Knowledge Fair – celebrating five years of community action

  In December over 100 SSRS volunteers, landowners and other supporters joined us online to celebrate the end of the project’s ‘Developing Community Action‘ phase. The two-day Knowledge Fair featured presentations and panel discussions on all that the project has achieved over the past five years. It was also an opportunity to learn more about the red squirrel conservation work… […]

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Coronavirus: all SSRS outdoor volunteer work suspended

…as soon as possible (with a 10 figure grid reference for each trap or a detailed location description). Where traps are currently set, our staff will endeavour to secure them shut if at all possible. This was not an easy decision to make. Together we have made great strides in recent years, and we are fully aware that this could… […]

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

…Estates, RSPB Scotland and the Red Squirrel Survival Trust. In 2017 the project was awarded £2.46 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The project has secured an initial £1.08 million from project partners for the two-year transitional phase, but will need further resources to put all project plans into action, which will be finalised in the new year.  … […]

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To feed or not to feed?

…therefore during the summer months before fruits, conifer seed and nuts are ripe, when their natural food is in short supply. In autumn when plenty of natural food is available, the squirrels may stop coming to your garden, but they will probably return in the winter. Continued feeding throughout the winter will also provide an additional boost to the squirrels… […]

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Join the Hub

Join the Hub Community action is the key to the long-term survival of Scotland’s red squirrels. The Hub is a space for our supporters and volunteers to keep up to date with the project and connect with like-minded people working to protect local red squirrel populations. Registered users can keep track of their squirrel sightings, and join a local red… […]

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Community action in Galloway

…one autumn squirrelpox struck, and they were all gone in a few weeks. So we had to move, didn’t we… Before coming to Galloway, I was on the Biology staff at Newcastle University, where I lectured for years on conservation biology, including the devastating worldwide effects of invasive species introductions. It was natural, therefore, for me to work for more… […]

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News: Help stop the spread of grey squirrels in the Mearns

…can be reported to us at scottishsquirrels.org.uk.” Since 2009, Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels has been working in the North East of Scotland to eradicate an ‘island’ population of grey squirrels, which was introduced in the 1970s and is isolated from the rest of the Scottish population. Once widespread in Aberdeenshire along the rivers Dee and Don, this population of grey… […]

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Reviewing the Scottish Strategy for Red Squirrel Conservation

…Scottish Squirrel Group have been tasked with drafting an ambitious 50-year vision for red squirrel conservation in Scotland. The revised Strategy will cover a 10-year timeline (2025 – 2035) informed by this vision, and will be developed using the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Guidelines for Species Conservation Planning, the gold standard for species conservation planning which… […]

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Red squirrels and biosecurity

…in East Anglia in the 1980’s and has gradually moved northwards. Red squirrels, (Sciurus vulgaris) our native species, are under threat from loss of habitat and competition with the larger introduced grey squirrel. Now it has been found that when there is cross-infection with the pox virus from grey squirrel carriers, eradication of the reds can be around 20% faster… […]

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News: Red letter day – Plean’s first red squirrel entered home through letterbox

…I went to pick up the mail I found the wee rascal running around the living room at a hundred miles an hour, all over the furniture. “I just wanted to let him out without hurting him. He went for the window so I lifted the blinds and opened it. He saw the opening and was off like lightning.” The… […]

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This Year's Sightings