BBC Wildlife - UK (2019-12)

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'ttoodicultto

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