We are committed to encouraging through knowledge the integration of wildlife into our countryside's and gardens along side us in a natural balance

Grey squirrels have always had a bad press.

I think they are fantastic. Incredible to watch, wonderful acrobats and really not the cause of the demise of their red cousins. It is conservation that will see the return of the Reds to widespread Britain.

I can watch these cutie's for hours as they balance and play in my garden,

Grey squirrels love both the deciduous and conifer woodlands and thrive in both .

Both Red and Grey Squirrels can be seen eating eggs and fledglings when the opportunity arises although both are predominantly vegitarian.The majority of their diet being tree seeds, fungi, nuts and berries. However, if they're hungry and we stumble upon a birds nest, they won't waste the opportunity.

Sometime Grey squirrels are blamed for the decline in woodland birds Dr Mark Avery who is the Director of Conservation for the RSPB wrote the following in a letter to the Telegraph on 22nd October, 2007:

"Grey squirrels are not found in most other parts of Europe, yet woodland bird population is also dropping on the continent.""Poor woodland management, climate change and factors affecting migrating birds are far more significant." It has been suggested by the Forestry Commission that grey squirrels can actually help bird populations in woodlands when they strip bark from trees. This encourages fungi and invertebrates, that grow in the stripped areas of bark, and this provides a good source of food for woodland birds. On occasions where a tree dies because of stripped bark, if humans leave the dead wood alone, it serves as a great nesting space for birds.

Greys are also blamed for the poxvirus which is currently spreading through the Red Squirrel population. This virus also affected the grey population many generations ago, but those who survived developed antibodies which protect the greys today. The Red Squirrels are in a similar position now, and provided humans give them a chance by not removing their habitat, a good percentage might well survive and be immune.

Cruel methods are sometimes employed to "control" the greys.

Shooting greys in trees,

Poisoning greys with Warfarin - a nasty chemical which causes our blood to go thin and they bleed out of our eyes, ears, nose, mouth and other places

Trapping them in cages, and then putting a bag over the end of the cage, so when we get chased into it, they can be bludgeoned to death.
All of these methods of "controlling" them are termed as "humane"

Loss of the Red Squirrel factors

1. Climate change, and deforestation for agriculture, industry and housing have resulted in loss of habitat suitable for Red Squirrels

2. Changes in tree species planted in recent years have favoured greys, with significant red squirrel habitat disappearing

3. Grey Squirrels don't chase Red Squirrels away. It is simply a gradual ecological replacement due to Greys being more adaptable. Plenty of evidence shows the two species living together for significant periods.

4. In addition, humans have persecuted Red Squirrels as pests for many years, driving them to near extinction

5. Red Squirrels, like Grey Squirrels before, have been affected by Parapoxvirus. Grey Squirrels who survived showed immunity, and the same immunity is now being seen in some Red Squirrels

6. Habitat pressures are making life hard for Red Squirrels, so disease, like SQPV, is harder for them to fight. They are certainly not fat and healthy.

Another factor in the decline of the Red Squirrels is the destruction of millions of acres of woodland by humans for agriculture, housing and industrial purposes. As a species, Red Squirrels are far less adaptable than the greys , and have suffered quite badly when their habitat has been destroyed throughout the centuries.

Humans have continued to eat up Red Squirrel habitat at an alarming rate. 50% of the woodland that was present in the UK in the 1940s has been cut down, leaving ever decreasing places for the Red Squirrels to survive. Recently the preference has been for planting deciduous forests, which don't suit the red squirrel at all, and only help Grey Squirrels. Here in the UK, Red Squirrels find themselves at the very edges of their natural habitat, persecuted for any success they ever had in this country.

Red Squirrels could potentially survive in deciduous forest, even though the food sources available are not as beneficial to them as they are to the greys. However, given that they thrive in deciduous and mixed forest, it is no surprise that Red Squirrels find themselves unable to compete in this type of forest. The poor diet means they breed slower than , and simply decline in these areas. This ecological replacement happens over significant timescale. Red and Grey Squirrels can live together for many years before the gradual decrease results in the Red Squirrels becoming extinct in the deciduous or mixed woodland. It is only where Red Squirrels can out-compete Grey Squirrels that they do very well. Research has shown that they require a minimum area of 200 hectares of coniferous woodland before they start to thrive sufficiently to do better than Grey Squirrels. Even in smaller coniferous forests, Reds will do significantly better than in deciduous or mixed forest where food sources are not so suitable for them.

It is important to point out that when Grey Squirrels are accused of chasing Red squirrels, and therefore contributing to the decline in Red Squirrels that there is no evidence at all of this. The fact Red Squirrels survive along with Greys for significant periods proves this isn't the case. It is purely Grey Squirrels being more successful that drives the numbers of Red Squirrels gradually down in forest types where Grey Squirrels do better than Reds.

Increasing the planting of large coniferous forests is therefore an important factor in helping the Red Squirrel thrive. Grey Squirrels also tend to follow the path of deciduous or mixed woodland, so the large deciduous plantations springing up everywhere are simply acting as corridors to allow them to spread further. A knowledge of the types of trees which Reds prefer and Greys prefer could allow a tree planting direction which would improve the habitat for the Reds while allowing the Greys to continue to survive in the many deciduous woodlands around.

The following shows which trees suit Red and Grey Squirrels, and the change that occurred between 1980 and 1998 across England. It is unsurprising, given the decline in numbers of Red Squirrels, that there has been a large shift away from trees which suit Red Squirrels to trees which Grey Squirrels thrive in.

Across Scotland, there has been a similar shift against the Red Squirrel habitat, with the exception of Mixed/Japanese Larch which showed a 21% increase. However, this is likely more than made up for by the 28% decrease in Norway Spruce and 39% decrease in European Larch, both of which are good for Red Squirrels. It also must be noted that Scotland is vastly smaller than England so percentage changes are magnified compared with England.

The third notable factor in their decline is human persecution. For many years, Red Squirrels were seen as pests and were targeted by gamekeepers. Lady Lovat was instrumental in getting red squirrel's re-introduced to the Highlands back in 1844, but by the early 1900s, their success was becoming a cause for concern among foresters and clubs were set up in Scotland for the pure and simple reason of killing or trapping Red Squirrels. With financial incentives for anyone who sent in Red Squirrel's tails, it wasn't long before a massacre occurred. The Highland Squirrel Club alone killed 80,000 Red Squirrels during the first 30 years it operated! This continued up until the end of the 1920s.

Short of habitat to live in and places to find suitable food, while being hunted and trapped, they've found themselves under constant threat of extinction. Facing these problems has left the population weakened, and therefore more susceptible to disease. One such disease is parapoxvirus, which has similar symptoms to myxomatosis found in rabbits, and has also been a killer to Grey Squirrels in the past, only leaving those of squirrels lucky enough to have an immunity. Some Red Squirrels have also shown signs of this immunity, so the parapoxvirus is not likely to be the end of the Red Squirrels either.

Unfortunately, because we're seen to have this immunity now, and most of the Red Squirrels don't have it. However, Squirrel Natural Heritage (SNH) research has shown that Red Squirrels were dying of a disease between 1900 and 1920. Descriptions of the disease give very similar clinical signs to the disease that scientists now know to be poxvirus. Most of the Red Squirrels reported to be dying had never had any contact with Grey Squirrels. greys only spread across 4 out of 40 districts while Red Squirrels were fairly common across the country.

There is one confirmed case where a Red Squirrel, in captivity, managed to survive Squirrelpox. It was ill for around 6 weeks, but having plentiful food and warmth allowed it to survive, and its immune system fight the virus. If large numbers of Red Squirrels are to fight this disease themselves, they need good habitat, so they aren't short of food or shelter, so emphasis on planting more coniferous forests is important. The development of a vaccine which could be given to live-trapped red squirrels before they are released again could be a way in which humans could also help the reds further.

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