Only grey squirrels

Sunday 29th November 2020

We went for a walk around Gorrick Plantation today and I decided to do a survey on Mammal Mapper for the Mammal Society. We walked 3 kms through the plantation and I recorded 16 sightings - one was mole hills the rest were grey squirrels or their dreys. In the actual plantation there was hardly anything at all - also it is really noticeable that there is very little bird song there - it is such a monoculture of pine trees that not much else goes there. Nowadays there is a much better understanding that single species plantations are not good for biodiversity and wildlife. In the Gorrick plantation we can see some areas that are being planted differently - so there is hope that it might be more diverse in the future. We did see some branches and trees that had been eaten by deer but I am not confident enough yet to call that a sighting - probably Muntjac as the marks on the trees were low down - but I couldnt be sure!!