News: First death of red squirrel from squirrelpox virus confirmed north of Scotland’s Central Belt

…Research has shown that when squirrelpox is present, greys can replace red populations around twenty times as fast as they can through competition alone, but that when grey squirrel numbers are kept low, red squirrels are given enough time to repopulate an area after suffering a major decline. People can report their sightings of both red and grey squirrels at… […]

Read More…

Studying the life of the urban red squirrel

…radio-tracking, a range of other data have been collected. These have included: monitoring the locations and causes of death in the population through post-mortems; determining habitat quality and availability through seed crop surveys and computer-based mapping; and evaluating the availability and impact of supplemental feeding via a public survey. A radio-collared red squirrel in a handling cone, which helps to… […]

Read More…

Squirrel Sightings: an inside look

…a recent report of a grey squirrel seen near Loch Katrine was worrying and surprising, as it has been a stronghold for red squirrels for many years, and is some distance from the nearest grey squirrel population. Swift action ensured that the squirrel was captured, and since then local people have kept a sharp eye out to make sure there… […]

Read More…

Leaping into the future

…we’ll continue to reduce the number and spread of grey squirrels in Aberdeen and the surrounding area; and commission scientific advice detailing the approximate timeline and milestones towards eradication. We expect that as grey squirrel numbers continue to fall, the control team will develop a “rapid response” strategy – detecting and removing any remaining grey squirrels until eradication can be… […]

Read More…

Squirrel Sightings: an inside look

…squirrel was captured, and since then local people have kept a sharp eye out to make sure there aren’t any others in the area. In Helensburgh however, no red squirrels had been recorded in living memory, only greys. That changed only two years ago with a report of a red squirrel on the outskirts of the town, followed by further… […]

Read More…

HRH The Prince of Wales gives special thanks to volunteers on Red Squirrel Appreciation Day

…its presence, the benchmark. As you will all know so well, these charming and intelligent creatures never fail to delight. I take enormous pleasure in having them around – and in! – the house when I am at home in Scotland. They are such inquisitive and delightful characters; they have even been known to hunt down a few of their… […]

Read More…

Introducing the newest faces of our scurry

…Conservation Officer for North East Scotland Emma joined us in April as our new Conservation Officer for North East Scotland, as a highly experienced red squirrel and pine marten researcher. Since starting the role, she has been focusing on the eradication of Aberdeen’s urban grey squirrel population, returning reds to the parks and gardens of Aberdeen and halting the spread… […]

Read More…

An Autumn Overview of Tree ID

…of habitat the squirrel was spotted in. Having a basic knowledge of tree identification comes in helpful here and sharing this allows us to investigate which habitats squirrels appear to be thriving in. Spotting the difference between a coniferous and deciduous tree in autumn is simple. Deciduous trees with broad leaves, change colour and often lose their leaves at this… […]

Read More…

Major boost for Scotland’s red squirrels thanks to National Lottery funding

…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… […]

Read More…

This Year's Sightings