Lou is the owner of Cragend Farm with her husband Shaun, and deals with everything from Holiday Accommodation inquiries to egg collection from the chickens; she is the social media and web design finger-tapper.
Red Squirrels at Cragend.
The Coquetdale Squirrel Group works relentlessly to try to safeguard the red squirrels in our region from the oncoming plague of grey squirrels coming up from the South of England. Here is a testimonial from the groups spokesperson, Janet Fenwick-Clennell:
"For the past 5 years the Coquetdale Squirrel Group has been working with Shaun and Lou at Cragend. We are a voluntary organisation dependant on donations, fundraising activities and grants to carry out work to preserve and enhance our indigenous red squirrel population in and around Coquetdale – one of the few remaining areas within England. We monitor woodland using hair tubes, cameras and feeders to establish the presence or otherwise of squirrels. Where reds are present, it has been shown that supplementary feeding at certain times of the year can help survival, particularly of juvenile squirrels and may also lead to encouraging them to have a second litter later in the year. The greys seem to have no such problems and can have up to 4 litters per year, they also out-compete and can carry a pox, fatal to our reds. If greys are found to be present a trapping programme is then implemented.
The River Coquet sadly provides an ideal corridor for grey squirrels to move up into what was previously a red stronghold and they are now forming breeding colonies in Upper Coquetdale. Cragend woods provide access to trap in a very important area which greys are known to travel through. In the coming year we hope to establish some permanent feeding sites at Cragend with a view to attracting more reds to the area.
We depend totally on the goodwill of farmers and landowners such as the Renwicks to allow us access to their land, and also on a small band of intrepid volunteers who trudge through the woods in all weathers checking traps, cameras and feeders in the hope we can preserve our iconic red squirrels for future generations. Many thanks to Shaun and Lou for giving us much needed help and support in our work."
If you wish to find out more about Coquetdale Squirrel Group please look at our website http://rothbury.co.uk/_groups/csg/
If you would like to donate directly to try and save Red Squirrels in Northumberland the account details for the Coquetdale Squirrel Group are:
Coquetdale Squirrel Group
Sort code: 20-58-17
Acc No. 1348463
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Find Out More About Cragend
Cragend Farm has a interesting and diverse history, from technical innovations to historic buildings. Tied in closely to the neighbouring Cragside Estate home of Victorian inventor and industrialist Lord Armstrong.