Grey squirrels to be culled

Grey squirrel crackdown planned.

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The Forestry Commission and Defra have announced a more rigorous approach to controlling grey squirrels. Their review, undertaken at the behest of former Defra Secretary Owen Paterson, concludes that more could be done to address the threats posed by grey squirrels to woodlands and to red squirrels, which they infect with the deadly squirrel pox. It recommends a specific management prescription within countryside stewardship schemes, revision of the good-practice note on culling greys and research into new traps, chemical agents and the impact of predation by pine martens.

CLA president Henry Robinson backs this more robust approach, but reiterates a call for the relicensing of warfarin, ‘by far the most effective tool in controlling grey squirrels’.

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Paula Lester

An experienced journalist, Paula Lester, Country Life's Managing & Features Editor, has worked for the magazine for 10 years — during which time she’s overseen two special issues guest-edited by His Majesty The King in 2013 and in 2018, and the bestselling 2022 edition masterminded by his wife, Queen Camilla. A gamekeeper’s daughter, Paula began her career as a crime reporter on The Sidmouth Herald in Devon, before becoming Pony Club & Young Rider Editor, then Racing Editor, at Horse & Hound. Paula lives in Somerset with her two working Labradors, Nimrod and Rocky.