• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Red Squirrel in Walsall! (1 Viewer)

PaulAshton

PaulAshton

Well-known member
Red Squirrels have been observed in urban gardens of Walsall. Photographic evidence was produced and published inthe local rag.

Until the photos the local wildlife authorities had poo pooed the idea. A bit like their disregarding Otter sightings in urban Walsall until video evidence was produced.

Red Squirrels had lived in nearby Cannock Chase until the 90s, but hadn't been seen since then.

The squirrels are very timid and run when people get near.

The best guess for their presence is as escapees from a private collection. I'd love to think they are a wild population surviving in the west midlands, but I doubt it.
 
PaulAshton said:
Red Squirrels have been observed in urban gardens of Walsall. Photographic evidence was produced and published inthe local rag.

Until the photos the local wildlife authorities had poo pooed the idea. A bit like their disregarding Otter sightings in urban Walsall until video evidence was produced.

Red Squirrels had lived in nearby Cannock Chase until the 90s, but hadn't been seen since then.

The squirrels are very timid and run when people get near.

The best guess for their presence is as escapees from a private collection. I'd love to think they are a wild population surviving in the west midlands, but I doubt it.
Click to expand...

I suppose it is possible for the Reds to survive in a pocket on Cannock Chase, just because members of the general public have not spotted them, nor are they likely to given their taciturn nature, even if they had their whereabouts would be kept secret, the leap from the Chase to Walsall is not so great.
 
Fingers crossed paul, it could just be good news. Think positive!
bert.
 
PaulAshton said:
The best guess for their presence is as escapees from a private collection. I'd love to think they are a wild population surviving in the west midlands, but I doubt it.
Click to expand...

Well let's hope that they will survive and multiply, wherever they came from! Please let us know if there is any more news about them.
 
Excuse me

Dear people
Walsall ... I was brung up there. My parents )mother in the Butts, father along Broadway North) both have Grey Squirrels in their gardens. In the whole of my childhood (1952-1970) in Walsall there were no squirrels (eother Grey or Red) in Walsall....
So, dear reporter..where in Walsall, what conditions, how often, etc etc for scientific evidence.
Put your fingers into my wounds...: -)))))

Best
David
 
having spent the last 2 days birding in cumbria and scotland- reported to be strongholds of red squirrels, i saw.... er none! only greys to be seen im afraid. also noticed how brazen the greys can be too! was watching one in a bush at leighton moss, decided to get closer and expected it to scarper- but no, it just kept on eating berrys about 10ft away from me! cant get nowhere near the reds- when you do eventually see one that is!!
 
black52bird said:
Dear people
Walsall ... I was brung up there. My parents )mother in the Butts, father along Broadway North) both have Grey Squirrels in their gardens. In the whole of my childhood (1952-1970) in Walsall there were no squirrels (eother Grey or Red) in Walsall....
Click to expand...

I lived a couple of miles up the road in Great Barr for many years (1959-1980). We used to go to the illuminations in the Arboreteum when I was a kid. Now I take mine....


AndyC
 
The Red Squirrel (one or two seen) were in urban gardens of Walsall . Photographs were published in the local Walsall Chronicler last week. They had been reported during the previous year but as no photos existed so those who judge such things decided it was the ill informed public making ID mistakes.

I'm sure if they'd been there for a long time we'd have seen proof years ago (for those who grew up there).

I personally think they were privatley bred and have been released.

I've discussed Reds with the county recorder for staffordshire and he stated that there was a survey of cannock chase in the early 90s and no reds were found.

I guess he could be protecting a small population, but I can't see the benefit of telling fibs to the public. It's not as if they have cash value like Peregrines for example.

Although reds are elusive, they can be easily watched at feeding stations. I've watched then in the Lake District at close quarters, so it's unlikely they could hide unoticed for years, especially in an urban environment.

One final note, after a glimpsed sighting of something otter like last year in a Walsall canal, I asked the experts last year if otters were likely in the canals of Walsall. They said "Oh No!" and then 2 weeks later video evidenc appeared of Otters in a Walsall canal who had popped into gardens to eat the prize gold fish. So who know's???
 
Otters in the cut?!!

Now that takes some beating...otters in the canal? Any idea which bit?
I was involved in setting up the Nature Trail on the bit of disused canal basin between Sutton Road and the Aldridge Road (can't think what on earth it's called!! - a senior moment!!) back in the late 1960s...and that area would seem a good one for them. Most of the other stretches of canal around Walsall were so polluted I could never understand people fishing in them - half the fish were covered in parasites and/or fungus, I remember.....
And the Arboretum isn't what it was either, especially since they ruined the fields in the extension with the golf driving range. It used to be a lovely area (growing up on Broadway North, I spent half my childhood in it) - Common Whitethroat and Willow Warblers bred, Bank Voles, Ford Brook full of 3-spined Stcklebacks, Caddis Fly Larvae, Whirligig Beetles..... Nostalgia. It all seems very arid now, whenever I walk there.

By the way, as you see I live in Budapest these days, and I have Red Squirrels almost daily in the park opposite.....

Cheers, fellow Black Countrymen
David
 
The Otter was in a garden pond of a house on Sutton Road.

I'm a foreigner from Coventry recently settled in the republic of Walsall. So I'm still picking up the lingo etc.

I'm still enjoying the now local sights of Cannock Chase especially bumping into the elusive Red Deer and not forgetting the more easily found Fallows.

I've seen healthy Pike pulled out of the canal next to the wharf in town and my housing estate is full of toads.

Not to forget the garden buzzing Sparrowhawks and Peregrines that come looking for pigeons.

So we aint doin so bad.

Trar a bit,
 
black52bird said:
Now that takes some beating...otters in the canal? Any idea which bit?
I was involved in setting up the Nature Trail on the bit of disused canal basin between Sutton Road and the Aldridge Road (can't think what on earth it's called!! - a senior moment!!) back in the late 1960s...and that area would seem a good one for them.
Click to expand...
That would be part of the Rushall canal. I don't know if any plans exist to restore it, but the Hatherton canal from Huddlesford junction is slowly being rebuilt, and that goes in the same general direction.

AndyC
 
Longwood Lane

Walsall friends....
I've just remembered that the road which links the Aldridge Road and Sutton Road is called Longwood Lane, and the nature trail was in the left-hand side coming from the Aldridge Road end - the main canal running along on the other side. It was a delightful piece of land, with some very interesting habitats, good all round natural history to be seen. I did the original flower list. There used to be a brochure which one could pick up in the Library, too. It was also part of a great walk I used to do which was completely 'green' . In through the Grange entrance to the Arboretum, away along Ford Brook through the back of the extension, past 'bluebell wood' (no bluebells!)through the fields, over the canal on the small bridge, over Longwood Lane, across through ....GOT IT.... Hay Head Nature Trail!! Just came to me!! - and then away through the fields and into an amazing set of woods up behind 3 Crowns Hill, and cross the road below Barr Beacon and up to the top. It used to be a wonderful and surprising thing. I wonder if it's still there?
Sutton Road for the Otters, eh? And where were the Red Squirrels?
My dad gets the occasional Sparrow Hawk on Broadway North.
Best
David
 
My Aunt lived in Walsall a number of years ago and she and her bloke accurately described to me an otter from the river running through her local golf course. Red Squirrels are patchy things in England. Certainly the best place I've been to see them was on the Sefton coast (Lancashire) where they were well habituated in the park like greys are in London. The last one's oficially dissappeared from Lincolnshire in the 1980's though one site (not a nature reserve) has thrown up dozens of sightings well into the 90's. I should probably look on the off-chance. They certainly could be under recorded. And don't even mention Pine Martens...

So, Walsall Reds? Quite possible.
 
hi david ,yes i think you mean hayhead wood . ,theres lots in the libraryif you like i could send you some info on the area ,theres lots in the library send your address and i will put it in the post , sue
 
Finally found the snippet from the paper. The Walsall Red Squirrels were spotted at bird table s in the gardens of houses in Lane Close (off Bentley lane), Walsall which is across the road from Reedswood Park. Grid ref: SO997992.

Perhaps the park is worth an investigation.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 20 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

A
What are the most interesting wildlife that you've seen in YOUR HOUSE?
2
Replies
22
Views
1K
emc
emc
A
Has anyone else experienced eastern gray squirrels that are shy, timid, or otherwise not interested in bird food?
Replies
14
Views
3K
Merlin
M
A
Red-eared sliders are opportunistic predatory omnivores rather than herbivores
Replies
8
Views
3K
Avon Avians
A
dandsblair
Natural Wonders of Chile - 27th January to 19th February 2024
Replies
9
Views
1K
dandsblair
dandsblair
G
  • Article
Pigeon- Counting In Leith
Replies
0
Views
282
Green Sandpiper
G

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top