On a wet and windy night in February 2016, we released 33 red squirrels into the Caledonian pinewoods of Shieldaig on Scotland’s north west coast - marking the exciting beginning of our Red Squirrel Reintroduction Project. Since then, the project has grown from strength to strength.
Scotland’s native red squirrel used to be present across the northwest Highlands but gradually disappeared, mainly due to habitat loss. Although there is once again an abundance of suitable habitat in the region, red squirrels are unable to recolonise it naturally due to the large areas of open ground between woodlands. We are giving the squirrels a helping hand by trapping small numbers from areas in the east where they are thriving and carefully translocating them to suitable woodlands in the north west.
Since the first translocation at Shieldaig, we have carried out a further six releases in the Wester Ross area, plus one to the north at Spinningdale, and another to the southwest on the Morvern peninsula. A tenth translocation was begun to the north, in Golspie, but it had to be halted due to Covid. This autumn we will finally be able to complete this translocation – meaning that squirrels will be seen further north than they have been for several decades!
Our yearly monitoring continues to show that all the new populations are flourishing and expanding throughout the available habitat. It is proving to be a real success story. We are delighted that we have been able to secure funding for another two years of the project – this will enable us to carry out translocations to four more sites and we believe that that will be enough to restore red squirrels to as much of their former habitat as is currently possible. I would like to say a big personal thank you to everyone who kindly donated to our recent appeal for this.
This autumn we have begun an exciting new aspect to the project – mapping red squirrel distribution across the whole of the Scottish Highlands. Although we know roughly where the squirrels’ edge of range is, we don’t know exactly. The survey will enable us to create an up-to-date map of distribution and to find out if there are any key areas where squirrels are still missing.
This will very much be a people-led survey. We will be gathering as much of the data as we can through collating sightings reports, submitted by members of the public, and then carrying out physical surveys in any remaining areas. Squirrels strip pine cones when they eat them and throw the discarded cores onto the ground, we will carry out detailed forest searches for these feeding signs. While this is easy to find in areas with good numbers of squirrels, it can be like searching for a needle in a haystack in newly colonised areas where numbers are still low. So public sightings records will be invaluable.
If you are based in the Highlands, we would love for you to get involved and get squirrel spotting. Please report any red squirrels that you see at scottishsquirrels.org.uk and play a hands-on role in rewilding the Scottish Highlands. Thank you.
The Red Squirrel Reintroduction Project is kindly funded by the European Outdoor Conservation Association, the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, ORP Foundation, Romo, the Rob Trust, our incredible donors and everyone who supported our Big Give appeal this summer, and a generous legacy from the estate of Norma Gay. We would also like to thank our community volunteer squirrel rangers who have been vital to the project’s success so far.