SOLWAY FORESTS

RED SQUIRREL NETWORK

The Initiative

HOW YOU CAN HELP

We are a group of volunteers guided by the Scottish Wildlife Trust and supported by the Dalbeattie Community Initiative. Our goal is to conserve red squirrels in the Solway Forests through raising awareness of their plight; educating the wider public about the importance of recording sightings of red and grey squirrels in the local area; providing opportunities for people to see red squirrels; reacting rapidly to control grey squirrels. Scan the QR code below or click on it to easily report your squirrel sighting. If you don’t have a smart phone then please call 07435 92582 to report – thank you.

Please be on the look out for any sick or dead red squirrels but DO NOT touch or pick them up. Squirrel pox is a devastating virus which has a 95% fatality rate in red squirrels. Symptoms of the disease include pus-filled lesions on the face (particularly around the eyes and mouth), paws and genitalia, with squirrels often showing signs of disorientation, lack of co-oridination and lethargy.

If you see a red squirrel exhibiting any of these signs, please take a photo and send it directly by email to solwayforestsrsn@gmail.com

If you are not able to take a photograph, please still report your sighting.

Help with our garden survey as this provides an indicator of our population.

Solway Forests Red Squirrel Network

Red Squirrel Garden Survey

Click Here to join our squirrel garden survey as this gives us information on our garden visitors.

The Solway Forests Red Squirrel Network area is encompassed by the A710 and the A711 from Dumfries westwards to Auchencairn. Within this area is a mixture of private and publicly owned forests. Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is the main landowner in our area and has been managing the public estate since 1920 across over 5000 hectares of forests from Mabie forest in the east to Dalbeattie forest in the west. Throughout the area are also a number of privately owned plantations and native woodlands. Together this woodland resource provides habitat for our red squirrels which thrive on the seeds of mixed conifer and pines such as Norway spruce and Scots pine and on the fruits, nuts and buds of small-leaved native broadleaves such as rowan, hazel and birch. The Scottish Wildlife Trust first designated Priority Areas for Red Squirrel Conservation (PARCs) across southern Scotland in 2014.

The Solway Forest red squirrel volunteer network formed in August 2017 when a number of local residents became concerned about the red squirrel population. There were increasing reports of grey squirrels in the area which are a threat to the local red squirrels because they drive them out of their habitat and pass on the fatal squirrel pox disease.

The Solway forests still support a red squirrel population which attracts tourists and is highly valued by local residents and many locals understand the need to take action to protect them from further decline. More recently, we have seen an increase in grey incursion across our area and on our borders east, west and north. The main incursion is south-west of Dumfries and around the village of New Abbey which is geographically connected with populations in north England.

Since our inception in 2017 the Network’s volunteers have been conducting surveys to gain a better understanding of red and grey squirrel distribution and have organised a series of fundraising and community engagement events throughout the area and in support of our objective to ensure the long-term protection of the region’s red squirrel population.