Red squirrel success story at Inverewe

The pictures below give distinctive evidence of squirrels feeding on Scots pine cones close to one of our release sites. The squirrels really strip the cones of both seed and scales, leaving behind just the core and perhaps a few discarded scales. Our Inverewe team member Aidan Bell has been monitoring the red squirrels and filming them around the estate – he has captured some great images of not just red squirrels but also pine martens taking food from the squirrel feeder boxes!

We encourage all visitors to Inverewe to record if they see any red squirrels, or any discarded and stripped pinecones. There’s a board in the Wildlife Hide specifically for recording these details.

“Were they ever here?”, “will they thrive and remain?”, and “is it the right thing to do?” are all valid questions that were asked at the start of the project. No written records have been discovered that confirm red squirrels were at Inverewe, but there are local people that remember seeing them in the garden in the late 1950s. Perhaps these were part of a remnant Highland population that declined with the general loss of habitat.

Our larger-scale strategy is to establish long-term viable populations in the North West Highlands, away from grey squirrels and the threat of the deadly squirrel pox virus. The Inverewe translocation project is the first phase of a trapping and release programme from strong populations in Moray. All the squirrels are health-checked and weighed before being released, with supplementary feed being provided for the first few months. Red squirrels remain one of the most endangered mammals in the British Isles – they’re extinct in most of England, and seriously threatened in the central belt of Scotland. It’s hoped that securing populations in the North West Highlands will ensure their long-term survival.

The red squirrel translocation project has been made possible by support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and People’s Trust for Endangered Species. As native woodland expands across the landscape, red squirrel populations will begin to connect with each other. The Inverewe population is already appearing to begin to disperse – we have some bold individuals heading out to the oak and hazel harvest by the banks of the River Ewe.

Becky Priestley is the Red Squirrel Project Manager for Trees for Life and explains more about the project:

‘In addition to the releases at Inverewe, we have carried out nine further reintroductions – at Shieldaig, Coulin Estate, Plockton, Attadale, Reraig, Letterewe, Spinningdale and Lochaline – and we are currently in the middle of a tenth at Golspie. We are delighted to report that all the new populations are flourishing – breeding successfully and expanding throughout the available habitat. Of particular interest has been the long-distance movements that some of the squirrels have made to colonise new areas of woodland – in 2016 one travelled an astonishing 18km around the coast from Shieldaig to Inveralligin! There have also been a handful of sightings reported around Gairloch and Kerrysdale. I haven’t been able to confirm these but it is possible that some squirrels may have travelled from Inverewe – again, a very significant distance, and over some extensive stretches of open ground.’

Becky adds: ‘There are now regular sightings around South Strome, likely to be a result of colonisation from both the Plockton and Attadale releases, as well as in Lochcarron and at Achnashellach. The first phase of the project, from 2016–19, focused solely on Wester Ross, but our releases since then have enabled us to restore squirrels to other parts of Scotland. There is a wealth of suitable habitat on the Morvern peninsula, which is now beginning to be colonised by the Lochaline releases, and the aim of our reintroductions to Spinningdale and Golspie is to extend red squirrel range further to the north. It has certainly been an exciting and very successful project so far, and we hope to continue the work over the next few years and restore reds to as much of their former range as possible.’

We welcome support from the local communities around these sites, especially Inverewe. Do you have any historical accounts of red squirrel encounters in the area? Do you know anyone that saw red squirrels back in the 1940s or 1950s? Please let us know about any sightings if you’re fortunate enough to see them in the surrounding landscape, perhaps even in your own garden! Email me on rdewar@nts.org.uk and we can continue to work, with our wildlife partners, to monitor red squirrel activities and movements around Inverewe.