News and Blogs

    Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS) is pleased to announce the results of this year’s Great Scottish Squirrel Survey:    1,107 people took part  1,563 squirrels were recorded  407 confirmed grey squirrel sightings  1,020 confirmed red squirrel sightings     The partnership project encouraged people all across Scotland to keep an eye out for both red and grey squirrels between the 6 – 12 October, for its seventh annual survey.     Coinciding with Red Squirrel Appreciation Week and supported by survey partner, Trees for Life, the survey aims to provide a snapshot of squirrel populations up and down the country.    Gail Turney, Programme Manager for Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels, said: “It’s fantastic to see so many people get involved with the UK’s largest squirrel survey. Storm Amy certainly set the week off to a wild start, but we were delighted to see so many people taking part as the survey went on. With over 1,100 participants, it’s clear the people of Scotland love red squirrels and find joy in seeing this iconic species on walks, in gardens and (with any luck!) spotting them at our guided events.”    SSRS uses public sightings data year-round to shape its monitoring and control work, all with the aim of protecting red squirrels and expanding their habitat.     Grey squirrels are the number one threat to red squirrels in Sc ...

  Our New Furry Team Join the Fight for Red Squirrels in Aberdeen City    We’re really excited to be welcoming a few new members to our team in Aberdeen - two specially trained scent detection dogs and their dedicated handler! Over the past few months, we’ve been working with Conservation K9 Consultancy (CK9C), who have been training these incredible dogs to recognise and alert to the scent of grey squirrels.   Dogs have an amazing sense of smell, at least 100,000 times more sensitive than ours – and they’re completely unbiased, meaning they won’t falsely detect squirrels that aren’t there. They are also trained to provide a passive indication, meaning that they will not physically interact with the grey squirrels. Instead, they will alert their handler with a specific signal to indicate that they have detected the target odour. This approach keeps the dogs, grey squirrels, and all other wildlife safe during surveys.  Our scent detection team will be working across Aberdeen City and key surrounding areas to sniff out any remaining grey squirrels. Thanks to the hard work of the SSRS North East team, only a few greys are left in the city – a fantastic milestone already achieved! Tarka (left) and Sika, the newest members of the SSRS team. (c) Libby Welbourn This work is part of the Grey Squirrel Eradication Programme, which includes three important phases:   Eradication: finding, tr ...

  Clearing the Loch Lomond islands    This year we’ve been working with our partners at the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority to remove invasive grey squirrels from some of the islands in the loch.  We recently spoke to Scottish Wildlife Trust on their podcast ‘Words of the Wild’ all about this unique piece of work, and why we’re so excited about. Listen to the episode here (episode three), and keep reading for a behind the scenes look at how we work along the bonnie, bonnie banks.    Background – how did grey squirrels get to the islands?  Did you know that squirrels can swim? Although it’s not one of their regular hobbies, both red and grey squirrels can swim over short distances. We suspect this is how grey squirrels first arrived on the islands in Loch Lomond, which would have naturally been populated by red squirrels. The earliest record we can find of grey squirrels on these islands dates back to 1992 on Inchcruin. It’s hard to estimate how long these populations have been there, but we are hoping that DNA comparison with surrounding grey squirrel populations can help us understand their movements.  As we’ve seen from studies, once grey squirrels arrive in an area they can completely outcompete and replace reds within 20 years. Sadly, this was the case when we started work with the National Park Authority, and there was no sign of any red squirrels left on t ...

      Trees for Life is an award-winning environmental charity standing at the forefront of rewilding in the Scottish Highlands. Focusing on Scotland’s spectacular Caledonian forest, they are working on a grand scale to bring more life back to our landscapes. Their work focuses on restoring habitats and expanding native woodlands, returning missing animals, and connecting people with nature.   The red squirrel is known as ‘feòrag ruadh’ in Gaelic, and is also informally referred to as the ‘feòrag Ghàidhealach’ or the ‘Gaelic squirrel.’ The Caledonian forest is the UK stronghold for our native and much-loved red squirrel, which is missing from most of southern Britain. Habitat loss has been one of the main drivers of the decline, along with the introduction of the non-native grey squirrel and the squirrel pox disease they carry. As a forest-dwelling species, expanding existing forest fragments and creating new woodlands is essential for red squirrel conservation. Red squirrels are able to live in both coniferous and deciduous (broadleaved) woodlands due to their wide-ranging diet. Their ideal habitat has a variety of different tree species so that there are other food sources available if one species has a poor seed year.   Tree seeds such as acorns, hazelnuts and Scots pine cones make up a large part of their diet - a squirrel can eat the seeds from as many as 20,000 cones in a year! Reds also make full use ...

  Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels want to know about red and grey squirrel sightings across the country during Red Squirrel Awareness Week Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS) is calling on the public to get outside, explore nature, and submit their squirrel sightings for this year’s nationwide Great Scottish Squirrel Survey, between 6 – 12 October. This is the biggest squirrel survey in Scotland, and provides incredibly useful information to SSRS partners and stakeholders. This year the survey is sponsored by Trees for Life. Red squirrels are one of Scotland’s most loved animals, and our only native squirrel species. Once widespread throughout the country, in recent decades red squirrel populations have declined due to their replacement by introduced, non-native grey squirrels which outcompete them for food and habitat, and spread the deadly squirrelpox virus. SSRS is a partnership project led by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, working with local communities, landowners, partner organisations and volunteers to protect red squirrels in key priority areas where they are most under threat from greys. Molly Martin, SSRS Communications and Engagement Officer, Scottish Wildlife Trust, said: “Squirrel sightings from the public are a vital tool for our project all year round. Your reports help us track the presence of red and grey squirrels across the country. Our teams on the ground are working to protect native red squirrels in areas where they are ...

  As we approach The Great Scottish Squirrel Survey 2025, we’re sharing our top tips for how to spot red squirrels.   Find the right location The first step is to make sure you’re in squirrel-friendly habitat. Red squirrels can live in coniferous or broadleaf woodland, and they like areas with a mixture of trees too. So areas of dense pine, hazel, oak or beech trees are a good place to start. Check out the map on our red squirrels information page for some key red squirrel sighting locations across Scotland. Mixed woodland by Katie Berry. However, red squirrels aren’t particularly fussy and can be found in gardens and urban parks with sufficient tree cover, particularly in the Highlands and the North East, so keep an eye out for city squirrels too! Squirrels don’t hibernate and are active all year round, but dry, calm autumn early mornings or later afternoons are some of the best to go out squirrel spotting, as this is when they’re most active gathering food for over winter. Their coats are also at their most vibrant at this time of year, and their ear tufts are prominent. Look for clues Next you should look for clues that squirrels have been in the area. They tend to stay up in the trees, but do bounce around on the forest floor looking for (and sometimes eating) food. Check the ground for chewed up cones, or teeth marks in mushrooms! In snowy weather you can also look for paw prints. Chewed cones by Gwen Maggs. If you are l ...

    Picture this: you’re in Scotland, you’re out for a walk, you spot a squirrel and report it to our sightings page (thank you!). But now what happens? Today we’re going behind the scenes of what happens to all the squirrel sightings you record.   Raymond Leinster It only takes a few seconds to record a squirrel sighting on our website. We ask for a few details; what species was the squirrel, was it alive or dead, what location did you see it and what the habitat around you was. There’s also space to add more details if you have them, or tell us anything else about your sighting. Sometimes it can be hard to tell a red from a grey, so check out our handy guide here. Then, each report is checked by one of our expert team of verifiers. These are staff and volunteers based across Scotland, each covering different areas which they know well. Our verifies look at the report, checking: Location – is this a feasible location for a squirrel to have been spotted (e.g. we have had reports with the grid reference in the middle of the North Sea!) Fact check – has the right species been selected (e.g. has it been ticked as a grey squirrel, but described as a red squirrel later on). Or is habitat is listed as woodland but the location on the map is showing as an urban garden? Feasibility – how certain are we that the report is correct. If a red squirrel is reported in the middle of Glasgow, we’ll want to follow up asking for m ...

  You may be experiencing some problems with the map feature on our sightings page, or have noticed some changes to the way it looks. Don’t panic, you can still submit your sightings as normal, and this is a temporary issue.   Previously, our maps were powered by Bing maps, which has now been discontinued by Microsoft. We are looking into alternatives with our website developers, unfortunately, this means that (for now) aerial imagery and OS derived maps when zoomed in are currently unavailable on our website.   You can still place your pin to show where the sighting was as normal, either by zooming in to the area, or by entering your postcode and moving the pin around to the correct spot. Some features, such as small wooded areas, might be hard to find. If you are struggling with this you can first go to Grid Reference Finder UK, find your location using the satellite image, and copy over the grid reference to the hub. Using Grid Reference Finder to make sure the pin on the Hub is in the correct location.   If aren’t seeing anything at all when you zoom in on our map, you might need to hard refresh to update to the new, temporary map we are using. To do this simply press control and F5 on your keyboard at the same time.   We are really sorry for any issues this is causing, please do continue to submit your sightings as best you can, and hopefully we will have more detailed background maps back soon!

  It’s halfway through 2025 and we’re celebrating our red squirrel conservation work in Aberdeen.   The history of red and grey squirrels in the North East is a slightly different one to the rest of the country. Let’s take a look at the story so far… Up until just over 100 years ago, the only squirrels found in Scotland, and the rest of the UK, were our native reds. Then, in 1876, Victorians brought grey squirrels to Cheshire in England, to decorate parks. Naturally spreading from there and with further releases, including across the south of Scotland, grey squirrels rapidly took over, wiping out red squirrels as they went through competition and by carrying the deadly squirrelpox virus. By the mid-20th Century, greys had completely replaced reds in the central belt, and travelled up Scotland all the way to the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. This natural feature helps prevent greys from spreading across the geological boundary. In 1971 grey squirrels were brought to a zoo in Aberdeen and, during their first night in the city, escaped. When SSRS was formed in 2009, greys had spread throughout Aberdeen and the surrounding areas, using the rivers Dee and Don as corridors. There were almost no red squirrels left. Aberdeen was designated as a priority area for the project. The “island” population of grey squirrels here wasn’t connected to other populations in Scotland, so if we were able to remove th ...

    Only one grey squirrel has been caught in Aberdeen so far in 2025, and red squirrel sightings are on the up!   Conservation efforts are proving effective in Aberdeen City and the surrounding area, with numbers of grey squirrels falling significantly in recent years. Only one grey squirrel was caught in the first six months of 2025, and just a handful of other grey sightings have been reported.   Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS), a partnership project led by Scottish Wildlife Trust, has been working in Aberdeen since 2009 to remove the isolated, or ‘island’ population of grey squirrels from the North East.   Grey squirrels first arrived in Aberdeen in 1971 and pose a threat to the native red squirrels as they are larger, more robust and less picky about food, so they outcompete reds. Some grey squirrels also carry a virus called squirrelpox, which doesn’t affect them but is fatal to red squirrels. By 2009, greys had spread up both the Dee and Don rivers and almost completely replaced reds in Aberdeen. Removing grey squirrels creates safe areas for red squirrels to survive.   SSRS has been working with support from Aberdeen City Council, volunteers and residents across the city to remove the invasive grey squirrels. Thanks to the efforts of the project, red squirrels are now being seen all across the North East, and have returned to many gardens in the city.   In 2024, a total of six grey squir ...