Fighting for the red army

ABOUT 100 yards before you get to Red Squirrel Cottage, a red warning triangle alerts drivers to the possibility of squirrels in the road. It's a valuable piece of advice - Don Clegg has seen a number of his regulars killed on the roads over the years.

In one two-year period, Don found the bodies of three red squirrels outside his home: Ringo, Little Willy and Patchy. They were all frequent visitors to his garden, although only Little Willy would sit in his hand to eat. Then there was Ruttley, so called because of the cat-like purring noise he made.

"They have always been here, ever since we got the cottage 20-odd years ago," says Don, who can safely be described as a squirrel nut. "The more you see of them the more entertaining they are, and the more you realise they are little individuals."

But cars are not the biggest threat to red squirrels. That honour belongs to the grey squirrels. Ever since they were introduced from North America in 1876, the greys have been steadily encroaching into the territory of the native reds, driving them ever further back.

Sixty years ago, reds could be found across much of England and Wales. Today, they are largely restricted to the north of England, with just a few pockets in the rest of the country. Greys are said to outnumber reds by 66 to one, with around 30,000 reds compared with two million greys.

Previous attempts to halt the march of the greys have proved unsuccessful, failing to prevent the number of reds falling close to endangered levels. But today, conservationists launch the most concerted effort yet to halt this slide, and perhaps even reverse the trend.

A total of 16 areas have been designated as red squirrel reserves, where conditions will be favourable to reds and greys will be discouraged. These will be surrounded by five kilometre buffer zones, intended to prevent greys encroaching into red territory.

Nine of these reserves are in Northumberland, including one covering Don's cottage on the edge of Kielder Forest, home to an estimated 10,000 of England's 30,000 reds. Also included are Slaley Forest, near Hexham and Widdale, near Hawes in North Yorkshire.

In practice, this means landowners will be given grants to manage their woodland to ensure it has the sort of trees reds like and greys don't. Help will also be available for selective and targeted culling of greys.

The grey advance has not been the result of treetop confrontations. Although they are larger, the greys' principal advantage is that they are better able to exploit England's traditional woodland. Adapted to the hickory forests of North America, greys thrive on oak and beech trees. Reds, unable to digest acorns, instead prefer conifers and small broad-leaved species, including birch, rowan, ash and elder.

"Broadly speaking, the idea is to manage the forest in such a way to ensure there is enough habitat and food for red squirrels, but it is at a sub-standard level for greys," says Louise Bessant, red squirrel conservation officer for Northumberland Wildlife Trust, one of the partners in the Red Alert group behind today's launch, which also includes the Forestry Commission, landowners and businesses.

"This means selective tree planting, avoiding the larger species which provide much more energy and which are utilised by the greys.

"Buffer zones are absolutely crucial: we don't want to create stepping stones for grey squirrels, so we will monitor what is happening and introduce targeted control where necessary."

But their appetites are not the only reason reds should fear the greys, says Richard Pow, Red Alert chairman. "Not only do they eat the reds out of house and home, but most populations of grey squirrels carry a nasty disease and we have got a stark choice: if we want to retain a population of red squirrels we will need to control grey squirrels.

"Man introduced this alien species and it has taken over and pretty much destroyed the population of native red squirrels."

The disease is squirrel poxvirus, harmless to greys but lethal to reds. It causes them to become lethargic and develop scabs around their mouths and eyes, with death following in a matter of days.

"We're interested in this primarily in protecting a native species, but also when grey squirrels reach high population densities they do a lot of damage to woodland by bark stripping, which is something red squirrels don't do," he adds.

The difference between this attempt to save the red, apart from the £500,000 already committed with a bid for another £500,000 lodged with the Heritage Lottery Fund, is that the efforts are being concentrated in the reds' few strongholds, rather than being spread thinly around the country. And it also aims to enlist the support of landowners, who are encouraged to sign up to the scheme.

Athole McKillop, partner in Land Factor which manages estates across Northumberland including land covering three of the reserves, says the grants will be a key factor in persuading many landowners to come aboard.

"Red squirrels are a native species and most of us involved in woodland management recognise their value in that environment," he says. "They are a beautiful species and a native species and they're under threat and that is what makes them important to us. It would be a shame if we lost them.

"It has been recognised for some time that the reds are under threat and the greys are moving forward relentlessly, and rather than trying to protect them everywhere they're now focusing on these reserves, and that gives this scheme a much better chance of success."

Their status as the underdog, their image as Beatrix Potter's Squirrel Nutkin and the fact they are not ubiquitous means reds have avoided some of the backlash against greys - "rats with bushy tails" - and means their importance goes beyond just their own survival, says Louise Bessant.

"Red squirrels have become an icon for conservation. If we can use the red squirrel to get people talking about conservation, we can talk about a lot more issues to do with the impact of alien species," she says. "And we want the red squirrel to remain a much-loved part of the north of England."

At Red Squirrel Cottage, Don Clegg is just as keen not to see reds disappear, not least from his back garden. "We spend an awful lot of time sitting in our conservatory watching them," he says. "They can become very tame and they're almost part of the family."