SQUIRRELS IN ESSEX 69
Colne Engaine, Dedham and other villages around Colchester'. This
statement was true in the second half of the 1960s, but by 1971 the Red
Squirrel was almost certainly extinct in these areas, and Firmin was
probably relaying information that had been conveyed to him some time
earlier. He did however include information about one of his own sight-
ings in Lexden Park in December 1970, adding that by 1971 very few Red
Squirrels still persisted in Lexden Park and Lexden Road. This is the last
positive record for the Colchester area.
In 1968 or 1969 six Red Squirrels (three males and three females) from
Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, were reintroduced by V. Fisher to the conifer
plantations in Thorndon Park near Brentwood (TQ 606914), and this
introduction may account for the unconfirmed Red Squirrel records from
the Brentwood and Shenfield areas early in 1970. These animals were seen
by one of the Park staff in the summer of 1972, but whether they still
persist is uncertain.
Table 1
Post-1970 Red Squirrel records
In conclusion, during the early 1970s three areas of Essex still held Red
Squirrels, one being near Danbury, one to the east of Colchester, and
Thorndon Park. These areas are isolated both from each other and from
the nearest colonies in Suffolk. In this latter county the 1971 MAFF
survey showed Red Squirrels to be present from Ipswich northwards and
eastwards, with the exception of an isolated record at Little Cornard
(TL 9138) near the Essex border. No Red Squirrel records have been
received for Essex since 1972, and if the animal is not actually extinct in
Essex now, this may soon be the case.
Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)
'. . . the quadrupeds of Britain are so few, that every new species is a great
acquisition' (White 1789).