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For several years already, Mārtiņš Kalniņš, the environmental expert of LVM, together with the Nature Conservation Agency is looking for or is monitoring the flying squirrels. Monitoring method is a simple but, at the same time, complicated – flying squirrels are tracked by their excrements.

“In the nature protected area “Virguļicas meži” in the eastern part of Vidzeme region, with the help of Kaspars Liepiņš, the environmental planning specialist, and other colleagues, 40 birdhouses have been set up (large, with thick walls and a small entrance hole – an imitation of a hollow tree). In birdhouses and on the ground, especially around aspen stems, we search for the excrements of flying squirrels that look like yellowish rice grains,” says Mārtiņš Kalniņš.

In the photo: Excrements of flying squirrel – three yellow “grains”

The second territory of regular monitoring is in the protected area “Gruzdovas meži” in northern part of Latgale region. Up until now the Gruzdova forests did not have birdhouses and flying squirrels were monitored around many stems of aspen trees. But this year, in the beginning of April, 30 birdhouses were made to set them up in the Gruzdova forests.

The former attempts to find flying squirrels in both Virguļica and Gruzdova as well as in other forests (as many reports of monitoring events show) were not successful.

The senior expert of monitoring and planning of the Nature Conservation Agency, Valdis Pilāts explains that this species should be added to the list of species that are extinct in Latvia. However, proving the fact that the species are extinct is even harder than proving the opposite. For this reason, the tracking of flying squirrels has not ceased.

While the new birdhouses were set up in the Gruzdova forests, approximately 10 kilometres away, with low expectations for good results, the Finnish scientist Juha Kinnunen found excrements of flying squirrels in two forest districts that are approximately 8 kilometres away from each other. It proves that there still are flying squirrels in Latvia.

Though, it must be said, that these findings do not indicate on large and sustainable populations of flying squirrels. Those can be individual, migratory animals, but in any case, the results are pleasing.

Though evidence was found, they were not recorded. Juha Kinnunen told that he did not take a photo or did not collect the found excrements of flying squirrels, because in Finland this species in not so rare, and he was more interested in Neckera pennata mosses that are not that rare in Latvia.

In the photo: Lobaria pulmonaria (on top) and Neckera pennata (bellow)

“After setting up the birdhouses for flying squirrels, together with Finish scientist, we surveyed the 40 birdhouses of Virguļica forest. Though, we did not find flying squirrels, we found other valuable species – a polypore Junghornia pseudozilingianus. According to Finnish scientist, there are only some 50 localities were this species has been recorded. This polypore is also interesting, because it grows on another polypore – Phellinus populicola – which is one of the indicator species of natural forest biotopes.

In the photo: Polypore Junghornia pseudozilingianus on an aspen stem in Virguļica forests.