ANGER AFTER YEARS OF BEAUTY

Photograph : John Horsman, Cratfield, Suffolk

EDITORIAL

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Certainly the image on the cover of this issue illustrates the anger felt by the owners of a small wood on seeing the object of their many years of labour trashed by grey squirrels.  The whole of their small farm is dedicated to conservation. Over thirty years, John Horsman has turned a treeless Suffolk plain into a sheltered wildlife paradise of ponds and woodland in which birds and other native wildlife flourish.

Still there is hope.  Suffolk landowners may have to suffer this destructive pest for many years yet, but in other parts of Britain, enthusiastic supporters of the red squirrel have taken matters into their own hands.  In Northern England, hundreds of volunteers routinely trap grey squirrels out and experience the joy of seeing red squirrels return to their former range.  If the people of Cumbria and Northumberland had not shown the determination to take matters into their own hands, red squirrels would have disappeared from much of the northern counties.  Their success has encouraged others in Gower, Dorset and Cornwall to consider plans to restore red squirrels to their counties.     

The second part of the bird survey to quantify the impact of grey squirrels on woodland birds, will commence in spring 2010.  Conducted by the Game Conservancy Trust, the project will cover five pairs of woods in the south west, the midlands and easternEngland.  The   project is led by Dr Rufus Sage. ESI Trustee Charles Dutton has collaborated with Dr Sage in the selection of woods.  The results will be the subject of a report due to be issued in autumn 2010.

SUFFOLK

“I was horrified to walk through a small wood on the farm in May and see extensive damage to 5 or 6 30+ year old Hornbeam trees.  I have noted damage around the base of several of those trees in the past but thought that it might be muntjac deer rooting about but it can only be grey squirrel damage higher up.  It stopped as soon as it started more or less and in early June. I trapped the whole family adult male and female and 4 or 5 smaller ones but several of the trees are ring-barked and must die.

Its very depressing after so many years of beauty and I am very angry!  So I must continue my sub to the European Squirrel Initiative.  Carry on the good work!”

John Horsman, Cratfield, Suffolk

ESI IN 2009

2009 has been another busy year for ESI with a number of achievements under its belt and a busy agenda for the future. 

The year began with the good news that the European Commission has published its long awaited proposals for dealing with invasive alien species.  ESI has lobbied long and hard to ensure that this document was brought forward from its original planned publication date of 2012.

The report recognises the threat that invasive alien species poses to both the economy and Europe’s biodiversity.

In the early part of the year ESI was involved in meetings with European politicians and civil servants encouraging them to move forward with the plans outlined in the report and to take a robust and decisive approach to dealing with pest species and encouraging them to introduce a law which would give more muscle to the terms of the Bern Convention. This would mean that governments could be required to control invasive species.

In keeping with ESI’s growing status it has frequently been asked to respond to government and NGO recommendations and proposals.  This it does on a regular basis highlighting its belief in a practical approach to grey squirrel control.  It is encouraging to note that in the last 12 months government agencies are beginning to respond more positively and to be more sympathetic to the views expressed by ESI. Its annual public opinion survey again reinforced the point that the overwhelming majority of people in this country are in favour of controlling grey squirrels.

The European elections in June give ESI the chance once again to take its message to Brussels and beyond.  A new intake of MEPs has provided ESI with the opportunity to brief them on the threat posed by the grey squirrel not only to the UK but also to the European mainland. 

Nearer home, the fact that there will be a general election within the next nine months has provided a springboard for ESI to hold a series of further meetings with senior politicians from all parties.

The relationship with the Red Squirrel Survival Trust has enabled ESI to act as a foil.  The two organisations operating in partnership have meant that significant progress has been made in influencing government agencies.  Meetings are being held at the highest level where ESI’s messages are getting through loud and clear. 

The past 12 months has seen a number of regional   initiatives taken forward in Scotland, the North of England and Wales, areas where active grey squirrel control is now taking place on a landscape scale with support from a number of statutory bodies.

ESI continues to focus on the need for developing an effective method of grey squirrel control through Immunocontraception. Working closely with Professor Andy Peters and academics from ImperialCollege, London Zoo and the University of Strathclyde progress is being made. 

While continuing to seek funding from the EU to ensure the project has secure financial support ESI is backing the current scientific work in a number of ways.  It has pledged further financial support to the project, it is seeking additional funding and is working with the scientists to try and develop innovative and successful partnerships needed to take the research forward. 

To end the year, ESI and its work will be featured in a film to be made by a Swiss television production company which will look at the problem of grey squirrels in the United Kingdom and the work of ESI.  The film will be broadcast in Switzerland, produced in Italian, French and German; once again getting the message to Europe of the threat posed by the grey squirrel.

Andrew Kendall, European Squirrel Initiative

DORSET

Reports in the July Newsletter show progress in several parts of the country in red squirrel survival and recovery. A common theme is the need to kill grey squirrels if progress is to be made towards re-establishing the red.  I have prevented grey squirrels from breeding by catching them during the early part of the year with Kania traps, thereby eliminating squirrel damage in my woods.  This depends upon two factors.  Firstly, siting traps on the invasion routes the squirrels use.  They enter via regular routes, principally along a tarmac drive from the county road.  Traps hung on drive-side trees are the primary capture sites.  Another invasion route is along a boundary wall. I move a trap to a tree or gate post when an animal is seen in a new place and often there is a squirrel in it next morning.  I have had no success with traps in the woods.

The second factor is bait.  I have heard of a variety of baits being used and tried a few myself but the only successful one is peanut butter.

Pre-baiting is not necessary, nor renewing the bait frequently as I have caught animals when the bait is dried up after several weeks.  I think peanut butter is successful because the smell is easily detectable by squirrels, bringing them in from some distance away.

The keys to success then are regular observation, particularly during the period mid April to mid June, responding at once with a trap placed where a new sighting occurs, if not on a regular route already being trapped, using peanut butter as bait.  From late August onwards immature animals start to reinvade but do not go to the Kania traps because there is so much natural food available then.

I have not found Warfarin useful. Here in Cornwall before we had Kania traps and some 25 years ago using warfarin in a Chilterns woodland, I found no reduction in bark stripping when warfarin was in use.  Careful observation of squirrels, recording their colour and size, suggests that the impact on the squirrel population is limited.  Recording particular animals at a hopper two things emerged.  Firstly, only one animal feeds over a period of 2-3 weeks, during which time others are chased away.  This animal then fails to show up for a week or ten days; it is not dead, it has merely gone off for a ’detox’ and returns.  This occurs two or three times before finally failing to re-appear and is assumed dead.  Whilst the dominant animal is not at the hopper and when it finally fails to return, another takes its place indicating that the period over which they have taken warfarin is quite long, certainly several weeks, and is not particularly effective.  The amount required to kill a squirrel depends on body weight: an amount equal to the body weight must be ingested before it has a cumulative lethal effect. Body weights range from 500 to 700 grams.

Dr Esmond Harris

ABERDEENSHIRE

Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels employed a new   Project Officer for North East Scotland in June this year. Scottish Wildlife Trust's Hollie Walker is taking forward the national project's objectives for the area, where grey squirrels are still posing a threat to Aberdeenshire's red squirrels and, if nothing is done, to those in the Highlands too. Grey squirrels are spreading from Aberdeen up the Dee, Don and north-west towards Morayshire.

Hollie is part of a Scottish Wildlife Trust-led project which aims to protect major populations of red squirrels spread across Argyll, northern Tayside, the Highlands and North East Scotland by halting the spread of grey squirrels northwards from the Central Belt and outwards from AberdeenCity.

 Photograph : Hollie Walker and red squirrel by Chris Sutherland

Red squirrels could already be making a come-back in the North East as sighting reports keep coming in from new areas in AberdeenCity. This is exciting news, giving us hope that red squirrel conservation activities are beginning to make a difference. 

The north east will start SSRS's surveying and monitoring programme soon, helped by volunteers and the Grampian Squirrel Group, to gain a more accurate picture of squirrel distribution on the ground.  Feeder boxes will be distributed to act as monitoring tools to help with this work. A survey training day for volunteers is scheduled for Saturday 14th November at the Craibstone campus of the ScottishAgriculturalCollege.

With grey squirrel control already showing potential benefits for red squirrels, Hollie is working to roll out a trapping programme across the city.  A trap loan scheme is now running for landowners and householders in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, with training and information packs available for participants. People joining the scheme monitor a trap, and project support is available for collection, dispatch and disposal of trapped squirrels. Everyone controlling on behalf of SSRS must be trained in our standard operating procedures.  SSRS now has two fully-trained grey squirrel control officers working in rural areas of the North East and a new control officer was appointed in October to work exclusively within AberdeenCity where the greatest concentration of grey squirrels is found.

A very successful trapping workshop organised jointly with the Scottish Agricultural College for participants from more rural areas was held in early October, and was attended by 18 landowners, gamekeepers and community volunteers, where traps and feeder-boxes for monitoring were made available. For more information, please email: redsquirrelgrampian@swt.org.ukor call 01224 654353 or 07818533323.   

Hollie Walker BSc (Hons), Project Officer North East Scotland - Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels

RED SQUIRRELS INVADE MAINLAND WALES!

Part of the strategy to prevent grey squirrels reinvading Anglesey requires the reduction of grey squirrel numbers on the mainland approaches to the two bridges connecting the island to the mainland county of Gwynedd. In the past two weeks, I have, to my delight, trapped two young male red squirrels within separate deciduous woodlands on the mainland; locations within a kilometre of the two bridges. The animals are quite distinctive from one another, as one has a dark red coat colour and the other is a lighter shade. I collected hair samples for future DNA studies.

This event illustrates as nothing else can that a healthy expanding red squirrel population will rapidly replace grey squirrels if the latter are removed - even to the extent of crossing the treacherous Menai Straits.

Dr Craig Shuttleworth

CUMBRIA

The North Cumbria Squirrel Group came into being in January 2009, covering some 70,000 hectares, North of the A69 to The Scottish and Northumberland borders. We were fortunate enough to have plenty of traps at our disposal from RSST and SOS for distribution on a trap loan scheme and coupled with the control already being carried out, we have been able to place traps to cover roughly 80% of the ‘non-forestry’ woodland within the first eight months. We also have the benefit of a full time trapper employed by SOS, who spends most of his time within our area.

We use an electronic map to plot trap distribution and coverage, grey and red sightings, grey kills, woodland that cannot be trapped and woodland yet to be covered, all linked to an extensive database of landowners. The difference between the known data plotted in January and now is striking, and gaps in cover can easily be identified, especially when amalgamated with data from the other three groups involved around the area.

Early results suggest that where control had been exercised in the past few years, numbers of greys caught were definitely down. However, in one area of about 1500 hectares, SOS and RSSS professional trappers managed to account for over 200 greys in six weeks. Unfortunately, in the recent past there has been a surge in the number of grey sightings, so there is no room for complacency. Most red squirrel populations crashed two to three years ago but isolated pockets still exist across the area, but one feels that without total control around them, their days are numbered. Populations near upland plantations seem to fare better. But it is vital to     remember that whilst the reserve areas are refuges, these areas of forestry did not exist until 1930 or so.

The red squirrel is a creature of mixed woodland and has survived happily until now in all of the, often fragmented, woodland that we find across the area.

We find that ninety percent of people approached are happy to operate traps but the main problem is keeping them trapping. Initial enthusiasm is soon dashed if not successful. One system we are pushing is to prop the trap open and allow squirrels to use the trap as a feeder. Then set the trap every ten days or so for a couple of days. This takes the pressure off the volunteer and also habituates the greys to the trap. Placing the trap up a tree also prevents mice from consuming the bait.

There is a common misconception that it is only worth trapping between February and July. One Estate caught 41 greys in 2008, of which 21 were caught between August and December. Greys may have more choice of food in this period, but trapping adjacent to pheasant feeders is effective.

The number of organisations involved in Red Squirrel Conservation must be bewildering to an outsider and acronyms are banded about like confetti.

On start-up, I had the impression that each body was rather insular and reluctant to share information or resources. The improvement in relationships over the year has been dramatic. The formation of RSST and the energy and resources that it has put into Cumbrian squirrel conservation has been a major catalyst in such a change of direction.

Richard Westoll

RED SQUIRRELS GAIN A NEW GUARDIAN

Red squirrels can sleep easier knowing that they have a new guardian. Today the Red Squirrel Survival Trust (RSST) announced the appointment of a National  Operations Director to co-ordinate their involvement in red squirrel conservation around the UK.

The National Operations Director role has been created to ensure that red squirrels are protected wherever they can be found around the UK. Currently there is a range of local initiatives dedicated to protecting red squirrels across Britain. However to date there has been no person responsible for making sure that all initiatives are joined up and share in good practice.

Red squirrels have died out from much of mainland Britain and remain critically endangered in northern England and Scotland. RSST’s National Operations Director will counter this by working with existing projects and volunteers, and will also look to establish new initiatives to protect red squirrels wherever they interface with greys.

The American grey squirrel is the primary cause of the decline of our native red squirrel. Greys carry the squirrelpox virus to which they are immune but which is deadly to reds. They also aggressively compete for food, crowding reds out until eventually only greys are left.

RSST’s new National Operations Director, Dr Craig Shuttleworth, knows all about how to save the red squirrel, following his work on Anglesey over the past decade.

Craig Shuttleworth, RSST National Operations Director

Dr Shuttleworth has led a dedicated campaign of targeted grey squirrel control on the island, combining efforts from the public, private and voluntary sectors. On his watch, Anglesey’s red population has recovered from a critical low of 40 in 1999 to around 300 today.

In that time, grey numbers have fallen from over 3,000 to the point where there are now only a handful remaining.  Dr Shuttleworth remains involved in completing the grey squirrel eradication on Anglesey in a part-time capacity while carrying out his duties with RSST.

Dr Shuttleworth said: ‘I am delighted to be joining RSST as National Operations Director. I look forward to working with projects around the UK to apply the lessons we have learnt on Anglesey and help the red squirrel fight back nationwide. There are many excellent projects and dedicated individuals in the world of red squirrel conservation. My job is to ensure that these efforts are properly co-ordinated and use the latest conservation methods.’

Josh Perry, Red Squirrel Survival Trust

ITALY

SCOIATTOLO GRIGIO GENOVESE' (Genoese grey squirrels)

“On 25th & 26th August 2009, I was in Genoa, Italy and visited the Park of Villa Gropallo at the nearby seaside satellite of Nervi. I was helped to find the  location by the Genoa tourism brochure advertising the 'squirrels' (n.b. not grey squirrels!) there. The greys at Nervi behave quite differently to their Anglo-Irish resident cousins. They are much more timid, but willing to instantly crack open and eat hard hazelnuts, rather than burying to store and soften. In appearance they are very auburn, making them blend in with their surroundings and seem indigenous.  Also they are much thinner, maybe the result of existing in the often sweltering climate of their location hemmed in between the Mediteranean and the forested coastal mountains they have yet to significantly penetrate. Locals and tourists visit 'Parco Municipale Gropallo' and are transfixed by the unusual novelty of the rare squirrel.

The feel of the place reminded me of the atmosphere at the Formby Reserve, Merseyside. But these squirrels are not threatened - they are the threat! The   Italian park-goers I spoke to were, however, oblivious to this fact and passive to doing anything about it."

Giles Bearder

Park of Villa Gropallo, Nervi

Photographs : Giles Bearder

Dr Sandro Bertolino of TurinUniversity comments : “The population of grey squirrels present in Genoa Nervi originated from few animals introduced from Norfolk (USA) in 1966.  The population in the park, which is composed by the estates of three historical villas, can now be estimated to have reached a size of 150 - 200 animals.  The diffused urbanization surrounding these parks seem to have prevented until now a relevant expansion of this species out of the urban   context, but some isolated individuals are periodically reported from areas not too far, such as at Bogliasco and S. Ilario.

The removal of grey squirrels from the parks is necessary to prevent the likely spread of the alien species to natural habitats, which are in relatively close proximity to this population, and is still technically possible to achieve. However, the grey squirrels represent one of the main attractions for the park visitors, used to observe and feed them and any management options have to be carefully evaluated, especially under a human dimension perspective.  The population in Genoa Nervi is one of the Italian populations of grey squirrels, the others are in Piedmont and Lombardy.  The risks posed to the native red squirrel and to the forest vegetation by the presence of this invasive squirrel in Italy are well known and have been the subject of many reports in the ESI Newsletter. 

Recently, after a large debate between national and regional authorities and scientists, a new proposal has been prepared with the aim to get the economic support from the European Union to a large management project, aimed to remove the grey squirrel from Italy.  The project-draft foresees to update data on the size and distribution of the grey squirrel populations present in Italy and then to prepare and implement a management plan for every population.  One of the main points of the project will be to develop a wide-scale public relations campaign to provide correct information on red-grey squirrel competition and generate broad public support for the project.  The project is very detailed in its aims and methods to achieve them.  The first scrutiny is in the hands of the Commission that will select the projects deserving support from Europe.  The second scrutiny will be our own ability to turn in actions what at the moment is just a project.  This, however, will be the last call to stop the grey squirrel spread from Italy to Europe.

RED SQUIRRELS IN THE SUNSET

Like most British children, I grew up knowing about red squirrels from children’s literature such, as Beatrix Potter’s ‘Squirrel Nutkin’. When I met the grey version in local parks and gardens, I thought it was a bit of a nuisance in its digging habits but largely harmless.  Working with the European Squirrel Initiative I became aware of the serious harm the grey inflicts on habitats and on the reds.  A group of us in the Parliament have since consistently pressed the Commission, in debates, questions and all the other parliamentary devices, to take action to support an eradication policy.  The grey is voracious in its feeding and storing habits and makes it         extremely difficult for the reds to find food.  Worse still the grey carries, but does not itself suffer from, squirrel pox – a nasty killer disease that destroys red squirrels, which die within 15 days of infection.

The challenge in the European Parliament is that the problem is mainly apparent in Britain, Ireland and Italy, although it is spreading north from the last.  For most other EU countries it is not yet a problem.  They do however all share our concern about invasive species as a whole. So, to save the red squirrel we sometimes have to reach our destination via invasive bees, ladybirds, mitten crabs, Canada geese, ruddy ducks and Japanese Knotweed. 

The grey squirrel is in the lethal tradition of black and brown rats and coypu.  We have made progress.  The Parliament and Commission and at least some member States are aware of the problem and plans are being drawn up, even if some of us think they are not decisive enough to be effective – or not yet, but the battle continues.

John Bowis, UK MP 1987-1997, MEP for London 1999-2009

RED SQUIRREL MAKES COMEBACK IN  KILKENNY

The Red squirrel, thought to have been close to extinction in Kilkenny, is making a comeback.     Several pairs of the native Irish species have been spotted at the Woodstock arboretum and gardens in Inistioge (pronounced inishteege).

There has also been a steep decline in the number of grey squirrels in Kilkenny city and county, specifically at CastlePark.

The grey squirrels are in direct competition with their red-coloured cousins, which are native to this country. The decrease in greys may be due to the presence of the Pine Martin and the claim, as yet unsubstantiated, that traps set somewhere on the Canal Walk, adjacent to the CastlePark, earlier this year killed 75 of the greys.

Grey squirrels are more vulnerable to pine martins because they spend more time on the ground than the red squirrel, where pine martins find them easier to catch.

Pine Martins are members of the weasel family are the same size as the average domestic cat.  They are mainly meat eaters, often helping to contain rat populations.

This is the first summer in many years that the grey squirrels have not been seen foraging through rubbish bins in Kilkenny city, or around the park looking for edibles thrown away by picnickers.

Seán Keane,  Irish Times Monday 19^th October 2009

AND IN THE RED CORNER ….Article by Robin Page featured in Daily Telegraph on 17 October 2009

Dr Craig Shuttleworth is a hero—a red squirrel hero.  For years there has been a myth that Britain’s endemic red squirrel is doomed and that the march of the alien grey squirrel cannot be curtailed.

It is a myth propagated by those with a political animal-rights agenda and by organisations such as Defra.  This line is even promoted by some Wildlife Trusts, which choose to tiptoe through the anthropomorphic world of modern, Disneyfied Britain, putting warped political correctness and public relations before conservation. The argument has been that the grey squirrel can never be properly controlled and that “nature” should be given free rein.  This is the view of the online “Professor Acorn” complete with grey squirrel merchandising, who writes as if he is a squirrel.

Recently, Dr Ian Rotherham of SheffieldHallamUniversity (author of Peat and Peat Cutting) said controlling grey squirrels was “eco-xenophobia”.  He said of schemes involving population management “that they resonate with ideas growing with the BNP in the UK, and with other right-wing groups across Europe”.

Fortunately, Shuttleworth has a thick skin and his drive has been based on conservation and a love of red squirrels. As a result, on Anglesey, he has confounded the mythmakers and virtually removed all the grey squirrels from the island.

With a number of careful reintroductions, he has boosted the remnant red population until there could already be as many as 300 on Anglesey and the figure is rising.  Even more encouraging, the residents of Anglesey are overwhelmingly supportive.

Shuttleworth was born in Dumfries, where his father worked for the Forestry Commission, and from an early age became hooked on wildlife in general and red squirrels

in particular.  In the late Eighties he gained a  degree in wildlife management from Edinburgh  University, which he followed up with a PhD in - you guessed it - red squirrels.  In 1998 an opportunity came to try to save the red squirrels on Anglesey, so he took a job with what has become the Anglesey Squirrel Project.  At that time there were barely 40 reds left in the north-east corner of the island and the rest of Anglesey was overrun with greys.  Greys are larger and more aggressive than the reds.  They also carry a pox virus that causes little inconvenience to themselves, but results in an unpleasant myxomatosis-like death in reds.  If no action had been taken, the reds on Anglesey would have been wiped out.

Of course, it is not the grey’s fault that it pitched up on Anglesey.  Thomas Telford’s suspension bridge was a very convenient aid and the greys were introduced in the 18th century by “toffs” as living garden ornaments that then decided to breed.

Consequently, being nice to greys has become a form of “toff bashing” practised by the politically correct. What these people forget is that as we were receiving the grey squirrel from the US, we were also taking other species to the rest of the world: blackbirds and house sparrows toSouth Africa, the red fox to New Zealand and, the star of misplaced introductions, rabbits to Australia.

Since it began, the Anglesey Squirrel Project has trapped 7500 greys, and Shuttleworth believes that two years from now there will be no greys on the island (although he wants to see two years of empty traps to confirm they have been eliminated).  Reintroductions of captive-bred reds are continuing, most recently on the National Trust’s Plas Newydd estate.

Photograph : Will Nicholls who has been announced Britain’s Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Any squirrel items purchased will have a percentage given to the Red Squirrel Survival Trust.  Visit his website at www.willnicholls.co.uk

Already, reds released into the NewboroughForest in 1996 have thrived and the population is nearing 200.  From what he has learnt, Shuttleworth is convinced red squirrels can be successfully reintroduced to many islands and peninsulas around Britain.

However, there is one cloud on the Anglesey  horizon. Scientists from the Countryside Council for Wales have devised a plan to fell a large area of forest to benefit sand dunes, despite Anglesey    already having many acres of sand dunes.  And where will that be?  In NewboroughForest, which could reduce its area by 40 per cent and put huge pressure on the reintroduced red squirrels (a programme supported by the Countryside Council for Wales).

The situation is astonishing.  It is almost a conservationist’s Basil Fawlty moment. 

Fortunately, the residents of Anglesey are not impressed.  Eight thousand people have signed a petition, and Shuttleworth, who has become National Operations Director of the Red Squirrel Survival Trust, is hoping that common sense will prevail.

The Review of Red Squirrel Conservation Activity in Northern England

ESI has helped to fund The Review of Red Squirrel Conservation Activity in Northern England which was carried out by an independent consultancy team headed by Central Science Laboratories. Their remit was to evaluate the recent work of various organisations involved in red squirrel conservation in northern England, and they announced their findings in September 2009.   

The report was positive about some of the conservation work currently being carried out, but it did go on to make a number of important recommendations relating to grey squirrel control. Crucially, grey control was identified as absolutely key to any future red squirrel conservation strategy. The review pointed to the examples of Anglesey and Whinfell, where effective grey control has demonstrably had a positive impact on red squirrel populations.

Additionally, the report suggested that grey control must in future be delivered in a more structured way and that meaningful monitoring must be carried out so the impact of control is measurable.

The Red Squirrel Survival Trust (RSST) has spent the past few months working closely with the Forestry Commission and Natural England to agree how best to build on these recommendations. The initial fruits of these constructive conversations can be seen with two recently announced initiatives. The first is a study to map grey squirrel control efforts in the north of England. It will take into account work undertaken by landowners, institutions, volunteers and local groups. It will serve as a platform for building a co-ordinated future strategy for red squirrel conservation and is due to be completed in early 2010.

The second initiative is the creation of a £40,000 grey squirrel control fund to pay for locally led trapping projects in northern England. Grants will be made to local initiatives that aim to safeguard nationally and regionally important red squirrel populations. A particular focus is being placed on the area running along the English border with Scotland, the NorthLakes in Cumbria,North Yorkshire and Merseyside. Organisations working in the relevant areas are encouraged to apply to RSST for funding to assist them in tackling the threat from greys.

We are excited about the potential of these initiatives and optimistic that they are the beginning of a co-ordinated, nationwide strategy for red squirrel conservation. There is now a consensus and a will across all organisations in the north of England to establish a broad partnership project that will build on the review’s recommendations and comprehensively  address the threat to reds in the north.

Josh Perry, Red Squirrel Survival Trust

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