How the North American grey squirrel has displaced the native red squirrel in the UK.

*a map of the British Isles

What do you mean? Wales has a long history of getting invaded. First by the Romans, then by the English and now by the Grey Sqirrels.

My my how the turntables

Anglesey is beautiful and if you ever end up in north Wales (if you do I'm sorry for your loss) then you should visit it

It was injured. You helped the Buzzard population. Bravo!

Rich English people and destroying native populations name a better combination.

They were released everywhere in the US for a similar reason. Towns wanted squirrels for the furry aesthetic. Before squirrels just hung out in the forest.

In 1876 a Victorian banker "decided to release into the wild a pair of grey squirrels he had brought back with him from a business trip to America. Other landowners, viewing the non-native species as a fashionable garden novelty, soon followed suit."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/sep/05/red-grey-squirrels-cornwall

They are. The big thing with invasive species out competing native ones is usually, however, due to bringing in different diseases and not having predators.

ah, that, and bringing their diseases.

This just reminded me of a time I was living in England in the late 90s, and a group of friends and I had found an injured grey squirrel. We called animal control for help, and their response was that if we decide to officially report it, they would have to put it down, because it's considered an invasive species. We ended up just letting the squirrel go, sorry England, for making your map just a tiny bit more grey.

It looks like the displacement slowed down, but there's 55 years between the first and second picture, and only 10 between the second and third.

We are in 2010 AD. All Wales is occupied by the Grey Squirrels. All? No! Because an island populated by irreducible Red Squirrels still resists the invader.

This isn't a map of the UK, strictly speaking, because it includes ROI and Mann.

About high time they experience getting colonized

I have no background on this, but assuming it's called as such because it came from north america, how was it introduced? Via ships like rats?

Coming over here, chewing on our nuts!

We're heading over to that side of the pond soon, my squirrel serial killer dog will come with us.

You're welcome.


Gray squirrels are colonizing red squirrels in North America too.

Ah, why are the black squirrels not mapped? They are slowly taking over from the greys apparently.

Anglesey is doing something right

interesting, guess the greys are filling the same niche.

fINALLY BRINGING dEMOCRACY TO WHERE IT NEEDS TO Be.