Help Red Squirrels

There are many ways you can help Red Squirrels:

Feeding:
Feeding red squirrels puts them at great risk. It is almost impossible to provide a feeder for red squirrels that grey squirrels won’t find. Grey squirrels are everywhere! If greys visit the same feeder there is a great risk that they will pass on the squirrel pox virus to the reds. Once infected, the red will die, but not before infecting other reds in the area.

Mice and other rodents visit feeders overnight. They can carry Adenovirus and this is another big killer of red squirrels.

If you have a squirrel feeder in your garden, you should disinfect it every day with an antiviral disinfectant such as VirkonS. This will help guard against Adenovirus and squirrel pox transmission. Ideally, monitor the feeder with a trail camera so that you can check if greys are visiting at times when you are not watching. If a grey squirrel turns up, you should empty your feeder and disinfect it, to prevent the greys and red being drawn to the same location

Contact LCReds to help with the trapping of the greys. (They seldom travel alone) If you join LCReds we will provide VirkonS and be available for further help and advice.