All things invasive with the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative

…of these characteristics in combination make successful invasive species formidable opponents to native species – and difficult (and often expensive) to remove or dislodge once established.   Invasive plant control at Spey Bay   What impacts do they have? The most significant impacts invasive species have are on our natural environment where we see; Competition; invasive species are often better… […]

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Community Hub FAQs

…dropdown: 2. Ensure ‘Profile’ is selected on the top-tab, select ‘Edit’, then click ‘My Volunteering Details’:   Note: if you wish to join the SSRS volunteering group (for registered volunteers) you will be prompted to complete your full volunteering profile. If you are volunteering with an independent network in the south of Scotland you do not need to join this… […]

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Suspected squirrelpox cases on the Solway Coast

…any harm to humans, however sensible precautions should be undertaken when approaching any dead or sick wild animal. Please also continue to follow government guidelines regarding access to green spaces at this time. People across Scotland can continue to support the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels project during this time by reporting their sightings of both red and grey squirrels online…. […]

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

…places, our natural environment and fragile species, to the languages and cultural traditions that celebrate who we are. We are passionate about heritage and committed to driving innovation and collaboration to make a positive difference to people’s lives today, while leaving a lasting legacy for future generations to enjoy. Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund www.heritagefund.org.uk… […]

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News: ‘Booster’ project will protect Scotland’s red squirrels for another two years

…and squirrelpox is a major threat. The aim is to upskill these volunteers to enable them to continue red squirrel conservation work after the project comes to an end. Today there are 18 volunteer groups operating successfully across the region. Whilst some groups are ready to proceed with little further support from the project, others require further support to enable… […]

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News: Get involved in Scotland’s fifth annual Great Scottish Squirrel Survey

…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… […]

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Squirrelpox: Staying ahead of the spread

  Squirrelpox has posed a threat to native red squirrels in southern Scotland since the mid 2000s, and whilst targeted grey squirrel control efforts have been proven to slow the spread of the virus, they cannot prevent its spread – it is therefore important to be vigilant, informed and well prepared. Today we’re taking a look at how monitoring efforts… […]

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Argyll, Trossachs & Stirling

…In the future, we may be faced with squirrelpox in the Central Lowlands’ grey squirrel populations and it will be imperative that grey squirrel densities along the Highland Line are kept to a sufficiently low level, ensuring that there is insufficient circulating disease to be readily transmitted to neighbouring red squirrels. Where red squirrels do succumb locally to the disease,… […]

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An Introduction to Squirrels in Scotland

…There are now approximately 160,000 native red squirrels in Britain, of which over 75% live in Scotland Since the introduction of grey squirrels, they have become widespread across Britain due to their ability to adapt to new environments. They have also introduced the squirrel pox virus which, although catastrophic to red squirrels, appears to leave grey squirrels relatively unharmed due… […]

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This Year's Sightings