'Vandals will NOT beat us'

Daniel McAfee, Vice-Chair of the Glens Red Squirrel Group, said vandals damaged a feeding site in Ballycastle Forest.

Mr McAfee said: “I am so cross with all the work and hours I have put into it and ten minutes of messing about puts two years work out the window.

“But the only damage the vandals are doing is to the red squirrel population within this area of Ballycastle Forest.”

At first he said his immediate reaction was to remove the feeding station to consider what to do with the site but then he took the decision not to give in to the vandals.

So he returned to the forest and moved the feeders further up trees to a height of about 9ft out of reach to passers-by as they had previously been put in place at a height of around four or five feet.

He said: “They are not going to push me out so I fixed it up and put it up higher. That site has been really useful because at first there were only two pairs of squirrels using it but one evening we counted 19 squirrels.”

The Glens Red Squirrel Group was formed to protect the Red Squirrels in the Glens which has one of the biggest concentrations of the animals in Ireland.

In other parts of the island the Red Squirrel population has suffered as the Grey Squirrel has dominated the woods and forests.

The damage to the Glens Red Squirrel Group Ballycastle Forest first red squirrel feeding site was discovered around 7 o'clock last Thursday said Mr McAfee.

He said: “This site has was set up on in April 2008 and has been used to monitor the red squirrels in that part of Ballycastle Forest. This is the first time the site has had any kind of vandalism done to it in all the time it has been in use.

“The 8 feeders in the site were all smashed and broken. The feed bin that is used to store the squirrel food mix was knocked over and smashed open and the squirrel food tipped out.

“Many people who walk in the forest know the site and take the time to site and try and see if they are luck to see squirrels using the feeders a few meters away from them,” said Mr McAfee.

He is in charge of the looking after the feeding site and was the person who set up the site with permission of the Forestry Service.

The filling of the feeders have been his responsibility and he does the monitoring of the reds and records any new sightings.

The feeders are filled with the squirrel food mix once a week all year round and monitored 2-3 times a week in the spring and summer when there are young squirrels out.

Daniel also videos and photographs the squirrels in the site. Some of the videos he has taken are online on youtube viewed by over 36,000.

The public can visit the Glens group’s website on www.glensredsquirrelgroup.com where there are several pictures of squirrels.

The group has four public squirrel feeding sites including Ballycastle Forest, nearby Ballypatrick Forest and also near Cushendun and 56 feeders in people’s private property.

The red squirrel is native to Ireland, but its future is increasingly uncertain as the grey squirrel increases in number.

There are an estimated 40,000 red squirrels throughout Ireland, but the range of this indigenous species is rapidly contracting as grey squirrels continue to spread and out-compete reds for resources.

That is why the Glens Red Squirrel Group wants to try to preserve the Reds.