Red Squirrel
Up to 45 of the project’s key participants with a passion for red squirrel conservation, including landowners and volunteers from across Scotland, heard news of the project’s first signs of success – the return of red squirrels to areas including Cults and Countesswells and Bieldside in Aberdeen City.
Meeting in Battleby, near Perth, the first annual project conference of SSRS is hosted by project partners, Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT), Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS), and the Scottish Rural Property and Business Association (SRPBA).
Speaking at today’s event, SWT’s Mel Tonkin, the SSRS Project Manager, said: “Since our official project launch only one year ago, we have worked hard for our cause and it’s heartwarming to know that Scotland’s red squirrels and the communities lucky enough to still share the natural world with these amazing creatures are the ones beginning to reap real rewards.
“As the first-ever project to tackle red squirrel conservation on a national scale, SSRS, in partnership with our sister project Red Squirrels in South Scotland (RSSS), co-ordinates work on the ground in key regions to strategically halt the spread of grey squirrels and the squirrelpox virus – the red squirrel’s two biggest threats. Today, we celebrate our success so far.
“In the North-East, thanks to a program of carefully planned grey squirrel control activity, we can report that red squirrels are now being spotted in areas of Aberdeen where they hadn’t been seen for several years. This indicates that grey squirrel control is necessary action which not only protects red squirrels from further decline but allows local populations to return to areas they inhabited before the arrival of the grey squirrel.
“Our successes continue in Tayside where more and more land-owners are committing to help us protect red squirrels by controlling grey squirrel populations on their own land and helping us to monitor its effect on red squirrels locally. The availability of financial assistance through the Scottish Government’s Scottish Rural Development Programme, has really helped us reach out and recruit this help.
“With our project soon to appoint a Project Officer for West Scotland and with our sister project, RSSS, continuing its important work to contain squirrelpox in the South, we now have all the tools in place to give red squirrels the best chance of retaining its place as one of the best-loved icons of Scottish wildlife for many years to come.”
Under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, the red squirrel is one of the first species identified as requiring conservation. Minister for the Environment, Roseanna Cunningham, said: “The red squirrel is one of our most iconic and beautiful species and we must do everything we can to protect it. Since its introduction to the British Isles, the grey squirrel has left red squirrels on the brink of extinction.
The organisations involved with Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels have shown real vision in coming together to save the species. The work carried out over the past year has had some initial success and will hopefully help ensure red squirrels survive in Scotland, one of the few sanctuaries the species has left.”
Only 121,000 reds are now thought to remain in Scotland as numbers have rapidly declined due to the presence and spread of the grey squirrel, a species introduced from North America in the 19th Century. The red squirrel is in danger of becoming extinct on mainland Scotland if action is not taken to protect it.
Ron Macdonald, Head of Policy and Advice for SNH explained more about the work of SSRS: “The grey squirrel is a larger, more robust species which was imported from North America. Red and grey squirrels cannot usually co-exist and when both species do inhabit one area the grey squirrel normally out-competes the red for food and habitat. This results in high mortality rates among young red squirrels, and so numbers tend to decline gradually where greys are present.
“As well as controlling grey squirrels to halt their further spread northwards from the central belt, our project will provide advice on woodland management for red squirrels, helping landowners to develop habitats where red squirrels can thrive in the long-term.”