A PESKY woodland pest is attracting culinary acclaim after being transformed into a bite-size snack on the menu of a South Lakeland restaurant.

Grey squirrel has become the latest gastro-gem to grace the plates of diners at the Famous Wild Boar Hotel, at Crook, after making a foodie debut on the new Channel 4 series Wild Gourmets on Tuesday night.

Presenters, adventurer Guy Grieve and Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers, have been travelling the length of Britain surviving on food that they are able to hunt, forage or catch, and chose to descend on Cumbria as part of their wild food quest.

Aware of the decreasing number of native red squirrels now occupying the county's woodlands due to the threat posed by the greys, the hungry duo decided to turn pest into produce and took grey squirrel from the tree to the table.

After catching the squirrel in the Famous Wild Boar Hotel's 72 acres of private woodland, head chef Marc Sanders joined Ms Miers in the hotel's kitchen to cast some culinary wizardry over the catch and transform it into an oriental Peking pancake, which was served to local guests.

For the full story, get the Gazette (October 19, 2007)