Fermoy Golf Club has been making the news - but its nothing to do with holes-in-one or other feats of golfing prowess! Rather its the club efforts to help and encourage some of the course's wildlife inhabitants that has put it in the public eye.

Members decided they'd like to try to help the red squirrels who've made their home on their land at Corrin Hill which adjoins Coillte woodland. They reckon there's over a dozen of the little critters who seem delighted with the food being provided for them by the club via eight specially designed feed boxes around the course.

The club attracted the attention of the 'Mooney Goes Wild' programme on RTE radio when a video camera was installed to record activity around one of the boxes. Éanna ní Lamhna, biologist and environmental consultant, who is involved with the show, paid a visit to the club on Friday last to walk the course and see what's being done. She took away a copy of the footage to post on the show's website and interviewed club officials about the initiative. It'll feature on a segment of the show due to air this Thursday or Friday. 

The club has also posted the footage on it's own website and it's on YouTube. The RTE programme 'Nationwide' has expressed interest too and it has featured in some national newspapers.

Its not the only thing the club has done to help wildlife either this winter. They've installed bird tables to help their feathered friends. In a nice bit of cross party co-operation, the club turned to the local Men's Shed group to make the feeders and bird tables.

Manager Denis Twomey is a little surprised by all the attention their intiative has got. "We just wanted to try to conserve the red squirrels," he explained. "We are hoping it'll increase their population." Members are fairly environmentally and wildlife conscious anyway, Denis said, pointing out that some time ago they were asked to refrain from leaving plastic tees behind them on the course as they posed a danger to wildlife who sometimes mistook them for food items.

The decline in the numbers of red squirrel, a protected species, is attributed to the rise in the numbers and domination of the bigger grey squirrels.

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