Lewis Pate needs your help to deliver real protection for Scotland’s Red Squirrels

Lewis Pate, the new Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS) Project Officer, says he hopes to lead a co-ordinated and strategic programme of grey squirrel control and habitat management to deliver real protection for red squirrels – but that his success hinges on achieving help and support from the public.

He has been appointed to drive forward project work across Argyll and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.

Red squirrels in parts of western Scotland, including declining populations within Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, are now set to receive further protection as efforts to conserve Scotland’s only native squirrel species in the area are consolidated.

Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS), is the first nationally co-ordinated partnership project, led by the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT), with Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) and the Scottish Rural Property and Business Association (SRPBA).

It aims to halt the decline of red squirrels by working strategically across the whole of Scotland.

Pate says: ‘I am calling on members of the public to get involved. We need everyone to keep their eyes open for both grey and red squirrels and report their sightings to the Scottish Squirrel Survey.  We are also looking for interested and responsible members of the public to participate in surveys and other practical work.

‘These activities are an essential part of our bid to address the decline of red squirrels across the area and safeguard surrounding healthy populations in the north of the country and those of Argyll and the Cowal peninsula. I am particularly keen to hear from members of the public living in the Arrochar, Tarbet, Callander, Lochearnhead, St. Fillans and Aberfoyle areas but all interested people should contact me if they wish to contribute to this vital work.

‘Argyll is lucky to still have strong red squirrel populations, but in parts of Stirling the red squirrel has already disappeared following the arrival of grey squirrels.

‘Within the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park there are still thriving populations of red squirrels, but these are increasingly under threat as grey squirrels, a non-native species brought to Scotland by the Victorians, continue to spread northwards from Glasgow and westwards from the city of Stirling area.

‘We need to act now to prevent the further spread of grey squirrels.  Thankfully, geography is on our side.  To spread further, grey squirrels must travel through narrow corridors of woodland habitat between treeless upland areas, and it is here where we hope to focus our strategic efforts to control them.

‘To ensure red squirrels remain an iconic part of local wildlife, we must act now to protect them.  Please get in touch and get involved with our project today’.

Pate’s appointment, as part of the SSRS project, acts as a continuation of efforts undertaken by the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. Red squirrels are identified as a priority species in the National Park Biodiversity Action Plan launched in 2009.  SSRS will be working in close partnership with the Park Authority, which is contributing funding to SSRS’s operation in the west.

Mel Tonkin, SSRS Project Manager explained:  “Whilst habitat loss and fragmentation contributes to red squirrel decline, the presence of grey squirrels is the ultimate cause of the disappearance of the red squirrel.  With greys out-competing reds for food and habitat the two can rarely coexist for long and grey squirrel presence tends to result in red squirrel numbers declining to the point of extinction, which sadly has already happened across large parts of central Scotland.

“This project will work towards improving woodlands across Scotland in order to help red squirrels thrive, but habitat management alone is not enough in the short-term.  Our project must undertake targeted grey squirrel control to halt the spread of grey squirrels and allow red squirrel populations to recover and expand.  In Argyll and the Trossachs area, if we allow grey squirrels to continue to spread, we will not only risk losing strong red squirrel populations in the region but we will also jeopardise the existence of red squirrels across the whole of northern and western Scotland.

‘Elsewhere in Scotland we will be working to halt the spread of grey squirrels from the Central Belt through targeted control across Tayside and in Aberdeenshire to contain grey squirrels within Aberdeen city to protect the rest of Grampian and the Highlands.  Meanwhile our sister project, Red Squirrels in South Scotland (RSSS), will work to stem the spread of squirrelpox, a disease fatal to reds but harmless to grey squirrels which carry the virus and spread it to red squirrels’.