Appeal to help red squirrels on Rosneath Peninsula

Rosneath Peninsula residents are being asked to help protect red squirrels locally.

The Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels project is focussing on this area as it is one of the last parts of Argyll to have grey squirrels.

Greys are a threat to the native reds because they compete with them for food, but they can also carry squirrelpox, a virus doesn’t harm grey squirrels but is lethal to reds.

The project has already seen red squirrels re-establishing in the centre of Aberdeen and they have become a more common occurrence in recent years locally at both Cardross and Garelochhead.

Conservation officer Mary-Anne Collis said: “We are currently focusing our efforts in and around the Rosneath Peninsula to help the local red squirrel populations flourish.

“Continued effort of grey squirrel management has significantly reduced their numbers further north around Arrochar, Tarbet and Luss, leaving this area to be one of the last parts of Argyll to have grey squirrels.

“Our hope for the future is to completely remove grey squirrels from Argyll to remove any future threat to reds.

“To achieve this, we need help from the local community, in particular home and landowners.”

She is asking people to:

• Report all sightings to scottishsquirrels.org.uk/sightings so that the project team know where both red and grey squirrels are.
• Take part in local surveys – feeder box surveys which provide more detail about which species are in an area, particularly places away from public paths and gardens. Anyone interested in volunteering can in touch with the local team 
• Landowners with squirrel visitors can take part in our trap loan scheme, while government grants are available to help control grey squirrels in woodland or forestry – more details are available here.

The project focuses on grey squirrel removal close to red squirrel areas in order to open up the landscape for red squirrels to repopulate again.

Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels has been running since 2009, led by the Scottish Wildlife Trust with other major partners.