Red squirrel, grey squirrel
Britain has two types of squirrel, but only one of them – the red squirrel – is actually native to the country. The grey squirrel was introduced into the UK about 130 years ago. There are now some 2.5 million grey squirrels in the UK, compared to 160,000 native red squirrels.
The majority of the red squirrels are now found in Scotland, Wales and North East England, with smaller populations in places like the Isle of Wight and Norfolk (Thetford Chase). The number of red squirrels has fallen dramatically as it has lost out in competition with the grey squirrel, in terms of young (kittens) produced; certainly this is true in deciduous broadleaved woodland and forest. This may be associated with the red squirrel not being able to digest acorns (often plentiful in such habitats). There is also a marked difference in foraging behaviour between the two squirrels; the grey squirrels spend much more time on the woodland floor than the red squirrels (and they tend to raid the red squirrels stores!). It has been estimated that only one red squirrel in six lives as long as a year.
One place in the UK where the red squirrel survives in native broadleaved woodland is on the Isle of Wight; here the grey squirrel is kept at bay.
Red squirrels are at home amongst Hazel, Beech, Scots and Corsican Pine, Sweet Chestnut and Wild Cherry, where their main food is the nuts and seeds, although they will also eat flowers and shoots from trees; and even forage for mushrooms and fungi. They are most likely to experience food shortages in early summer, when the current year’s fruits and seeds are forming.
The parapox virus and the loss of woodland and forest may also have contributed to the decline of red squirrels over the last few decades. Fortunately, the red squirrel is included in the National Biodiversity Action Plan and there are a number of initiativesto help and protect local populations.
Red Squirrel week this year is 30th September to the 8th October. If you can help with sightings of red squirrel, then visit the Wildlife Trusts.
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14 comments so far
Tom
28 March, 2007
I didn’t know they flourish on the Isle of Wight - I’m going there in a couple of weeks, will try and get some photos.
Hallvord R. M. Steen
4 April, 2007
In Norway as far as we know we only have red squirrels. They don’t tend to live in cities and parks like the U.K. ones though, so we see them much more rarely.
The Woodlands.co.uk Blog » Squirrel pox
17 May, 2007
[…] reported in the woodlands blog last year, the red squirrel population in the UK is under threat. One of the threats is the parapox virus. […]
RICHARD!!!!!
28 September, 2007
Please could u add infomation on why there is compitition between the two and what dod they do????????????????????
thanks!!!
Matthew Allen
27 January, 2008
Thanks for the information, but why were they introduced into Britain. And how?
Craig Marx
12 February, 2008
I am an American who has been living in New England
my entire life.I believe the Gray Squirrel was a Yank like me. We here have both Gray and Red Squirrels living together in our forrest. There are a lot more Grays then Reds. I do not believe the unfortunate introduction of the Gray Squirrel into your enviroment will make the Red Squirrel dissappear altogether. You will just have less of them.
Paul Robinson
4 March, 2008
How where the grey squirrels adapted to the U.K? The reason Why? Please give answer, i need this for my cousework..
Thanks ~Paul~
Paul Robinson
4 March, 2008
How did they come across to the U.K like how did they actually get over? And the population grow rapidly so quickly?
Red squirrel, grey squirrel, black squirrel ... | The Woodlands.co.uk Blog
30 May, 2008
[…] had to worry about the impact of the imported grey squirrel on our native red squirrel (see blog http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/conservation/red-squirrel-grey-squirrel/ ). However, it now seems there is another player on the scene: the black squirrel. Whereas red […]
HANNAH AND STEVIE
5 June, 2008
We are doing a project on red and grey squirrels, we need to know how and why the greys were introduced to Britian in the first place.
Any info no this?
Chow chow
xxx
How did the grey squirrel arrive in the UK? | The Woodlands.co.uk Blog
6 June, 2008
[…] is an answer to all those questions on the Red squirrel, grey squirrel blog asking about the introduction of grey […]
Colin
12 June, 2008
Hi, It is a commonly held belief that the grey squirrel was responsible for the decline of the red squirrel. Man played his part in this decline.
Long before the grey squirrel came onto the scene we were destroying their habitat. Our navy’s warships were made of wood and we cut it down. By the mid seventeen hundreds red squirrels were believed to be extinct in Scotland and this had nothing to do with the greys. They didn’t fare much better in England but there was worse to come. By the early nineteen hundreds competition for wood, between men and red squirrels was becoming intense and now we had guns. We formed squirrel clubs and encouraged our members to shoot red squirrels. We handed out free cartridges and payed bounty for red tails. Famously by nineteen thirty two, the Highland Squirrel Club (google it) were boasting of eighty thousand red squirrels, shot. Nowadays there is a tendency to say, “Hey, look what the grey squirrels have done! Let’s shoot them.” Does anyone know why there are no beavers left?
catherine
13 June, 2008
Thanks - fascinating! I’d heard of organised culls of grey squirrels in the 1930s but not reds (it didn’t work with the greys because neighbouring colonies just moved in). It seems the red squirrel had pretty much died out in the Highlands, then Lady Lovat re-introduced them in 1844 to her estate. Then when they were judged to have been too successful, they were shot in large numbers. With the largest number being shot on the Lovat estate!
You might be interested to know that the Scottish Wildlife Trust has just got the go-ahead from the Scottish Parliament to reintroduce the European Beaver to Scotland. They had been hunted to extinction for their fur by the 16th century. Does an animal still count as native if it hasn’t lived in a country for 400 years?
John
3 August, 2008
It seems a reasonable supposition that the people who introduced the eastern grey squirrel to Great Britain did it for the same sort of reason that they introduced non-native plants - they thought they would enhance their estates.
The major reason for the decline of the European red squirrel in Great Britain is probably habitat destruction - they like pine forests - but the grey squirrel doesn’t help. Greys are twice the size of reds (up to 800g versus up to 400g) and are less discriminating about what they eat - it is said that they will eat new acorns, for example, whereas red squirrels like mature acorns, which they won’t find if the greys have eaten them all before they reach maturity. Grey squirrels are also immune to squirrelpox but they carry it and will infect red squirrels with it where the populations co-exist.