A year of saving red squirrels in East Wigtownshire

…its aims and how new volunteers can become involved. In this time, we have also appeared in the local newspaper: Gateway (circulation 66,000) around the Wigtown and Newton Stewart area. On the monitoring side of our group; a trusty band of volunteers (including myself) have been out taking hair samples from feeder boxes to ascertain the numbers of Reds and… […]

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

…examination at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and electron microscopy at the Animal and Plant Health Agency, Weybridge. Squirrelpox is a virus carried by grey squirrels which does not affect them but can be rapidly lethal when passed to red squirrels. Symptoms include ulcers, scabs and weeping lesions on the face, paws and genitalia, all of which can… […]

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Get Involved

…keep a personal record of your squirrel sightings. Submit a squirrel sighting Make a donation Your donation could help fund: Standardised annual surveys to monitor red and grey squirrel populations across project areas Annual testing for the spread of the Squirrelpox virus through grey squirrel populations in Scotland A team of Red Squirrel Conservation Officers, Grey Squirrel Officers and a… […]

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Community Hub

…a Hub account. If you are already a SSRS volunteer, please use the same email address you used when you originally signed up so we can match your personal details.   Volunteer access Already volunteering with us? You can start accessing additional Hub features by joining the SSRS volunteering group (you’ll need to register to create an account first). If… […]

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Local update: getting into the squirrel spirit

Original Author: Mary-Anne Collis Conservation Officer Mary-Anne Collis gives us an update on what’s been happening in Argyll, Trossachs and Stirlingshire.   We’ve been very busy in the Argyll, Trossachs and Stirlingshire region this year. I’ve been on a personal mission to say hello to as many people as possible, spreading the word about submitting your squirrel sightings, both red… […]

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Join the community: introducing our new website

depending on your location and interests.   Become an expert squirrel spotter Last year we received a record-breaking 5300 squirrel sightings on our website. Each sighting is added to a national database, helping us better understand squirrel distribution across Scotland. If you’re a dedicated squirrel spotter, you can now register with the Hub to keep a personal record of your… […]

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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… […]

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News: The Great Scottish Squirrel Survey returns in an important year for squirrel sightings

…at scottishsquirrels.org.uk.” 2020’s Great Scottish Squirrel Survey was a record-breaking year, with 3160 squirrel sightings reported in just one week. Sightings help SSRS create a picture of the situation on the ground, and directly contribute to red squirrel conservation action. This year’s Great Scottish Squirrel Survey is all the more important because Covid-19 lockdown restrictions forced the cancellation of the… […]

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This Year's Sightings