Go reds!

Common in some parts of the world but endangered in others, the red squirrel is beloved by many a conservationist determined to see them thrive

The tale of Beatrix Potter’s cheeky Squirrel Nutkin will be familiar to many – and the closest most people in the UK will ever get to a red squirrel. Once common in deciduous woods and coniferous forests in Europe and northern Asia, they are a rare sight in many places, thanks to habitat loss and the dominance of its non-native grey cousin. In the UK, the Woodland Trust estimates that European red squirrel numbers have fallen from around 3.5 million in the 1870s to between 120,000 and 160,000, with just 15,000 in England, although there are population strongholds in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and areas of England including Northumberland. But what’s so special about these wild mammals? And why do they need protection?

Native species

Daniel Bell, from County Antrim in Northern Ireland, will never forget the first time he saw a red squirrel. It was 1993, he was nine years old and he loved to feed the birds in his grandmother’s garden in Cushendall, filling her bird feeder every Sunday. ‘One Monday morning, she called and told me there was a ferret hanging from her nuts,’ he says. ‘The next Sunday, I filled the bird feeder again and watched as this wee red squirrel came bumpity-bump across the garden. Nana shouted: “There’s that ferret again!”’ Daniel and his uncle built a special squirrel feeder to watch the animal. Fast-forward three decades and Daniel is now a red squirrel ranger and former chair of the Glens Red Squirrel Group, a registered charity that works to protect the red squirrels in the Glens of Antrim, in partnership with Ulster Wildlife, part of The Wildlife Trusts. Katy Bell, senior conservation officer for Ulster Wildlife, explains that red squirrels are ‘the native species’. She says: