Reviewing the Scottish Strategy for Red Squirrel Conservation

…Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS) now moving into a new phase, the project is being restructured and partners are working on developing more sustainable, long-term solutions to deliver key actions for red squirrel conservation. The revision of the current Scottish Strategy is a hugely important step in steering effective conservation action for red squirrel over the coming years, and the… […]

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Get Involved

…people all over Scotland actively exploring outdoors on the lookout for squirrels to help provide us with a detailed snapshot of the situation. To find out more about the survey and how you can get involved in future events, please visit the Great Scottish Squirrel Survey campaign page. If you create an account with our Community Hub, you can also… […]

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Scotland’s Red Squirrels

…removing any feeders visited by both red and grey squirrels. A red squirrel infected with squirrelpox © Moredun Research Institute What should I do if I find a dead red squirrel? If you find a dead red squirrel that looks obviously diseased, please contact your nearest SSRS Conservation Officer or email squirrels@scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk so that follow-up action to protect local red… […]

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An Introduction to Squirrels in Scotland

  There are over 200 species of squirrel across the globe, and Scotland is home to just two of them, the Eurasian Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) and the Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). Grey squirrels, which are native to North America, were introduced to Britain in 1876, before which it is estimated that there were around 3.5 million native red squirrels…. […]

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News: Suspected squirrelpox outbreak near Lockerbie threatens local red squirrel population

…various areas over the years, targeted grey squirrel control work has ensured that the local red squirrel populations have successfully recovered. Research published by Professor Andy White and colleagues has shown that when grey squirrel numbers are kept low, red squirrels are given enough time to repopulate an area after suffering a major decline. Nicole Still, Programme Manager for Saving… […]

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Leaping into the future

…your group and your area on our Volunteer FAQ page.   What will we aim to achieve? Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels has always been reliant on short-term funding cycles. Over the next two years we want to work with partners and other stakeholders to develop a more sustainable, permanent programme capable of securing the long-term survival of core red squirrel… […]

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News: Public squirrel sightings soar in 2023

…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 the records confirms that the Highlands of Scotland remain a… […]

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Southern Uplands Partnership Guest Blog: Funding Success for Red Squirrel Recovery Network

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. There will be a public awareness programme to inform the public on the relationship between squirrels and pine martens – a natural predator of squirrels, and the impact… […]

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All things invasive with the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative

…produces 20-30,000 seeds per flower head They are successful dispersers e.g. Himalayan balsam has exploding seed pods that spread its seed several metres, and a female mink can travel 80km in search of a breeding territory In addition, invasive plants often readily thrive on disturbed soils and making them very opportunistic and able to rapidly colonise a new area. They… […]

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This Year's Sightings