3 questionson
1
WHENDOREDSQUIRRELS
BURYTHEIRNUTS?
Redsquirrelsstartcacheinginautumn,
takingadvantageoftheseasonalglutof
nuts,seedsandcones.Theyforageinthe
trees,onopengroundandamongthe
leaf-litter,buryingtheirlootina seriesof
small,freshly-dugholesjustaninchor
sodeep(squirrelsonlyhavelittlearms,
afterall).Youngstersinstinctivelyknow
howtocache,andsecond-litterkits,
borninlatesummer,willbecreating
theirownwinterlardersjust
a monthafterreaching
independence.
2
WHATMAKESA GOOD
CACHEINGSITE?
A squirrelcancachea hugeamountof
foodacrossitspatch.Individualsdon’t
havedistinctterritories,sotwosquirrels
willoftenbeburyinginthesamearea.
Theanimalsseekoutnice,soft
groundthatisn'ttoodi cultto
excavate,andmayalsostash
foodingardenplantpotsand
alongthebasesofhedgerows.
Lastyear’sholeswillhave
disintegrated,owingto
theirsmallsize,sothe
squirrelsmustdignew
ones each year.
3
HOWARECACHES
RELOCATED?
Redsquirrelstapintotheir
excellentspecialmemorytofind
themajorityoftheircaches,evenif
there’ssnowontheground.Theyalso
havea greatsenseofsmell,whichhelps
thempinpointnotonlytheirownstores,
butalsothoseoftheirpeers.Thievery
is rife,whichis whysquirrelsoptfor
numerouscachesoveronelargenutty
stockpile.Theyarewarywhencreating
theirlardersforthesamereason:if an
individualthinksit’sbeingwatched,it
pretendstoburyanitem,thenquickly
buries it elsewhere.SarahPurdon
RED SQUIRREL CACHEING
BIRDS
Cantagging devices
curbillegalraptor
persecution?
T
hedevelopmentoftracking
technologiesmeansthatthe
movementsofbirdsofprey,suchas
goldeneaglesandhenharriers,can
nowbetrackedinnear-realtime.While
someofthesedevicesutilisethemobile
phonenetworktotransmittheirlocation,
othersmakeuseofgeostationary
satellites.Knowingwherea birdis,or,
morespecifically,thelocationofitslast
transmissionshouldthetagsuddenly
gooffline,canhelptorevealwhereand
whena birddied.Nevertheless,evenif tag
datarevealsthedisappearanceofseveral
birdsona specificgrousemoor,there
won’tnecessarilybeanyproofthatillegal
persecutionhastakenplace.
A newtag,currentlybeingtestedby
ScottishNaturalHeritageongoldeneagles,
maygoa stagefurther.Thedeviceincludes
sensorsthatdetectunusualbehaviour,
triggeringa ‘distress’signal.Thisalerts
researchersand,potentially,theNational
WildlifeCrimeUnit,enablingfasteraccess
tothescene.Theincreasinguseofsuch
tagsmayactasa deterrenttoanyone
tempted to kill a bird of prey.Mike Toms
Q&A