The red squirrel has long attracted headlines of doom. Bullied out of house and home by its American grey cousins, it has become the UK's equivalent of the panda - a creature seemingly doomed to extinction despite its power to pull at our collective heart strings.

Experts have warned that competition from greys and the increasing threat posed by the squirrel pox disease means the red squirrel could disappear from our shores within a generation.

Red brigades hang on in islands such as Anglesey in Wales and Brownsea in Dorset, as well as woody fringes in Formby in the north west and Scotland.

But a project in Ireland has unearthed findings that could radically change the fortunes of both the red and grey squirrel in England, Scotland and Wales.

The future of reds and greys, may be inextricably linked to one of our rarest and most elusive hunters - the pine marten. If you are lucky enough to see one high up in the trees, it looks uncannily like a giant red squirrel.Supreme hunting skills and a valuable pelt ensured the marten became the sworn enemy of the gamekeeper and a friend of the fur trade - its numbers plummeted as a result.

In Ireland, the marten also declined, but it is now recovering and is relatively widespread in some areas.

But a study in 2007 found that in parts of the Irish midlands the squirrel tables had been turned. What really got scientists interested was that the reds were generally doing better than greys in woodlands where martens were found.

Whatever the cause of the greys' decline, it seems that red squirrels, which have co-existed with martens for thousands of years, have unexpectedly been given the upper hand in the fight for survival.

More work is needed to find out about benefits of the pine marten, which is protected, but it would be great to think one endangered species is helping out another one.

Animosity towards supreme fisher

The cormorant, alongside the grey heron and the kestrel, is one of a handful of birds that is universally recognised, even by people with little or no knowledge of birdwatching.

But it seems familiarity has bred contempt, for in some quarters the species is described as “black plague” and “black death”.

The reason for this animosity is because anglers and cormorants have a common interest - fish.

Webbed feet and that snake-like neck make cormorants supreme fishers. So effective are their skills that anglers believe the birds are seriously depleting fish stocks, damaging coarse fisheries and in turn, ruining their sport.

The birds were afforded official protection more than 30 years ago.A licence can be sought to kill the birds if there is proof of overfishing. But anglers, led by the Angling Trust, want the Government to place the birds on General Licence, a status for pest species, meaning cormorants could be shot without limitation or record.

The cormorant, guilty of little more than feeding itself, has been thrust into the middle of a row which raises questions about the long-term future of our waterways and how far nature should make way for sport.

Defra is currently reviewing the licensing of cormorants and its eventual decision is set to leave either the UK's anglers unhappy or the UK’s avian anglers much harder to spot.