Sadly our native Red Squirrel population has been under severe threat for a number of years from the Grey Squirrel.The Grey Squirrel was introduced into the U.K’s countryside in the early 1900s from North America. The Grey Squirrel is aggressive and has ousted our native Red from huge swathes of the British countryside. Apart from its aggressive nature the Grey Squirrel poses an even more deadly threat … Squirrel Pox which the Grey is immune from but the Red is not and its effects are lethal. Now our native Red Squirrel can only be seen in its natural habitat in only a few locations i.e. Anglesey, parts of the LakeDistrict, parts of the Yorkshire Dales, Freshfield near Southport and the Isle of Wight. And as has been the case for many of our threatened mammals such as the Otter and Pine Marten our biggest wild population of Red Squirrel can be found in Scotland. So it was great to hear that the York Arboretum near Castle Howard was to pioneer a captive breeding programme for Red Squirrels. This project was announced last year in Spring 2022. The breeding programme is now open to the public and it is a great way to spend a couple of hours wandering around the raised walk-ways in the squirrel’s enclosure and if you are lucky you might catch a glimpse of one of our most enigmatic British mammals … and who knows in the future, we may have Red Squirrels once again breeding in the wild here in North Yorkshire.
