I was a bit confused because there's a related species in North America, Martes americana, that is also sometimes called the pine marten (more properly, the American marten or American pine marten). The European species is Martes martes.
The American species clearly doesn't extirpate gray squirrels, but in North America red and gray squirrels do coexist. However, these red squirrels are also a different species, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus, not the European species, Sciurus vulgaris. The American pine marten is a predator of the American red squirrel.
Squirrel taxonomy seems to be in a state of flux at present due to DNA information becoming available.
> Studies have also shown the pine martens are effective predators of grey squirrels, giving hope that they may provide a natural control for the introduced squirrel, which damages trees in commercial plantations and has virtually wiped out the red squirrel in England.
If, like me, you were wondering whether they also predate red squirrels, apparently pine martens hunt and eat grey squirrels far more, as they're able to easily raid grey squirrel nests. Red squirrels have evolved alongside pine martens and have better awareness to the threat they pose. This article was informative:
Sometimes they might go further on suitable thin branches, but I doubt that this matters much. I have never heard of a case when a marten could not advance towards a squirrel due to fear of breaking the branch.
What red squirrels can do and martens cannot do, is to jump down from the tree from a relatively great height without injury, due to their low weight and fluffy hair and then climb into another tree, far from the marten.
It is likely that this behavior of some squirrels is what has lead to the evolution of the flying squirrels.
If we can't manage to build infrastructure problems without destroying habitats, then we need to do much better. Maybe 20mph speed limits are what's required if motorists are going to be destroying wildlife - certainly the ponies will be more likely to survive if drivers reduce their speed a bit.
Good? Giving the tiniest little shit about nature and not wiping out the entire biosphere to build super low density housing over everything is the least we can do.
Not good. There is a spectrum of choices between not having enough reservoirs and power generation on one end and paving over the entire country on the other. I would trade having bats confused at night in order to have more housing within 2 miles of a major city.
I might agree, if high-density housing in England wasn't coupled with laughable rights for the owners of flats/apartments. The current leasehold system needs to be replaced, but I doubt anything will change even with the new government.
There are plenty of brown-field sites where NIMBYs have managed to block housing, including places like old gas works, which thankfully seems to be changing under the new government. We don't need to build or have high speed limits on Dartmoor, which is what we're talking about here.
We do need to build and maintain the existing reservoirs that provide water for much of Devon, otherwise we will be shipping it in from Norway. Communities that live in Dartmoor may want to upgrade to more comfortable houses and experience less poverty. A community like Postbridge or Princetown would be severely isolated by 20mph speed limits.
I was a bit confused because there's a related species in North America, Martes americana, that is also sometimes called the pine marten (more properly, the American marten or American pine marten). The European species is Martes martes.
The American species clearly doesn't extirpate gray squirrels, but in North America red and gray squirrels do coexist. However, these red squirrels are also a different species, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus, not the European species, Sciurus vulgaris. The American pine marten is a predator of the American red squirrel.
Squirrel taxonomy seems to be in a state of flux at present due to DNA information becoming available.
> Studies have also shown the pine martens are effective predators of grey squirrels, giving hope that they may provide a natural control for the introduced squirrel, which damages trees in commercial plantations and has virtually wiped out the red squirrel in England.
If, like me, you were wondering whether they also predate red squirrels, apparently pine martens hunt and eat grey squirrels far more, as they're able to easily raid grey squirrel nests. Red squirrels have evolved alongside pine martens and have better awareness to the threat they pose. This article was informative:
https://www.discoverwildlife.com/news/pine-martens-predate-o...
I believe red squirrels are lighter than pine martens, and so can go out further on branches, whereas grey squirrels can’t.
I’m guessing they’ll be able to reintroduce red squirrels in these areas in due course.
Sometimes they might go further on suitable thin branches, but I doubt that this matters much. I have never heard of a case when a marten could not advance towards a squirrel due to fear of breaking the branch.
What red squirrels can do and martens cannot do, is to jump down from the tree from a relatively great height without injury, due to their low weight and fluffy hair and then climb into another tree, far from the marten.
It is likely that this behavior of some squirrels is what has lead to the evolution of the flying squirrels.
I guess the key indicator for the martens is that grey squirrels are simply a larger meal.
In a few years major infrastructure projects will be held up and Dartmoor speed limits will be dropped to 20 in order to protect the pine marten.
For the foreigners who think this is an exaggeration, we already stop housing developments because house lights at night disturb bats.
If we can't manage to build infrastructure problems without destroying habitats, then we need to do much better. Maybe 20mph speed limits are what's required if motorists are going to be destroying wildlife - certainly the ponies will be more likely to survive if drivers reduce their speed a bit.
Good? Giving the tiniest little shit about nature and not wiping out the entire biosphere to build super low density housing over everything is the least we can do.
Not good. There is a spectrum of choices between not having enough reservoirs and power generation on one end and paving over the entire country on the other. I would trade having bats confused at night in order to have more housing within 2 miles of a major city.
I might agree, if high-density housing in England wasn't coupled with laughable rights for the owners of flats/apartments. The current leasehold system needs to be replaced, but I doubt anything will change even with the new government.
The way you've phrased this comes across as a counterpoint, but both of these things can be true and need fixing. It doesn't have to be either / or.
There are plenty of brown-field sites where NIMBYs have managed to block housing, including places like old gas works, which thankfully seems to be changing under the new government. We don't need to build or have high speed limits on Dartmoor, which is what we're talking about here.
We do need to build and maintain the existing reservoirs that provide water for much of Devon, otherwise we will be shipping it in from Norway. Communities that live in Dartmoor may want to upgrade to more comfortable houses and experience less poverty. A community like Postbridge or Princetown would be severely isolated by 20mph speed limits.
"severely isolated by 20mph speed limits"
Really?
Sounds good, we've gone only in the opposite direction for far too long.