">The questions I asked at the recent Area Committee are <a href=\"http:\/\/davidhealy.dublin13.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Councillor-D.-Healy-Grey-Squirrels.-AI033855.pdf\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/davidhealy.dublin13.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Councillor-D.-Healy-Grey-squirrels.-AI033856.pdf\">here<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">BBC Costing the Earth podcast Reds Return\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/b05pn674\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en-GB&amp;q=http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/b05pn674&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1486413967058000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHCkPLPRkIwRDcdW0I7cT17vJBfOA\">http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/<wbr \/>programmes\/b05pn674<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">NUIG Research:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IrishSquirrelAndPineMartenProject\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en-GB&amp;q=https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IrishSquirrelAndPineMartenProject&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1486413967058000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGHozB4bW8vzsAA9yXMff2e76-0UA\">https:\/\/www.<wbr \/>facebook.com\/<wbr \/>IrishSquirrelAndPineMartenProj<wbr \/>ect<\/a>;<\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\"><a href=\"http:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s10531-014-0632-7\">http:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s10531-014-0632-7<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">Vincent Wildlife Pine Marten Recovery Project (Wales, England):\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.pine-marten-recovery-project.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en-GB&amp;q=http:\/\/www.pine-marten-recovery-project.org.uk\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1486413967058000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGwRLuPpDggSRIrEluLsd6iKSbpEg\">http:\/\/www.pine-<wbr \/>marten-recovery-project.org.<wbr \/>uk\/<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">The case for pine marten reintroduction to control grey <span class=\"il\">squirrels<\/span>:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2015\/jan\/30\/how-to-eradicate-grey-squirrels-without-firing-a-shot-pine-martens\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en-GB&amp;q=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2015\/jan\/30\/how-to-eradicate-grey-squirrels-without-firing-a-shot-pine-martens&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1486413967058000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHOKZdAqCAMSiEDrYFEJ9NDowSP1Q\">https:\/\/www.<wbr \/>theguardian.com\/environment\/<wbr \/>2015\/jan\/30\/how-to-eradicate-<wbr \/>grey-<span class=\"il\">squirrels<\/span>-without-firing-<wbr \/>a-shot-pine-martens<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">NPWS documents:<\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">Red <span class=\"il\">Squirrel<\/span> Species Action Plan 2008 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npws.ie\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/pdf\/2008_Squirrel_SAP.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en-GB&amp;q=https:\/\/www.npws.ie\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/pdf\/2008_Squirrel_SAP.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1486413967058000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF8O_POFu_15XYJ-ZQ64AkzB04PtA\">https:\/\/www.npws.ie\/sites\/<wbr \/>default\/files\/publications\/<wbr \/>pdf\/2008_Squirrel_SAP.pdf<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">Irish <span class=\"il\">Squirrel<\/span> Survey 2012\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npws.ie\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/pdf\/IWM89.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en-GB&amp;q=https:\/\/www.npws.ie\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/pdf\/IWM89.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1486413967058000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFNg007aPTPn5IbPDBT2vppA2WZnA\">https:\/\/www.npws.ie\/<wbr \/>sites\/default\/files\/<wbr \/>publications\/pdf\/IWM89.pdf<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The issue of squirrels has\u00a0recently had some media coverage\u00a0and so I thought it worthwhile to give some background. A few key facts: Pine martens are associated with success for the red squirrel. Red squirrels are recovering a lot of territory in Ireland they had lost to greys in tandem with the recovery of pine martens. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[77,60],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidhealy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidhealy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidhealy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidhealy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidhealy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=654"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/davidhealy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":976,"href":"https:\/\/davidhealy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654\/revisions\/976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidhealy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidhealy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidhealy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}