Habitat
Primarily in coniferous forests.
Geographical spread
In Britain common only in Cumbria, Northumberland and Scotland,
scattered populations in East Anglia, Wales, on the Isle of Wight and in islands in Poole
Harbour, Dorset.
Current population
160,000.
Status
Full protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Size
200-315mm in length.
Average life expectancy
Maximum 8-10 years.
Normal diet
Feed mainly on seed, particularly conifer seed as well as hazelnuts, acorns and
beech mast. May also feed on fungus, fruits and berries. Nuts and seeds are often stored in
preparation for leaner times. Adults can smell and relocate cones buried 30cm under the
ground and infant squirrels show instinctive innate burying behaviour.
Normal lifestyle
Solitary for much of the year. Red squirrels are a type of tree squirrel and are
very agile at running along branches. They keep to well-defined runways along the tree
branches in their territory. They spend the majority of their time in the trees. Red squirrels build
a nest or drey of leafless twigs and strips of bark , lined with moss and grass. These animals
are diurnal, with peaks of activity in the morning and early afternoon. Red squirrels have two
breeding seasons a year; in Dec/Jan and Aug/Sept if conditions are favourable. Gestation times
are short and about 5-7 young are born blind, deaf, bald and helpless. During this time the
female becomes very territorial. Young are very vulnerable in this state, particularly to exposure.
After 45 days the young take their first solid food and by 8 weeks they are weaned and at 12
weeks are ready to leave the mother. During the migration from the maternal home range,
many young squirrels are eaten by birds of prey and pine martins.
Previous geographical spread
Central and southern Britain. Found in deciduous woodland
throughout the lowlands of the British Isles, but outcompeted with the arrival of grey squirrels
from the USA.
Reasons for decline
Grey squirrels introduced to Britain from USA over 100 years ago. Grey
squirrels live at higher densities than the Reds and also forage on the ground more. The Greys
finish off the hazelnuts very quickly and then move on to acorns. Red squirrels are only able to
partially digest acorns and in captivity do not thrive on them, whereas greys do. Thus in the wild
grey squirrels outcompeted the red squirrels for food in deciduous woodland and so reds are
confined to areas of coniferous forest where the greys do not thrive. The red squirrel has
undergone a substantial and continuing decline this century.
Other reasons for the red squirrels decline include disease and habitat loss.
Current threats
Without positive action the Red squirrel is likely to disappear from the
mainland within the next 20 years.
Conservation projects
In 1992 the red squirrel was included in English Nature's Species
Recovery Programme. This project is occurring in association with Forest Enterprise, The
People's Trust for Endangered Species, the Institute of Zoology, London and Dr John Gurnell
(QMW College, University of London). The project is taking place in Thetford Forest, East
Anglia with the principal aim of ensuring the long term survival of the red squirrel population in
East Anglia.
So far they have established an 1800 ha Reserve (Sept 1992), initiated a monitoring
programme using live traps and radio-tracking methods to study how red squirrels utilise
different types of habitat and have provided supplementary food which is only accessible to red
squirrels. Grey squirrels are being removed from the Reserve and reintroduction programmes
began in 1993 and are continuing through 1996.
File last modified Thursday, October 3, 1996