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Since lauching this project in 2007 we've been kept busy:
January 2007
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) asked us if we’d be prepared to talk about
“our” squirrels to one of their researchers, as the Dundee Red Squirrel Project had identified us as “red
squirrel enthusiasts”!
The SNH representative was making a study of natural areas within urban environments,
and was particularly interested in how much enjoyment people in urban environments get from having areas of natural beauty
nearby.
She interviewed us for over an hour, about the squirrels’ antics in the
wood and in our garden on her camcorder, to use in her presentation of findings.
February 2007
We were asked if we’d be prepared to let a TV crew from Scottish TV come and film the squirrels
in our garden for a North Tonight (STV’s evening news) programme.
The day they came was freezing cold, but at least it wasn’t raining! They
set up the camera on the deck, facing into the wood, and waited for the squirrels to show up. They waited and waited. We started
to feel acutely embarrassed by the lack of red squirrels, but all we could do was to keep hoping they’d turn up soon.
We were hugely relieved when, almost an hour later, a squirrel came swinging through the treetops into the garden. It made
up for coming late by putting on a spectacular performance for the camera man!
| STV news crew with Ken Neil of DRSP |
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March 2007
The Dundee Red Squirrel Project sponsored a promotional DVD, and wanted
to film the squirrels in our garden.
Two cameramen came and set up a small hide in the wild corner of
the garden. They filmed for a few hours, lying amongst the ferns in the undergrowth in freezing conditions with frost on the
ground, but the end result was well worth it as it’s a super DVD.
They also filmed us talking about our involvement with the DRSP, and what we do to help the
red squirrels in Backmuir Wood.
| Independent cameraman Scott Sigsworth of icufoto |
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April 2007 The
BBC were in our garden for three days filming the red squirrels for a huge new series called “The Nature of Britain”,
presented by Alan Titchmarsh. The series producer Stephen Moss was delighted with the amount of squirrel footage they’d
managed to get, and both he and cameraman Steve Phillipps went back to Bristol happy men. The
BBC broadcast the series in October 2007 on BBC 1.
| One of BBCs top wildlife cameramen Steve Phillipps |
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July 2007
Dundee City Council has recently spent millions of pounds on renovating Baxter Park, one of several parks within the Dundee area. The official opening ceremony was held on 2nd July, and was attended by HRH Queen Elizabeth and
HRH Prince Philip. The Dundee Red Squirrel Project had one of the many information/promotional stands in the park that day,
and one of their enormous free standing information boards was one of our photo’s with a four foot high squirrel.
| Prince Philip with Dundee City Council Rangers |
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August 2007
We were contacted by the Photo Editor of The New York Times Magazine, saying they were working on an article
about the effects on the red squirrel population in Britain caused by the introduction of American
grey squirrels in the 19th century. The editor asked if they could send a photographer from New York to take photos of red squirrels in our
garden to use in the article. The photographer was here for 6 days, and took over 3,500 photos (not all in the garden). The
article was published on 7th October 2007 and can be read at www.nytimes.com/pages/magazine
| Photographer Simen Johan working for The NYT |
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| The composite picture published by The NYT |
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December 2007
Children from Kingspark Primary School presenting a cheque for £90. The children raised the money at their Christmas
fair selling cards and Christmas decorations based on their poject about Red squirrels.
| Children from Kingspark Primary School |
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February 2008
Visitors from the Red Squirrel Childrens Nursery on an educational field trip doing a bit of squirrel spotting.
| Field trip for the Red Squirrel Childrens Nursery |
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MAY 2008
Our first release of a squirrel back in to the wild. 'Caledon' was found near Banff in the north of Scotland and given
to the SSPCA. He was only 3 weeks old and still had his eyes shut. The SSPCA hand reared him for a further 5 weeks at their
rescue centre in Dunfermline in Central Scotland. At 8 weeks old they were looking for a home for Caledon where his progress
could be monitored. They brought him to us for release and we marked his tail so that he could be identified. We have seen
him every day since and are hopeful of his future.
| Baby Caledon at 4 weeks old |
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| Release day for Caledon |
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| Caledon - complete with yellow tail |
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May 2008
'Beavers' from the 46th Angus Scout Troupe visiting the sanctuary. They were there to listen to Dundee City Council's Countryside
Ranger Ken Neil, who was giving a talk about the Red Squirrels.
| 46th Angus Beaver Scout Troupe |
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