Are There Red Squirrels in Lincolnshire ?
The Red Squirrel is native to Britain but is now sadly under great threat from that pesky American invader The Grey Squirrel.
I’ve never been keen on the Grey Squirrel as it is vermin and destroys trees as well driving out the Red Squirrel which is not classed as vermin incidentally.
That said, I still took take a picture of one - my first successful wildlife shot with the new camera gear in fact
It’s believed there are only about 120,000 Reds left whilst the Grays number over 2 million.
Sadly, I think my chances of seeing one here in Lincolnshire are all but zero. They do have reasonable strongholds in Cumbria and the North East but the majority are in Scotland 
Grey Squirrel
I took the picture this morning during a 2 hour walk on land at the back of my house and given I only got chance for the one shot I’m quite pleased with it.
After the F1 qualifying at lunchtime I set off to Tetney Lock for another 3 hours walking in blazing sunshine. It’s a great place and I remember fishing there in years gone by. This time I had a go at a hovering bird of prey - it was a long way away but I managed something. I took 2 pictures, both turned out more-or-less the same - again I feel quite pleased 
After that it flew off and perched on an old military bunker.
Bird of Prey - Kestrel ? Hawk ?
That wasn’t the only wildlife to be seen. There were a dozen lads aged 18 - 19 or so there by the side of the lock and river. Music blaring out, wearing only swimming trunks, tattoos, drinking beer and being rowdy.
The couple walking in front of me decided to change their route - clearly intimidated.
Were they thugs, yobs and hooligans ? No they weren’t I walked passed, said “afternoon lads” they all said afternoon back and one asked me what sort of pictures I was taking. They were a thoroughly decent bunch of lads - no need for anybody to be intimidated or probably complain about them afterwards.
Were they drinking, being boisterous and diving into the river from the lock ?
Yes they were and had I been half my age and not driving I have had a beer with them - stripped off and dived in myself !
Don’t prejudge the young, most are deadbeats I know but that does not make them thugs or yobs as well. I hear people saying they have all sorts of trouble with teenage lads and the like - funny thing is - I never do !
Could it be that I approach them with an open mind and an open hand ?
Anyway, on the way back I saw they’d rigged up a ramp and were riding a bike up the ramp over the railing and then falling down into the lock
Boys Will Be Boys
I took some pictures and an email address and tonight sent one of them a load of pics for his Facebook page.
Who ever the couple were that turned away missed the chance to meet a good bunch of lads enjoying themselves properly as young men should - not hugging each other and crying but drinking beer and risking life and limb !
They were also the nicest and most polite people I met in nearly six hours walking today and point worth making and one worth thinking about !
See also Tetney Blow Wells
Boisterously Yours
Rod
Little Brother said,
July 25, 2009 @ 10:28 pm
Rod,
Nice one! Great photo of the pesky squirrel and the mid air “evel kenevel”!! (hope I’ve remembered the correct spelling from collecting the figures in the 70’s!)
Good point about the lads, I had a similar experience last week as I tried to sleep in my hotel room after a fifteen hour working day at 3am. The ‘lads’ were also enjoying water sports by jumping off the bridge and into the river which flowed beneath my window. Given the fact I had a two hundred mile drive ahead of me in five hours time my favoured approach was to get dressed and pummel one of them to set an example.
The night porter got to them first!
LB
Femme Fatale said,
July 26, 2009 @ 8:30 am
Rod,
Great pics, not sure if its the new camera or your photography thats improving, great tho
Don’t prejudge the young, most are deadbeats I know but that does not make them thugs or yobs as well. I hear people saying they have all sorts of trouble with teenage lads and the like - funny thing is - I never do
If you have never had any trouble with the young, then you are also prejudging them from what others say, you cannot say that most are deadbeats because you do not know that and looking at your experience yesterday, you said that you would have joined them if you were their age, does that make you a dead beat too?
Rant,rant,rant
FF
xx
Rod said,
July 26, 2009 @ 8:46 am
LB,
you work too hard - it’ll be the death of you.
Don’t believe that saying ‘hard work never killed anyone’
Cheers
Rod
Rod said,
July 26, 2009 @ 8:55 am
FF,
I’m claiming no plaudits on the photography front
There’s a difference between being a deadbeat and supposedly causing trouble or being a hoodie etc.
Just because a young kid is on the road to nowhere doesn’t mean he is also a yob as well as so many people think.
As to most of them being deadbeats:
We have some of the most illiterate teenagers in the educated world
We are about bottom of the table in terms of numeracy in Europe
We have the highest number of teenage pregnancies in the western world
We have by far the highest amount of STDs amongst the young
We also have the fattest and most unhealthy kids
Need I go on . . . just a minute . . . I just did
Regards
Rod
Femme Fatale said,
July 26, 2009 @ 11:51 am
Rod,
Ok, Ok
Am i allowed to blame the parents?
Tail between legs!!
FF
xx
Rod said,
July 26, 2009 @ 12:04 pm
FF,
Blame it on the water
I always say don’t blame the kids but those adults around them but then again my parents did a good job, witness how successful my brother has become - yet I am a deadbeat myself
Deadbeatly Yours
Rod
Annie Flinn said,
July 27, 2009 @ 7:11 pm
A great post. Teens do come with their fair share of bumps and warts, but 33 years spent with them in schools showed me that they live up to whatever is expected of them. If we expect them to be dolts, that’s what they’ll be. I found, too, that most of them respond to the effective parent model (with an emphasis on “effective”) which stresses a fair, firm, consistent attitude from the adult who is in charge. That is not to say that I didn’t have some real pips, gang bangers, and some who I fear were mentally ill. But, as I recently read in a book by the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Milan, using exercise, discipline, and affection usually wins the day. Kudos to you for seeing the young men as human beings first, and wild things last. It is hard to remember that at one time, people avoided our younger selves, as well.
Annie
Rod said,
July 27, 2009 @ 8:12 pm
Annie,
I think that comment just about sums it up !
Any perceived failings in the youth of today is largely our fault as parents, role models, authority figures or just simply what we’ve done to the environment in which they were brought up.
There will always be exceptions, at both the good and bad end of the scale, but generally kids strike me as being no different to everything else in life . . .
You Get Out What You Put In
I certainly was best avoided Annie not only then but now as well
I prefer not to think of my youth as it impedes my ability to be so sanctimonious now
Cheers
Rod
chris keyworth said,
July 31, 2009 @ 2:40 pm
The simple answer to this question is NO there isnt any Reds in our neck of the woods, however there are Black Squirles in our area and there has been sightings in the woods around Elsham Village, i am not sure exactly which wood but i hazard a guese that the sightings are from Elsham Hall….
Regards
Chris
Rod said,
July 31, 2009 @ 5:50 pm
Chris,
Black Squirrels !!!!!
That sounds like a photo’ op’ to me
Best
Rod
chris keyworth said,
July 31, 2009 @ 8:27 pm
The black squirrel is also likely to make life even harder for our native red squirrels.
A study by Cambridge scientists shows that black squirrels now make up half the squirrel population in some parts of the UK.
The upstarts are genetic mutations of greys, but have a darker fur and higher levels of the male sex hormone testosterone - making them more aggressive and more successful.
There are fears the black squirrels could wipe out the greys
Geneticist Helen McRobie and Dr Alison Thomas, a professor of life sciences, both from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, conducted the first UK study of black squirrels.
“The population is expanding across the region and is spreading further every year,” said Dr McRobie.
“They could overrun most of the Eastern counties within ten years.”
The black squirrel is the result of a single mutation in the DNA of greys, giving them higher levels of the pigment melanin in their fur.
Sex selection is also boosting their numbers because female greys appear to prefer them as mates.
Dr Thomas, who completed the year-long study last week, used DNA samples taken from squirrels across East Anglia.
She said: “There has been a recent population boom. They are due to overtake the grey squirrel population in some parts of the country.
“The first sighting was in 1912, but sightings were very rare until the last few years. They were first spotted around Letchworth Garden City, near Royston, Hertfordshire - currently home to the UK’s largest colony.
The rise of the black is the biggest change in squirrel demographics since the indigenous red squirrels almost disappeared 50 years ago from most of England.
Lindsey Maguire, 50, who has co-ordinated the National Squirrel Rescue team for the last 12 years, agreed that blacks were becoming a more common sight.
she added: “The irony of it is the blacks were first spotted in a similar area to where the greys were introduced to Britain.
“Now they may well get their just deserts. I wonder how long it would be before we see a “save the grey” campaign.”
from a newspaper article
regards
chris
Lucy said,
August 2, 2009 @ 6:45 pm
It’s a kestrel.
See a similar one at: http://www.surfbirds.com/mb/Features/in-flight/birds-in-flight.html (scroll down to 3rd picture).
I’m originally from the North-east and have spotted quite a few red squirrels in my time. Once one came into my parents’ house! It ran into the living-room through the open patio doors, jumped around the room never touching the floor but bouncing off the mantlepiece, tables and book-cases. It got to the window at the front, knocked on the glass and then bounded back out of the patio doors! It terrified the dog who cowered in the doorway, whimpering.
All best, Lucy
Rod said,
August 2, 2009 @ 7:57 pm
Lucy,
thanks for that - just the ticket, situation clarified - good link too !
It’s a great squirrel story and a coincidence in some ways because as I sat in my garden the other day I wondered why birds don’t seem to fly into houses !
There are doors and windows open, they always fly into closed windows but never through open ones - well not in my experience anyway.
Reassuring to know you had a good guard dog
All the best
Rod
juli said,
August 2, 2009 @ 10:58 pm
Even though they’re pests, I still went ‘aww!’ at the photo of the grey squirrel! They’re cheeky little tykes though, I’ve got an amazingly cute photo of a grey squirrel who would come right up to the patio door of the villa we stayed in at Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest and tap on the glass in the morning, waiting to be fed (bread being his favourite, which he would then fight the ducks for!)
Red squirrels are truly beautiful though - I’m lucky enough to live less than 10 miles from Northumberland, where there is quite a colony in the countryside. One of the best places I’ve been to see red squirrels was center parcs in the lake district though - I know they’re supposed to be endangered but the place was teeming with them!
Rod said,
August 3, 2009 @ 8:15 am
Juli,
I know what you mean - I used to see them as pests and I know I got looking for them almost every evening when I go for an early evening walk after dinner.
Thanks for the tip about the Lake District, it’s time I went back up there - now, if only I knew somebody who goes there regularly and has high flying connections with a hotel . . . better still a relation perhaps
chris keyworth said,
August 3, 2009 @ 6:24 pm
I spent a few days in Derbyshire at Edale recently, and happened to see some Reds there, its a nice easy one by train when they are running, only 25 quid open return and there is loads of camping sites there between 3 and 6 pounds a night.
great walking and great views too
Chris