Green Limerick: Limerick Council encourage public to survey woodland mammals

LIMERICK City and County Council is encouraging the public to support the All-Ireland Squirrel and Pine Marten Survey to help track some of our most iconic woodland mammals – the red squirrel, the grey squirrel and pine martens.

Members of the public are invited to record their sightings of the three species throughout, helping researchers build a detailed picture of how their populations are changing.

The red squirrel is Ireland’s only native squirrel species, once widespread in forests and wooded areas. The introduction of the grey squirrel in 1911 has had devastating consequences on  our  native species through  disease and  competition for food, leading to the disappearance of red squirrels from large parts of the country.

For many years, the future of the red squirrel looked bleak. However, recent surveys have revealed a remarkable and unexpected turnaround,  with the grey squirrel being knocked back in certain areas, and the reds showing signs of recovery.

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In several regions, grey squirrel numbers have declined sharply, while red squirrels are showing encouraging signs of recovery.
Research linked  this shift to the successful comeback  of another native species, the pine marten   - tree dwelling carnivores  and one of the few predators that can successfully hunt  grey squirrels. 

Because the red squirrel evolved alongside  pine martens,  they are better adapted to avoiding them  and can escape danger more easily.

Sinead McDonnell, biodiversity officer, Limerick City and County Council is encouraging Limerick participation in the survey.

“Encouragingly, very few grey squirrels have been reported in Limerick to date and sightings of pine martens are also low. We are hopeful that the continued relative absence of grey squirrels will persist. More reporting from the Limerick public will help to develop a clearer picture of the relationship between three species, she outlined.

Led by  researchers in University of Galway, Ulster Wildlife and the Vincent Wildlife Trust,  the survey  aims to  map  the latest distribution of red and grey squirrels, and the pine marten across the island of Ireland. The 2026 survey is being delivered with the support of the National Biodiversity Data Centre in  the Republic of Ireland and  CEDaR  in Northern Ireland.

Sightings of all three mammals can be recorded on the online survey form www.biodiversityireland.ie.

The  survey  is  part of a long-running monitoring programme, with  previous  surveys carried out on four occasions since 1997, providing vital insights into long-term trends and conservation success.

Dr Colin Lawton of University of Galway’s School of Natural Sciences  explained  the significance of the new survey.

“In our most recent survey in 2019, we found that the grey squirrel had all but disappeared from 10 midland counties, and the red squirrel and pine marten were doing particularly well.  However, the dynamics between the three species is  finely balanced  and we need to continue to  monitor  the animals to make sure things  don’t  change again. The  greys continue to  spread in the south and North-West, and  they  are  doing particularly well in urban areas, where pine martens are very rare.”