Red Squirrel Appreciation Day — and how you can help to protect the adorable rodents
To help mark Red Squirrel Appreciation Day, Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) are inviting people to visit one of its woodlands and take a red squirrel wander to see if any of the creatures can be spied.
Lots of Scottish woodlands house some red squirrels but the pine forests and broadleaf woodlands of the Highlands offer some of the best chances.
FLS is also inviting people to report grey squirrel sightings from all over Scotland to help protect red squirrels from a deadly disease.
Colin Edwards, head of environment for FLS, said: “Everyone loves red squirrels and would want to save them from the horrible effects of the squirrel pox, a disease that is carried by grey squirrels without affecting them but that is lethal for red squirrels.
“Lots of people find grey squirrels’ antics entertaining and attractive, too, but I’m sure they would agree that with no cure or treatment for the disease looking feasible, something has to be done to prevent the suffering of reds, which are also displaced by grey squirrels due to their ability to outcompete reds for vital food resources and habitat.
“The only way to do this, is to control grey squirrel populations to help reduce the spread of the disease. Because the disease is slowly traveling northwards into further red squirrel territory, difficult decisions have to be made if red squirrels are to enjoy a long-term future.”
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All the research of the past 15 years has shown that there is no immunity to the disease in the general red squirrel population and that there is no likelihood of developing a deliverable vaccine.
Therefore in order to protect one species, control measures have to be put in place to restrict the spread or limit the population of the other.
Mr Edwards added: “The best way that people can help is to join a local red squirrel group, or report grey squirrel sightings across Scotland to the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS) web page.”
FLS creates ‘woodland oases’ that bridge gaps between known red squirrel hot-spots to help them increase their range across the north of Scotland.