With a fighting spirit and human help, the red squirrel is fighting back

On Brownsea Island near Poole, Dorset, a ripple of amber flashes through the canopy. Although the charismatic red squirrel’s bright orange coat is unmistakable, sightings are unusual: once widespread throughout the country, Sciurus vulgaris is now extremely rare. Safe and secure on its island stronghold, Brownsea’s population is thriving — but, elsewhere, numbers have been devastated: today there are only about 287,000 in the UK, compared with 2.7 million of Sciurus carolinensis, its ubiquitous grey cousin.

Our relationship with red squirrels burrows deep into the past. Their constant scurrying up and down trees has led them to be framed in folklore as messengers between the physical and spiritual world. In Scandinavian mythology, the Norse god Ratatoskr was a playful squirrel that carried messages and insults along the Tree of Life between the wise eagle at the top and the serpent within its roots; in medieval times, they were often kept as pets, especially in monasteries where their quiet watchfulness aligned well with the contemplative life. Sometimes depicted in illuminated manuscripts, the squirrels are seen nestling in robes and perched on desks and fed by hand.

Although it is this closeness that is now believed to have caused the transmission of leprosy between humans and squirrels, and vice versa, squirrels were still popular companions in 1527, when Hans Holbein the Younger painted a portrait of Anne Lovell with a gleaming-eyed squirrel on her lap. Many centuries later, in 1903, Beatrix Potter published The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, inspired by the creatures around Derwentwater in the Lake District. Nutkin, the mischievous protagonist, who loses his tail after an encounter with the owl, has provided us with a lasting image of cheeky defiance.

Red squirrels first arrived in Britain at the end of the last Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago and, until the late 1800s, they could be seen bustling around broadleaf woodlands. Their sudden disappearance was due partly to the loss of suitable forests, but mostly to the introduction of grey squirrels as exotic additions to country estates.

The first recorded release took place at Henbury Park in Cheshire in 1876, with subsequent introductions at Woburn Park in Bedfordshire and Richmond Park and Regent’s Park in London. The landowners assumed the animals would keep within their parks. However, the grey squirrels had plans of their own and soon started to move into the surrounding countryside, spreading at a rate of a mile a year. Their impact on the native red squirrels was disastrous.

Larger and more robust, they were able to eat a wider range of foods (greys can digest green acorns; reds must wait for them to ripen) and, worst of all, they carried a disease, squirrel pox, to which the greys are immune, but which is often deadly to the reds. Finally, as red squirrels were put under increasing pressure, they bred less often, further reducing the size of the population until they were forced to retreat to more remote coniferous locations.

Despite all of this, the red squirrel is staging a cautious comeback. In Cumbria in 2025, there was a record number of sightings, up 24% on the previous year, and, in Scotland, red squirrels have expanded their range across the Highlands by 25%, thanks in part to the work of the rewilding charity Trees for Life.

Most exciting of all is the discovery of a rare colony of red squirrels living in a Sitka spruce plantation in the Yorkshire Dales, which is protected on all sides from the greys. The animals were first identified a year ago by Julie Bailey, project officer from the UK Squirrel Accord, using thermal imaging and, since then, conservationists have been working to protect the colony. ‘I’m very encouraged by their persistence and breeding success,’ reports Julie. ‘We’re finding squirrels in all directions from the plantation and within seven miles of the border with West Yorkshire.’

In Scotland, the reintroduction of pine martens, which like to predate the meatier and slower-moving grey, is also giving red squirrels an opportunity to recover. In one scheme, dens have been installed along the A9 corridor in the hope of attracting pine martens, which can act as bouncers to halt the march of the greys.

Elsewhere, island populations of red squirrels continue to increase. On the Isle of Wight, which is believed to contain the remnants of the original British red squirrel population, there are an estimated 3,000. Brownsea Island has 250, Anglesey has between 700 and 800 and Mersea Island in Essex supports between 50 and 100 animals, which make up the only wild red squirrel colony in the South-East.

The best time to spot the red squirrel’s tufty ears and signature question-mark tail is in the morning or late afternoon in the spring or autumn, when falling seed fragments and rustling overhead can indicate the mammals’ proximity. Evidence may also be found on the tops of tree stumps, where shredded pine cones can be studied to see whether a squirrel is left- or right-handed — pine seeds are a favourite food, but they will also eat hazelnuts, ripe acorns and fungi, which are hung out to dry in a fungal larder.

Fur colour varies from vivid ginger to dark brown. Occasionally, you might spot a black squirrel: a melanistic form of the grey species, which escaped from a private zoo in the 1900s. As a native species, the red squirrel has an important role to play in woodland ecology. Hoarding, burying and forgetting, they help disperse seeds and mycorrhizal fungi and their presence helps mitigate damage caused by the bark-stripping greys. ‘Red squirrels are builders of woods,’ notes Julie. ‘They are resilient and, given the right habitat, I believe they can bounce back.’

Britain’s inaugural Save Our Reds Day takes place on May 15

This feature originally appeared in the April 22, 2026, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.