Hi again, its been a while since I last updated this because I wasn't quite sure what to put. The red squirrel conservation world has been in something of a limbo for several months now, while "The Future" is decided upon. The strategies, the people or organisation who should be involved, who are involved already, what roles they should or do play and of course how its going to get paid for is all up for discussion. Now being led by the government, Natural England and the Forestry Commission, there are many things I cannot say here and frankly I'm too far down the food chain to know all of the ins and outs anyway, but what I can say is that there is finally movement. This can only be a good thing as by hesitating, one often loses the game.
The last phase of squiggy conservation has been led by the Save our Squirrels Project - see earlier blog entry on what they do, but essentially they are made up of a partnership of lots of other organistaions including the Wildlife Trusts and NE/FC to deliver the stratgey that they all decided upon. SoS works with the volunteer groups and local communities to protect the red. In the next phase, which I'm told at this point will kick off in about September 2010 (watch the British press for media releases on this later in the year), there will be an even bigger project, predominantly aimed at culling the introduced grey squirrels (the indistputeable main reason for the reds decline), which will be led by the government i.e. their money mostly, but delivered in partnership by whoever wins the contract for the work. Watch this space.
So while things are definately on the move again, there are still many unknowns. What I do know, however, is that without ongoing financial support, in a big way, the work will not happen and Tufty will die. All the strategies and partnerships in the world cannot do anything without cash, so if you as an individual, or as a company want to help keep the work going, please donate or sponsor an element. Contact Save our Squirrels through their website www.saveoursquirrels.org
Thanks to Andrea and Keith Cameron for the picture of the squigs in their garden in Cumbria.
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