Writer for rent. Project manager for hire. Communications person with built-in spell-checker for sale.
- Copy Writing
- Strategic Planning
- Tourism Marketing
- Print material design and layout
- And that kind of stuff…
writers@askthelocals.co.za
Adventure Xtreme & Eco Tourism
Wildlife tours, conservation and action sports
Writer for rent. Project manager for hire. Communications person with built-in spell-checker for sale.
writers@askthelocals.co.za
Around seventy five per cent of the UK population of red squirrels are found in Scotland. Mainly in the Highlands, but Southern Scotland and Fife as well. They can also be found in Northern Ireland.
There are pockets on Anglesey and in northern England, such as Cumbria, Kielder Forest and a noted concentration of red squirrels around Formby. In southern England they can be found onthe Isle of Wight and Brownsea Island, in Poole Harbour.
There are several options available to make a woodland more attractive to red squirrels, but it really comes down to ensuring there is a healthy food supply available all year round. Red squirrels primarily feed on seeds and nuts, supplementing their diet with fruit, plant shoots and fungi when their preferred food is less readily available. However, conifers don’t always produce seeds every year, and many species will not start producing seeds until they reach a certain age – up to 20 years old for some trees.
To make sure there are always seeds available for red squirrels, woodland can be managed to ensure there is a healthy variety in the age of the trees present, as well as providing a variety of tree species on which the red squirrels can feed. They prefer conifers with large seeds, such as larch and Norway spruce, but it is a balancing act between providing red squirrels with their ideal food choice and not attracting grey squirrels into the area.
The location and timing of any forestry work is also important in optimising woodland management for red squirrels, such as avoiding any felling whilst young squirrels are still present in their nests (known as a drey). Also, as red squirrels like to have a continuous canopy to move through, ensuring that solid corridors remain between seeding trees can help keep a woodland attractive to them.
The second habitat management principle, making forests unattractive to grey squirrels, relies on producing ‘islands’ of woodland that can only support red squirrels, with some form of barrier between that forest and any surrounding ‘grey squirrel friendly’ areas. These barriers can include coniferous trees, arable land or moorland, and are designed to discourage grey squirrels from entering the red squirrel habitat, where they would be likely to have a negative impact on the red squirrels.
The habitat management techniques described here can help towards maintaining surviving populations of red squirrels, but it is a fragile balance as it only takes a very small number of broad-leafed trees to allow grey squirrels to survive within a coniferous forest. For this reason habitat management is used alongside other forms of conservation management including control of grey squirrels in carefully chosen areas to help remaining populations of red squirrels to survive.
The Eastern Cape Province covers approximately one thousand kilometres between the Bloukrans River and Kwa-Zulu Natal. Offering adventure seekers access to a wild, rugged, untamed and often inaccessible coastline. One of the more ‘off the beaten track’ destinations.
The Wild Coast which runs from East London to the wild , wacky, weird Port-St-Johns, gives visitors the opportunity to experience some of the best beaches on the coast of South Africa, warm waters and plunging cliffs. It is also the traditional homeland of the Xhosa, the Transkei. Popular for fishing, surfing, sand-surfing, swimming, hiking, horseback riding, paragliding, and biking, as well as authentic cultural activities.
The towns and villages along the coast can only be reached along small side roads off the mail road to Durban. These are often gravel which are poorly maintained. Progress is slow slow and arduous – but incredibly beautiful and breath taking scenery. Some interesting destinations are
Cintsa, Haga Haga, Morgan Bay, Kei Mouth, Qolora Mouth, Mazeppa Bay, The Haven, Hole -in-the-Wall, Coffee Bay and Port-St-Johns.