I recently met with Craig Shuttleworth, the woodland ecologist who's taking a lead role in reintroducing and protecting the red squirrel on Anglesey. He still has a lot of concerns over the detail of tree thinning. A fragmented canopy could spell disaster for the reds as they prefer to move from one tree to another without using the ground.
It was a fascinating meeting. I was mesmerised by his enthusiasm. Good or bad, this is what is driving his concern - some would say cynicism - towards the revised Newborough Forest plans. He started the project seven years ago and has two years of funding remaining. Effectively, he has two years to realise his ambitions. And he's worried about it.
What has he and his team achieved to date? Well, he estimates there are a total of 200 reds on Anglesey now, with up to 100 in Newborough, 80 in Pentraeth, and others scattered mostly around the Beaumaris/north east area of the island. Yet it's not the number of reds that concerns him, but the number of greys.
Greys carry a virus fatal to reds, and they're simply more resourceful - they're better survivors. Since the start of the project, greys on Anglesey have been culled. Officially they're classed as vermin. Because of this, Craig explained, it's illegal to trap them, transport them off the island and release them elsewhere - something a lot of people fail to realise. And despite attitudes against culling softening, people are reluctant to report sightings. They fail to realise that they should, in the same way they would contact the council pest control if they saw a rat.
Last year (2007) Craig estimated there were 150 greys on Anglesey. In the end they found and killed 237. Craig knows he has two years left to get them off the island, or all the efforts of the red squirrel project may have been in vain.
If you're an animal lover you might think Craig is persuing the cull with just a little too much vigour. But consider this: Anglesey island represents a unique opportunity in the UK to be a "grey squirrel-free" area. In other words, it could become the UK's premier red squirrel sanctuary. An undergraduate at Oxford University is being funded to create sonic devices that would fix to Britannia and Menai Bridges, the two land-links to the mainland. Apparently most greys arrive on the island by running across the bridges, but the sound these devices will emit will stop them. This, and zero greys killed in 2009, will mean the island will be grey-free.
Put this into a national context. It was only recently that conservationists realised that red squirrels had all but disappeared from Wales. The theory was that the coniferous forests didn't suit the greys. But they've adapted. There's more of them here than anyone thought. Anglesey is the reds' best chance for survival in Wales.
Craig has no compassion for grey squirrels, and some might find that disconcerting. Yet this guy is bursting with passion. He's fiercely determined to do whatever it takes to ensure the reds' survival on Anglesey. He described the virus that greys transmit to reds - likening the slow death to mixamatosis in rabbits - and I could see the horror in his eyes. You can't say he doesn't care. Maybe this passion blurs his reason when he discusses forest plans for Newborough, and perhaps he distrusts authority just a little too easily. I think good conservationists probably need a healthy does of cynicism.
But I admire his determination and his values. I find the idea of Anglesey being a red squirrel sanctuary extremely appealing. I know that if I ever see a red squirrel in the wild in Newborough Forest, it will be a magical moment. And it will be all thanks to Craig Shuttleworth.
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