News and Blogs

Original Author: Forestry Commission Scotland Recent feeder box monitoring and camera trapping carried out in Countesswells and Foggieton Woods, near Aberdeen, indicates a rosy future for red squirrels.   Source: Forestry Commission Scotland Recent feeder box monitoring and camera trapping carried out in Countesswells and Foggieton Woods, near Aberdeen, indicates a rosy future for red squirrels. The work by Forest Enterprise Scotland (FES) and Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS) builds on many years of conservation work and monitoring and indicates that red squirrel numbers in the area are increasing - and that the woods are free from non-native grey squirrels! Philippa Murphy, Environment Manager for the FES team in the area, said “We put some sticky tape on the feeder boxes to collect hairs and these, once analysed, showed that the number of red squirrels recorded in these woodlands are increasing year on year, suggesting more and more red squirrels are taking advantage of the free treats on offer. “But the best news is that we’ve got no trace of grey squirrels, which tend to drive reds away from local habitats. “It’s a great pat on the back for all the hard work that has been put into this project by all the SSRS partners. It’s a great reward for us too – it’s like getting a thumbs up from the red squirrels for our sensitive management of the forests around Aberdeen.” As well as following best practice to manage the woodlands for red ...

Original Author: Mary-Anne Collis Did you know that next week is Red Squirrel Week? From 24 September – 1 October Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park will be celebrating one of Scotland’s favourite animals, and raising awareness of the work that’s being done to protect them. Of course we wanted in on the action!   Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels has teamed up with various partner organisations in and around the National Park to bring you a week of red squirrel-themed guided walks, talks and family activities. The National Park still has a strong population of red squirrels and is a great place to get out and see them for yourself. Autumn is a particularly special time, as red squirrels frantically scurry around, taking advantage of the bountiful food supply that the National Park has to offer at this time of year. Keep a lookout on the forest floor for red squirrels burying their hoard in preparation for the coming winter months. While the National Park can provide the perfect home for them, the red squirrels that live here are under continuous threat from grey squirrels moving increasingly northwards. As well as out-competing reds for resources, some grey squirrels in the central belt are known to carry squirrelpox, a virus that doesn’t harm them but is deadly to red squirrels. This is why the National Park has included red squirrels in its ‘Wild Park 2020’ challenge, and is working with Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels to ensure ...

Original Author: Liz Gunby Community Engagement Officer Liz Gunby reflects on her first summer inspiring community action in south Scotland, and talks about some upcoming opportunities to get involved in the project.   This summer the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels team embarked upon its mission to inspire community action across the country. The holidays soon filled up with a busy events schedule of country fairs, gardening shows, and community gala days. Rain or shine (often on the same day), the team got out there, spreading the word about red squirrel conservation and informing people on how they can take action to help red squirrels where they live. All our staff were kept on their toes, but none more so than Liz Gunby, our new Community Engagement Officer for South Scotland. Liz shares some reflections on her first summer of squirrels.   Hi Liz! What has the response from the public been like this summer? The response has been nothing short of amazing! Everyone has been so friendly and encouraging. There is a lot of love for our native red squirrels, and people genuinely want to help and do what they can do to protect the species. Liz (right) getting the message out with Conservation Officer Stephanie Johnstone and Sandy the Squirrel What’s been your community engagement highlight so far? That’s a difficult one, as there are so many! If I had to choose, it would be the generosity our volunteers, freely giving their time to prot ...

Original Author: Matt Nuttall   This week we are sadly saying goodbye to Matt Nuttall, our Conservation Officer for north east Scotland. Over the past year Matt has worked tirelessly in his mission to see red squirrels return to Aberdeen, with the help of Grey Squirrel Officers and a dedicated network of volunteers.   Matt reflects on his time with Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels, and shares his optimism for the future.   Hi Matt! How has the situation in north east Scotland changed since you started the job? I’ve been amazed by the progress I’ve seen. The number of sites around Aberdeenshire that have large grey squirrel populations is decreasing, and the number of sites showing signs of red squirrel recovery is increasing rapidly. Of course, this success is the result of many years of hard work by a huge number of people, and progress has been steady since the project began in 2009. I think the biggest change we’re seeing is in Aberdeen itself, where there’s been increasing reports of red squirrels in areas which have had only grey squirrels for decades. For example, this year we caught our first red squirrel in a trap in Seaton Park after over seven years of grey squirrel control (red squirrels are of course released, unharmed). Also within the last year we’ve had reports from the public showing red squirrels reappearing along the river Dee, the river Don, around the University of Aberdeen, and in the urban areas east of Hazle ...

Original Author: Peter Garson   Peter Garson, Chair of Gatehouse Squirrel Group and Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels volunteer, tells us about how he and his local community are working to ensure red squirrels continue to have a home in Dumfries & Galloway.   When I moved to Galloway in the autumn of 2013, I was somewhat dismayed to gather just how widespread grey squirrels had become. For the previous 25 years, my wife and I had been living on the edge of a Scots pine forest near Hexham in Northumberland, where for a long period we had plenty of reds visiting our garden. We even organised aerial ropeways to feeders on our window frames, giving us even closer views! Then one autumn squirrelpox struck, and they were all gone in a few weeks. So we had to move, didn’t we… Before coming to Galloway, I was on the Biology staff at Newcastle University, where I lectured for years on conservation biology, including the devastating worldwide effects of invasive species introductions. It was natural, therefore, for me to work for more than a decade with others on the ecology of red squirrels in their Kielder Forest stronghold, just as greys were creeping into Northumberland from the north, west and south.  On reaching Gatehouse after I retired, I soon encountered Heinz Traut, then working as the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels Project Officer for Dumfries & Galloway (and now with our sister project in Northumberland!). I also saw the Glenkens Red Sq ...

It’s a really exciting time to be working for Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels. Earlier this year we announced that the Scottish Wildlife Trust has been awarded a grant of £2.46 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), for a new phase in the project called ‘Developing Community Action’. Thanks to support from HLF and the Scottish LEADER programme, this five-year phase is focusing on engaging with local communities, and recruiting many more volunteers in areas where red squirrels most need our help. To help us achieve this aim, we’ve recruited four new members of staff. A big welcome to Stephanie, Liz, Gill and Neil!   Dr Stephanie Johnstone: Conservation Officer – South West Scotland I’ve been working in the environment industry for 17 years, with a particular passion and expertise in mammal research and conservation. Originally from Australia, I moved to Scotland ten years ago following the completion of my doctoral research. From 2007 to 2011 I worked for Red Squirrels in South Scotland and I am very pleased to be back working on red squirrel conservation in the south with the SSRS team. My role focuses on supporting land owners and volunteers in their red squirrel conservation activities and helping to ensure we achieve a coordinated, landscape-scale approach to our efforts. From the first time I saw red squirrels I was completely enchanted, watching them dash about their ‘highway in the sky’, jumping effortlessly from branch to ...

Original Author: Mel Tonkin   Why are some squirrels losing so much hair in the spring that parts of them are completely bald? Every year in April to May we get a flurry of queries relating to red squirrels that have lost large parts of their coat, leaving large areas of their body totally hairless. Often it looks like the squirrel has taken off a jacket to reveal nothing underneath.   If the squirrel has inflammation or lesions in the exposed skin, there is clearly an issue of disease, skin parasites – for example, mange – or allergy. However, this does not often appear to be the case. Because these squirrels are usually observed at people’s garden feeders, we are often presented with clear images that show a complete absence of any other symptoms. The squirrels themselves seem perky, and are usually observed to go on to grow their summer coat normally. Typically red squirrels moult their winter coats in May-June, with their summer coats already coming in before the winter fur is lost. Balding red squirrel in April, Copyright: Loiuse Bessant What seems to be happening is that something is disrupting the moult sequence. Back in the 1980s, when I was doing capture-mark-recapture studies of wild red squirrels, I was able follow a couple of dozen individuals through two full years of coat-changes: none of them ever showed this tendency to moult the winter coat too early, and I’d never heard of anyone else making this observation of balding squi ...

Original Author: Mel Tonkin - SSRS Project Manager   In Spring of 2016 a magnificent 222 tetrads, each with 4 feeder-boxes, were completed across our project areas - that's 2,664 hair samples! The coverage we achieve with our surveys is in large measure down to the amazing volunteer effort that goes into looking after the boxes and collecting in the hair samples.   As our stalwart volunteer brigade starts on this year's Spring Surveys, you may not be aware of the stupendous amount of work that goes into setting them up each year. Project Officers start to make the first contact with the previous year's volunteers from late in December to check availability, then ensuring feeder boxes hair-traps are disinfected and in good repair, procuring replacement boxes, bait and other materials, recruiting new volunteers, assembling volunteer survey packs, obtaining access permissions, delivering survey packs and bait and ensuring all of the volunteers are trained and prepared. At the end of April, all the samples need to be collected in - not always as straightforward as that sounds - and then laboriously identified under a microscope. The results are entered into a spreadsheet, checked and rechecked, and finally they go to our Data Officer for analysis. Last year our Project Officer South - Alexa Seagrave - was covering the whole of  the Scottish Borders and Dumfries & Galloway on her own - as many tetrads as the other three Project Officers put t ...

Original Author: Stewart Smith and Mel Tonkin   Spring in southern Scotland is on the cusp of springing. Leaf buds bulge on trees, and daffodil bulbs are nudging each other, encouraging one to launch a shoot. Red Squirrels breed early in the year, and adult females can be pregnant as early as mid January. It is important for the females to gain the necessary body weight in the autumn and maintain it through the winter to be ready for breeding.   Males come into full breeding condition by December, and will often closely attend females as they go about their day well before the females come into season. From observations of grey squirrels in captivity, it is thought that this kind of close attendance, courtship and outright flirting by the males may be necessary to stimulate the female to begin her breeding cycle. When females come into season, they are thought to release a scent which is pleasant to the males. The male then attempts to get the female’s attention by approaching the the female's drey in the early morning, making "chucking" noises, clattering their claws on the tree limb and lashing his tail playfully once she emerges from the drey. She will usually groom thoroughly and then move off, with the male following. If the female decides her personal space has been invaded, she may turn on the male, "chuck" at him and flick her tail angrily. Or she may lash her tail playfully at him and run off, sometimes pausing to make sure he is followin ...

  Army of 800 volunteers will help secure the long-term survival of major red squirrel populations.   The Scottish Wildlife Trust has been awarded a grant of £2.46 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels – Developing Community Action project. Over the next five years Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels will enlist many more volunteers from communities in our three key regions to carry out practical work to protect and strengthen red squirrel populations in their local area, and in turn safeguard squirrels across Scotland. We aim to provide high quality training and support to hundreds of local people and land managers to take on a vital role in the long–term protection of the country’s red squirrels.Scotland is home to just 120,000 red squirrels, three quarters of the UK population. The main threat to native squirrels comes from competition with invasive non-native grey squirrels and the spread of the deadly squirrelpox virus.   Dr Mel Tonkin, Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels Project Manager said: “Our work since 2009 shows that through targeted control of grey squirrels it is possible to reverse the decline of our native reds and help them to return to former territories. “Red squirrels are one of Scotland’s most-loved species. Thanks to National Lottery players we will be able to empower communities to help protect not just their local red squirrels, but major populations of the ...