WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

Become involved in your local group. The amount that any one person can do to help the red squirrel make a comeback depends almost entirely on where they live. If you live in an area where red squirrels currently exist, or one that borders red squirrel strongholds, you’re in luck. Local groups in the north of England, including in Arnside & Silverdale, south Cumbria and in Wensleydale, are working hard to clear out the grey squirrels in the hope that reds may then return. In these areas, volunteers can perform vital work, such as reporting grey squirrels to local groups that can loan live-catch traps to apprehend the greys in their gardens. The rodents can then be collected and humanely dispatched. This clears large areas of greys at a minimum cost, allowing the reds to repopulate and expand their territory naturally. Northern Red Squirrels is an umbrella group of volunteers, which coordinates public action across the North of England and is a good point of contact.

In Scotland, Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels always welcomes new members to help with anything from survey work to public engagement, as well as grey squirrel control. Anyone involved in grey squirrel control will receive full training; a directory of all the groups can be found on its website. One simple thing that anyone in Scotland can do is to report sightings of red and grey squirrels on scottishsquirrels.org.uk. The sightings data helps better understand the situation on the ground, measure the impact the group’s work is having and decide where to focus efforts in the future. Last year, 13,700 squirrel sightings were reported.