Grey Squirrels are cute, they sit upright looking at you appealingly with their bushy tails curled behind them. Families feed the endearing little characters in the churchyard and Blackmore Gardens.

Unfortunately, they also are wreaking destructive havoc across our broadleaved woodlands and they have pushed the equally cute native Red Squirrel to extinction across much of Britain. Grey Squirrels are the Marmite among our mammal population, some people love them, some people hate them.

Grey Squirrels were introduced from North America to Britain in the nineteenth century. The 11th Duke of Bedford released some on his Woburn Abbey estate and in Regents and Richmond Parks. He also presented squirrels to many of his friends to be released on estates around England. Now there are estimated to be two and a half million Grey Squirrels in Britain, more than ten times the population of the native Red Squirrel.

Grey Squirrels have taken over much of the Reds’ territory because they are larger and can out compete them. Also, the Greys carry a virus that does them no major harm but is fatal to Red Squirrels.

Apart from almost wiping out the native Reds, Grey Squirrels are changing our woodlands. They strip the bark from young trees to feed on the sugar rich sap. Red Squirrels were once considered a forestry pest and were shot for doing the same thing, but Grey Squirrels are larger and their population is much higher than the Reds ever managed, and so they cause more damage. Many large estates have given up planting broadleaved trees and we end up with even more conifer plantations while having to import hardwoods such as Oak and Beech.

Trapping and shooting Grey Squirrels in timber plantations is not popular with the public, but scientists are beginning to have success at controlling them with a bait laced with contraceptives to reduce the breeding. One problem is to make sure the bait is only taken by the Grey Squirrels.

Sometimes I am tempted to ask people feeding the Squirrels why they don’t feed the rats too.