This talk was given by Craig Shuttleworth, who happens to have set up the red squirrel charity and be best pals with prince Charles.
although squirrels are super cute they are also very destructive, chewing through wires and causing fires. Due to this as well as having an impact on birds, bark stripping and nest predation, 69% of the population want grey squirrels to be controlled.
house damage
Introduced in 1876, the grey squirrels are heavier and stockier than the reds, often out competing them for food and space. This is seen mainly in the young red squirrels, who struggle to survive in the presence of greys. Grey squirrels struggle to live in conifer forests as the seeds are too small to sustain the nutrients needed for their bigger body, this however does not stop them trying. This is very problematic for the reds as greys carry squirrel pox: causing legions on the red squirrels until death 3 weeks after infection. It is thought that if the greys continue to spread north it could cause an epidemic.
squirrel pox
In 1998 there was 40 red squirrels and 3000-4000 grey squirrels, so a project was set up to eradicate greys, after a few years although not all the greys were gone, none of them carried the virus. After a few unsuccessful attempts at reintroducing the red squirrels, vets found the cause to be adenovirus, which could of been spread by mice. Because of this the project changed their protocol and housed animals for a short time before release making the reintroduction more successful.
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Since Anglesey is a peninsula and not an island greys can still get access to reds, this needs to be stopped as the red population has proven to be boosted when there are no greys present.
I think it is an important project and everyone should get involved in thinking of ways to stop the grey squirrel from crossing the menai straights. This talk actually surprised me, I have never been one for allowing any animals to be killed but Craig made a persuading talk and i have changed my views.
Writing a CV
One component of our module was to write a CV, I found this very helpful as we had lectures on how to write a good CV. We learnt how to advertise ourselves and put ourselves out there without writing a long boring CV. The lectures in particular were helpful but actually writing the CV and cover letter was a good exercise to as I feel more prepared to write one when I finish university now. We also wrote a cover letter, which I have never done before so felt it was good practice.
tanyaminton 