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  Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels has released the results of its fifth annual Great Scottish Squirrel Survey, revealing that 2023 public participation was the second highest since its inception, beating all previous years, bar the record-breaking pandemic lockdown year of 2020. According to the survey, which was conducted between the 2nd and 8th of October and asked for the Scottish public to spot and record all grey and red squirrels, a total of 1334 people took part, reporting just under 2000 red and grey squirrel sightings across the country, almost 2.5 times as many as were reporting during the 2022 survey. These sightings provide invaluable data for conservationists and scientists working on the ground to protect the endangered native red squirrel. Programme Manager Nicole Still said: “This is an outstanding increase and fantastic result for red squirrels in Scotland. Every single sighting submitted on our website helps us to understand population distributions across the country and take targeted action to protect red squirrels from their greatest threat, the invasive non-native grey squirrel. We are thrilled to see sightings coming in from all over Scotland, and many hundreds of people responding to our call to take part in this mass citizen science event. We’d like to thank everybody who got involved, we couldn’t carry out our vital red squirrel conservation activities without the invaluable data gathered from the survey.” Mapping of t ...

  The Scottish Government recently launched a consultation on tackling the nature emergency and are seeking public feedback by 14 December. This is one of the biggest proposals for high level policy changes ever seen in Scotland, and responding is an action open to everyone which could make a fundamental difference to the future of Scotland’s wildlife and landscapes. The strategic framework for biodiversity, entitled ‘Tackling the Nature Emergency’, is a set of policy and legislative proposals aimed at reversing the decline of biodiversity in Scotland. The main elements are: Scottish Biodiversity Strategy – the plan to restore and regenerate biodiversity across our land and seas by 2045. Nature Networks – the plan to connect different habitats so that wildlife can move and adapt. 30 by 30 – the plan to increase the area of land that is protected or managed for nature to 30% by 2030. Nature Targets – the plan to set legal targets for nature that the government has to meet. National Parks – the plan to designate at least one new National Park in Scotland by 2026. For SSRS supporters, this is an opportunity to speak up for red squirrels and make sure their interests are fully represented. The more people that respond for reds, the more likely the government will take these views into account. (c) Raymond Leinster To help SSRS supporters respond to the consultation (as there is quite a bit of content to digest!) the Scottish Wildlif ...

  Southern Uplands Partnership is delighted to announce that the Red Squirrel Recovery Network project, an ambitious cross-border red squirrel conservation initiative, has received development funding* from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to progress plans for a 5-year project.  The project is led by Northumberland Wildlife Trust working in partnership with the Cumbrian Wildlife Trust, the Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside Wildlife Trust, Knowsley Safari Foundation in Prescot in Merseyside and The Southern Uplands Partnership covering southern Scotland. Made possible by National Lottery players, the project aims to protect and conserve populations of red squirrels in the north of England and southern Scotland. Development funding of £158,600 has been awarded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to help Northumberland Wildlife Trust and a team of partners progress their plans to apply for a full National Lottery grant at a later date. During the 12-month development phase the countrywide team will develop the methodology for large scale grey squirrel fertility control, plan audience engagement and activity programmes and write a conservation plan. In addition, team members will work together to collect baseline data across the project areas on squirrel presence/absence, grey squirrel management activity and volunteer demographics to establish the current range of volunteers as well as identify opportunities to encourage new volunteers. Th ...

Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels is calling on people in Scotland to take part in the fifth nationwide Great Scottish Squirrel Survey between 2-8 October (National Red Squirrel Week). Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS) is a partnership project led by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, working in priority areas to protect red squirrels from the spread of the invasive non-native grey squirrel. Between 2-8 October we are encouraging members of the public to explore the outdoors, get squirrel spotting, and add sightings of red and grey squirrels to scottishsquirrels.org.uk. The annual Great Scottish Squirrel Survey is the most important public event for comparing yearly distributions of red and grey squirrels. Last year we received 10,484 sightings in total with the help of the survey, our third highest year since they began collecting public squirrel sightings in 2010. The highest year to date was in 2020 when 3000 sightings were recorded during the survey, and 22,772 were recorded overall. Programme Manager Nicole Still said: “Public sightings play an essential role in informing and directing our strategic efforts. Whilst we recognise 2020 was an unusual year with an increase in people spending time in the Scottish outdoors, we would love the public to once again head outside and help us increase our sightings to improve our understanding of Scotland’s squirrel populations”. Conservation Officer for Tayside Susie McNaughton said: “With ample nature fo ...

Charity Trees for Life has been working since 1993 to restore previously lost native habitats and species to the Scottish Highlands. Since 2016 their Red Squirrel Reintroduction Project has worked to help red squirrels repopulate areas where they had previously gone extinct, translocating more than 200 red squirrels to 10 new areas in the northwest Highlands, creating thriving new populations. We sat down with their Project Manager, Sarah Woodfin, to find out more about the work of the project:   Can you tell everybody firstly about your background, and what led you to your current role with the project? I have spent the past four and a half years working with red squirrel conservation projects. I have an undergraduate degree in ecology and a masters in conservation biology and most of my work and interests have been with small mammal ecology and conservation. I have worked with a range of animals, from native mice and voles to species of rabbit found in south-east Asia. I began working with red squirrels in 2019 as a monitoring and control officer for the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrel Project and I worked with this project for four years. In March I joined Trees for Life to work on the red squirrel reintroduction project.   What are the main aims of the Trees for Life Red Squirrel Reintroduction project? The Scottish Highlands hold the largest remaining population of red squirrels in the UK. However, red squirrels were sti ...

  As we celebrate the fifth annual Great Scottish Squirrel Survey (running from the 2nd – 8th October), when recording those all-important sightings, how can we ensure that the squirrels we’re spotting are indeed the species we believe? When a sighting is brief – perhaps seen from a moving vehicle, or a fleeting glimpse of a furry tail in a tree – what tell-tale signs can we look for to distinguish between Scotland’s native red squirrel and the non-native grey squirrel?   © Raymond Leinster   Red Squirrels Let’s start with red squirrels! Because their fur colour varies so much (generally a chestnut coat, but also can include black, or even grey), it’s helpful to try and distinguish other identifiable characteristics. Red squirrels have ear tufts, which can be lost in the summer months, but generally re-appear in the autumn.  They also have a smaller, slender body than the grey squirrel, with an adult red squirrel being around half the size/weight of an adult grey squirrel.              © Daniel Martins   Grey Squirrels Grey squirrels are larger than red squirrels (they can reach almost double their size) and have small ears with no tufts. They can often present with red colouring, which is why it’s important to consider other characteristics when spotting greys. The most definitive way to tell them apart from reds is by their distinctive white fringes or ‘halos’ a ...

In February 2023 the Eastern Lowlands Red Squirrel Group (ELRSG) was established with funding through the Red Squirrel Survival Trust. It is an independent group from Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels as the project does not cover this area. The Eastern Lowlands includes the Kingdom of Fife, Clackmannanshire, part of Stirling and parts of Perth and Kinross.   East Lowland Red Squirrel Group Project Area   The group is led by Hollie Sutherland (Project Coordinator and ex SSRS North East Scotland Project Officer) and Val Gall (Group Operations Officer). The pair have already started working in collaboration with the long running volunteer led Fife Red Squirrel Group and they hope to join and establish further networks of volunteers, volunteer groups and organisations across the project area.   Project Aims Establish and support existing volunteer groups responsible for preserving the current red squirrel populations and habitat Work in partnership with Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS) to increase squirrel sighting records across the project area Support existing squirrel surveying efforts by local squirrel groups by creating a project area wide squirrel monitoring effort to help improve baseline data and allow for targeted grey squirrel management Provide training for volunteers in grey squirrel management Ensure a reduction in grey squirrel sightings by targeted trapping activity - including a ...

  As one of our dedicated volunteers lays down her tools we talk to Dr Emma Sheehy, Eradication Scientific Lead for our north east project region, about why volunteers make such a difference to the work she and her team are undertaking, and we hear from Janice about what she got up to and loved most about volunteering with SSRS.   Emma: "The work that we do in the north east has evolved over the last 2-3 years, as we inch ever closer towards our goal of eradication of grey squirrels from Aberdeen. In the first 10+ years of the project we relied on a team of staff to carry out the majority of work on the ground, with volunteers contributing to an annual spring survey which involved 4 feeder visits over a 6 week period. All other fieldwork was conducted by staff. However, in more recent times, as grey squirrel density continues to drop - recently quite dramatically - in order to continue to remove grey squirrels at a rate exceeding their ability to reproduce, essentially, the north east team need to be “everywhere at once”! In order to achieve this, over the last two and a half years we have recruited around 60 volunteers, who take part in our “Rapid Response Monitoring”, which are fortnightly feeder surveys all over Aberdeen city, and in the south of the region (to prevent immigration from Angus). This amounts to roughly 27 surveys per year, per volunteer, which is no small undertaking! In 2022 the north east team carried out more than 7000 feeder checks, ...

  All week we have been taking part in the UK's 2023 #InvasiveSpeciesWeek, raising awareness of the threat of grey squirrels to Scotland's native reds.Read below for a summary of all of our thoughts this week, detailing what invasive non-native species are, why they are a problem, what SSRS is doing, and how you can help. What are Invasive Non-Native Species? Over 2,000 species have been introduced to the UK from all over the world by people. Around 10-15% of these are invasive non-native species – recognised internationally as 1 of the top 5 drivers of global biodiversity loss. They threaten the survival of native wildlife, damage our natural ecosystems, and cost 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 around £200 million annually. Red squirrels in Scotland are under threat from the spread of an invasive non-native species, the grey squirrel. Grey squirrels were first introduced to the UK from North America in the late 1800s and outcompete reds for food and habitat. Greys also carry squirrelpox, a virus that doesn’t harm them but is deadly to reds. (c) Bob Coyle                   Why do Invasive Non-Natives spread? Invasive non-native species spread around the globe in a variety of ways, primarily by human activities. Grey squirrels were introduced to the UK initially by the Victorians mostly as a desirable ornamental garden featur ...

One year on from it’s five-year Developing Community Action project, Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels detail key successes of red squirrel conservation work, and advise on essential actions needed to ensure long-term survival of the species in Scotland. The final report of the £2.46 + million funded project, titled Saving an icon: Final report from the Developing Community Action Phase of Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels summarises the methods, achievements, challenges, and crucial lessons learned over the five-year nation-wide endeavour, and outlines recommendations to ensure a legacy of continued successful red squirrel conservation in Scotland into the future. The project aimed to find sustainable and affordable ways by which to halt the decline, and enable reestablishment in some areas, of Scotland’s red squirrels - which account for around 75% of the total UK population. Red squirrels are a protected species, but for many years have experienced declines due to the invasive non-native grey squirrel introduced to Britain from North America in Victorian times. Grey squirrels out-compete reds for food and living space and have rapidly replaced native red squirrel populations across most of England, Wales, and Scotland’s Central Belt. Grey squirrels can also carry squirrelpox, a virus that doesn’t harm them but is deadly to reds. Since 2017 grey squirrel control and monitoring efforts have increased dramatically across Scotland with red squirrels remaining ...