Plucky as a jockey galloping a racehorse into space

ANOTHER LIFE:THERE AREN'T that many poems about squirrels, perhaps from the problem of finding a decent rhyme for the animal. Some try to conjure squirrel movement in short, darting lines ("With a rocketing rip / Squirrel will zip / Up a tree-bole / As if down a hole," as Ted Hughes wrote for children). Yeats, in his little ode To a Squirrel at Kyle-na-No, parked the animal safely in the title.

Coill na gCno, the "wood of the nuts", was a hazel copse at Lady Gregory's place, Coole Park in Co Galway, where he counted his nine-and-fifty wild swans – probably wintering whoopers. We can be sure, however, that the object of his fancy ("When all I would do / Is to scratch your head / And let you go") was a winsome Irish red, Sciurus vulgaris.

In 1919, when the poem appeared, the first American grey squirrels ( Sciurus carolinensis) had been eight years abroad at Castle Forbes, in Co Longford, beyond the Shannon – an ill-judged wedding present from the duke of Buckingham, in England. Their subsequent bark-stripping spread through the whole of eastern Ireland has prompted exceptional measures to protect the native reds from competition for food and territory, if not fatal infection with the greys' squirrelpox.

The red squirrel's native credentials have rested partly on finding them ( sesquivolos) among Irish mammals listed in Latin by an Irish monk, Augustin, in the 17th century. But genetic evidence now suggests our present population is a mix of DNA lineages, some from the survivors of deforestation, others from subsequent introductions and translocations.

Translocations that began in 2005 have now established two new colonies of red squirrels in woodlands of the west, at a far remove from the Shannon and the greys. Carried through by the Mammal Ecology Group of staff, graduates and students at NUI Galway, it has resulted in a new manual for the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Written by Catherine Waters and Colin Lawson, it will be widely read by ecologists trying to save reds from extinction.

The two new colonies are at Derryclare in Connemara, a remote lakeside conifer forest and ancient oak wood in the mountainous Inagh Valley, and Belleek Forest Park at Ballina, in Co Mayo, an isolated block of woodland managed as the town’s amenity forest beside the River Moy. The original 19 squirrels for Derryclare were trapped in Portumna Forest Park, Co Galway, and the 15 for Belleek at Lough Key, in Co Roscommon, and Union Wood, in Co Sligo. In a “soft release” technique they spent some weeks in enclosures, with extra feeding, before they were set free to explore the trees around.

At Belleek some soon escaped on their own from a tepee of netting built around a tree trunk, but they came back for the extra maize and nuts. Indeed, as they flourished and bred, one managed to get as far as Mount Falcon Country House Hotel, about six kilometres away, and a few even crossed the Moy.

Some rules of thumb have emerged from translocation experience in the UK. Along with good distance from the nearest greys are a minimum size of mixed woodland – about 200 hectares – and food for at least 60-80 squirrels. A squirrel’s daily energy requirement is between 95 and 165 calories per day, so a good potential territory needs up to 30 beech nuts or pine cones per square metre in autumn.

At Derryclare, cones from Coillte’s lodgepole pines have been the main food. These tufted conifers pioneered Irish planting on windswept peatland, and in their original American settings often hold on to their seeds until triggered by forest fires. The Derryclare squirrels seem, however, to have found enough to nourish their expansion, leaving well-chewed cone cores scattered on the ground.

Other remote mixed woodlands in the west, from Donegal to Kerry, could offer further strongholds for the red, and many local communities may be intrigued by the manual’s talk of potential “tourist spend” generated by this “publicly charismatic species”. In northwest England, it points out, the red squirrels at Formby Nature Reserve attract a tourist revenue of £1 million (€1.2 million) a year. In Wales ecotourism helped justify a red-squirrel conservation project on Anglesey. In Scotland the chance of red sightings is presented as a potential highlight of a visit by ecotourism websites.

Tourist revenue may help to balance the considerable cost and lengthy technical commitment in establishing further colonies. Saving the reds is a goal of Ireland’s biodiversity plan. It also helps educate the public, says the manual, about the risks from introducing new species. Red squirrels do have a role ecologically, not least in growing new trees from seeds they cache in the ground. But what people value is the glow of that soft auburn fur and a glimpse of the squirrel, as Ted Hughes pictured it, “plucky / As a jockey / Galloping a Race- / Horse into space”.

Eye on nature

I saw a completely white hare recently. I have never before seen one (an occasional rabbit, yes). How rare are they? An escapee, perhaps?

Terence Flanagan, Kiltimagh, Co Mayo

The Irish or mountain hare, Lepus timidus hibernicus, belongs to the same family as the Arctic hare, Lepus timidus, and is the native Irish hare. Occasionally they show white patches in very cold winters, but only rarely do they turn all white.

A pine marten comes into the conservatory to rummage around in the recycling bin. It arrives around 10.30pm, stays for about an hour and doesn’t seem to mind me opening the door to watch it. We began to leave food out for it, and now we have two visitors.

Clara Kane, Boyannagh, Co Leitrim

I was reminded by your recent mention of fish-eating stoats that on Easter Saturday and Sunday 2009, at the Flaggy Shore in Co Clare, a pair of stoats, working in relays, repeatedly took fish from the seashore to, I presume, their nest. They stood on a rock as the incoming tide brought in small fish, and grabbed them before the outflow took them out of reach. The fishing expedition lasted for over an hour each day.

Brendan Conway, Newquay, Co Clare

* Michael Viney welcomes observations at Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo, or e-mail viney@anu.ie. Please include a postal address