Our once common native red squirrel is now one of the country’s most endangered species and its numbers continue to decline at an alarming rate. Red squirrels are under increasing pressure from non-native grey squirrels. The greys don’t actually drive reds out or attack them, but the grey squirrel is sturdier than the red and eats three to four times more giving them an advantage and leaving the reds struggling to make it through the winter.

The red squirrel is unlikely to regain the abundance it once enjoyed or return to its natural range. Saving red squirrels now requires concentrating on areas where reds have the best chance of surviving in the future, through specially created ‘red squirrel strongholds’. The Merseyside and West Lancashire Stronghold is one such area where habitat management, improvement and creation are combined with careful control of grey squirrel populations to give our red squirrels a chance of survival.