Government Nature Reserve Plans To Benefit Isle Of Wight's Red Squirrel Population

Friday, 14 April 2023 09:22

By Dominic Kureen @WriteOnDom

Government plans to restore Britain’s wildlife habitats and create 25 new or enlarged national nature reserves could be good news for the Island's red squirrel population.

The Red Squirrel Survival Trust hopes the large grey squirrel population in England will be significantly reduced as a result of a fertility control programme.

Such a reduction would see the current small number of English red squirrels — approximately 3,500 on the Island — increase as a result of safer living conditions.

Their locations increase dramatically as the number of greys diminish.

The government backed fertility control programme will see extensive field trials begin next year, working with major land and forestry owners in England.

This is expected to be completed by 2027 and it is planned that the contraceptive will be rolled out to other land and forestry owners, farmers and the general public as soon as registration is finalised.

RSST’s Vanessa Fawcett said:

“The government’s plans for opening new and expanded national nature reserves are likely to take a number of years to come to fruition.

"This will benefit the natural expansion of red numbers, as the population of greys diminishes across England and they recolonise areas vacated by them.

"Any effort to improve wildlife habitat is going to be a major benefit to the expanding number of English reds.”

Grey squirrels first came to Britain as a novelty species in parks and estates in the 1870s.

Up until then the only British squirrels were our native reds that have lived here since the last ice age.

Today it is estimated that there are more than 2.7 million greys and just 270,000 reds, the majority living in Scotland.

As grey numbers reduce it is likely that the reds will expand their territories into England and Wales where existing populations and territories will also increase.

The expansion of the red squirrel population as the number of greys decline will be driven in part by the fact that some greys carry a pox that is harmless to them but always fatal to reds.

The RSST and the renown gardener Alan Titchmarsh, who is an Ambassador for the trust, have devised a planting programme of trees and plants that will provide food for reds in domestic gardens as their territories expand.

Supplementary feeding is an essential benefit to their successful breeding.