Red squirrel - the comeback kid

SMALL PRINTS: The red squirrel is making a return, based on dozens of emails received from readers. Many have seen reds but there are also frequent sightings of pine martens, particularly in areas from which grey squirrels have disappeared.

Many sightings of either reds or pine martens came in from along the eastern seaboard, from Colligan Wood near Dungarvan, through Co Wicklow and up to north Co Dublin and Kildare, near Edenderry. Sightings extended well inland in places such as Longford, Lough Ennell and Portarlington, Co Laois.

There were many reports in from Co Cavan and also from Killarney, Co Kerry, north Clare and Fermanagh near Enniskillen and Belcoo. A reader from Borris, Co Carlow even sent excellent pictures of a pine marten.

If readers are mysteriously losing fruit crops then they might want to discover whether pine martens were responsible.

A number of readers talked about stolen fruit, with one watching as a pine marten climbed up a plum tree, knocked down fruit, gobbled it up, and then went back for more.

Another reader watched as a marten cleaned off a row of strawberries only to start on a second.