Welcome to the Scottish Squirrel Survey website.

The Scottish Squirrel Survey is an ongoing system of survey and monitoring of red and grey squirrels throughout Scotland.

We need your help!

The project relies on volunteers to carry out the surveys. For more information Click Here

Why do we need to survey squirrels?
We need to survey squirrels in order to answer the following questions:

• Is the red squirrel safe in Scotland?
• How are red squirrels distributed across Scotland ?
• Which Scottish forests have the best and most secure populations of red squirrels?
• Are grey squirrels expanding in number or range anywhere in Scotland?
• Are there places where grey squirrels are taking over from Scotland's red squirrels?

Red squirrels in danger?

The red squirrel is the only squirrel native to the British Isles. However, most people in the UK are more familiar with its close relative, the grey squirrel, which was introduced here from North America in the late 19th century, and now outnumbers the red squirrel by about twenty to one. Grey squirrels displace red squirrels by dominating some of the more common foods shared by both species. The rate of displacement in the rest of the UK has been much faster than in Scotland because grey squirrels in England, Wales and Ireland carry a pox virus which causes a fatal disease in red squirrels. Until June 2005 there has been no sign of squirrel pox virus in Scotland, with the result that Scotland now sustains around 75% of the UK's red squirrels. They are thought to number about 120,000 in Scotland, but there are also about 200,000 grey squirrels.

However, even in Scotland the red squirrel is not safe. Grey squirrels have completely replaced it throughout much of lowland Scotland, and they are thought to be continuing to spread out from the Central Lowlands, Stirling, Angus, south Perthshire and the city of Aberdeen.  They therefore pose a real and current threat to our native red squirrel in what we believe to be its heartlands in the Highlands, north Perthshire, Grampian and Argyll.

A yawning information gap.
Recording of squirrel distribution in Scotland has up to now been very patchy, involving just a few local surveys from time to time. Our records tend to come from around towns, roads and forest edges. Few come from the centres of our large forests. There are some areas, like Argyll, where we have hardly any records at all. And there are many areas where grey squirrels are such familiar sight that people don't think to record them. There are also a few places where red squirrels are still so common that people don't bother to record them, but for conservation agencies to make sure they are protected, we need to have all areas properly documented.

Scottish Natural Heritage is funding the Scottish Squirrel Survey project for 3 years, with a full-time Survey Co-ordinator to lead the project. During this time the project will collect, analyse and publicise squirrel distribution data collected by standardised surveys conducted by volunteers. The information will be made available to Local Squirrel Groups, government and non-government wildlife agencies, planners, local biodiversity partnerships, local records centres, the National Biodiversity Network Gateway and the general public (via this website). The project will also put in place systems of survey, monitoring and reporting which will enable the Scottish Squirrel Survey to continue updating its information year-on-year after the 3-year project has finished.

The local organisation and execution of the surveys is envisaged as being the preserve of the Local Squirrel Groups, with the Scottish Squirrel Survey Co-ordinator acting in a supportive role, providing a framework for survey as well as advice, training and information, as required to assist local group programmes. If you would like to contribute to collecting information that is vital for the protection of red squirrels in Scotland, then go to our volunteer page.

Pair of Squirrels in pine forest © Steve Downer

Contact Details

Mel Tonkin
Survey Co-ordinator
Scottish Squirrel Survey
c/o Scottish Wildlife Trust, Cramond House
Cramond Glebe Road, Edinburgh EH4 6NS
Email: mtonkin@swt.org.uk

 

The Survey will continue to need sightings of red AND GREY squirrels for the next 10 years

For further information or to REPORT SIGHTINGS please go to our website www.scottishsqirrelsurvey.co.uk

Scottish Squirrel Survey is funded by Scottish Natural Heritage
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