SSRS staff and the team of around 30 volunteers have a very important job to do in Aberdeen City, confirming the absence of grey squirrels. We caught up with Abi, Eradication Officer in the North East, to ask what her day to day looks like as we approach complete eradication.
Something strange is happening in Aberdeen. A group of passionate people in the city are dedicating a huge amount of time to looking for nothing. It’s taken a long time to get here, but what we’re working on could be a world first for red squirrels.
Since 2009, SSRS has been working in the city to remove invasive non-native grey squirrels, and with only two grey squirrels caught in Aberdeen in 2025, and a handful of confirmed sightings so far this year, we’re close to being able to declare Aberdeen City grey squirrel-free. I’ve been part of the team for two years, and my job is to help confirm there are no greys left.
Seeing red squirrels is always a perk of going our surveying! ( Raymond Leinster)
But confirming there are no grey squirrels left is an enormous task! So how do the rest of the team and I stay motivated?
We know we’re in the final stages of the Confirmation Phase of the eradication, which means we need to be really strategic with our monitoring. We’ve carefully split Aberdeen up into different areas, and we use multiple monitoring methods to be as thorough as we can in each area. We have a lot of long term data, so once one of our areas has been grey squirrel-free for two years, we can move it into the Biosecurity Phase.
We have split Aberdeen into different Management Zones, once a zone reaches two years without a grey squirrel detected, we move it to the Biosecurity Phase.
Part of my role is to monitor approximately 100 feeder boxes across the city, checking each of them once per fortnight. The boxes have a sticky tab inside the lid, which collects hair samples from any animal that enters the box. I then analyse the hair samples using a microscope, and can tell if the hairs have come from a grey or red squirrel. So far this year none of my boxes have contained grey hairs.
I stay motivated by taking time to recognise the difference my work is making. Last year one of my boxes had its first ever red squirrel detection, right in the middle of the city. A sign that we’re making Aberdeen a place where red squirrels can thrive and recover as an urban species. With so few grey squirrels left, and often long periods in between detections, the rest of the team and I have had to get creative with our monitoring methods, and “think like a squirrel” when placing feeder boxes, cameras or live traps!
We know that grey squirrels in low densities act differently to when there is a large population, often moving around more and covering larger areas. Because of this, public sightings are unbelievably helpful. The recent reports from members of the public who have seen a grey squirrel in their gardens in Garthdee and Ferryhill have helped us narrow down priority areas for monitoring, and we’re very grateful to everyone who has let us know were they’ve seen it.
Abi and Sika the dog having a cuddle between surveys!
I also go out with our scent detection dog team from Cairngorm Conservation Dogs, and we systematically cover the areas, with the dogs surveying every tree sniffing for grey squirrel hair or droppings, which would let us know if they have recently travelled through or are nesting here.
The dogs also need to stay motivated. There are so few grey squirrels left that most of the survey sites don’t have any grey squirrel hair for them to detect. In order for them to get the reward from signalling grey squirrel presence, and for them to enjoy the search, we place grey squirrel drey samples, sent into use from elsewhere in the UK. The dogs are able to sniff out where these have been placed, and it means the survey acts as good training as they get regular reminders of what grey squirrels smell like.
A photo sent to us from a garden in Aberdeen. Could this be the only grey squirrel in the city?
We also have an amazing team of volunteers helping us. Some of them have been involved for a long time, but far from feeling like a chore, they enjoy doing their regular feeder box checks. Like me, they’re involved because they love red squirrels, and their work is making a real difference for these iconic animals. Some of them have seen their survey areas change from grey squirrel to red squirrel habitat over the course of their time volunteering with us. They’ve also picked up a lot of tips from spending time out on the ground, attending events and chatting with staff and other volunteers about good places to spot red squirrels and their behaviour, and I have learnt a lot from the volunteers too! If they’re lucky, they might even come across a red squirrel at their feeder box when they go to top it up! Check out this video sent in by our volunteer, Ray.
Video of red squirrel in feeder box, by volunteer Ray Morrison
So, it might seem strange that a key part of my role is to go out and hope not to find anything, but this is part of a much bigger picture, and a demonstration of how much work has been put in so far.
If you think you’ve seen a grey squirrel in Aberdeen, do let us know by recording it on our sightings page, or emailing a photo to squirrels@scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk. Sometimes grey squirrels can look quite ginger, and some red squirrels can be very dark, so even if you’re not sure we’re always happy to take a look!
You can read more about the next stages of the eradication project here, but for now, no news is good news!