'Bumper breeding season' leads to red squirrel sightings in Yorkshire Dales gardens and villages

A red squirrel seen in the garden of a guesthouse in Bainbridge may have been the result of a 'bumper' breeding season caused by an abundance of pine cones.
A red squirrel at the Snaizeholme refuge area near HawesA red squirrel at the Snaizeholme refuge area near Hawes
A red squirrel at the Snaizeholme refuge area near Hawes

Low Mill Guesthouse owners Neil and Jane McNair posted photos on social media of the creature sitting in their willow tree and believe it is the first time one has been seen in the village for generations.

One has also been spotted near the football pitch, cricket club and school in nearby Askrigg this summer.

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Red squirrels in the Dales are confined to managed 'refuge' areas surrounded by 'buffer' zones where the grey squirrel population is controlled. The larger, non-native greys compete with reds for habitat and resources, and they also spread the disease squirrel pox to the more vulnerable reds. The nearest refuge area to Bainbridge is the Widdale reserve near Hawes, where there is a viewing area at Snaizeholme.

Yorkshire Dales National Park wildlife conservation officer Ian Court said that the Bainbridge sighting could indicate that the local reds have enjoyed a successful breeding season thanks to a 'good' pine cone crop - and that the unusual visitor is likely to be a young squirrel exploring beyond its parents' territory.

As pine crops are cyclical, every few years there are sudden flurries of sightings in towns and gardens as younger reds are pushed out to find new territories of their own.

Yet Mr Court warns that these 'wanderers' rarely manage to spread permanently beyond the refuge areas and the population falls again when there is less food available.

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They are unlikely to be able to establish and sustain themselves until the grey squirrel population is completely exterminated.

Red squirrels survive only in managed refuge areas where grey squirrel numbers are controlledRed squirrels survive only in managed refuge areas where grey squirrel numbers are controlled
Red squirrels survive only in managed refuge areas where grey squirrel numbers are controlled

"The reds' core area within the National Park is the conifer blocks, mainly in the north-west, as they depend on pine cones. The cone crop is variable, and there are good and bad years.

"We weren't able to do much surveying or fieldwork during lockdown, but this sighting suggests it has been a good year, and that they've bred early and had more young. Every five or six years we get these records from a longer distance away, and they are mainly the young ones moving out into other areas.

"There have also been some forestry operations within the conifer blocks recently that could have pushed them and other wildlife out to a certain degree. In the past we've had garden sightings in certain years, in places like Hawes and Aysgarth.

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"Unfortunately, one or two will spread but this often peters out and they don't survive to establish a sustainable breeding population. There is still conflict with greys, especially in Wensleydale, and there is unlikely to be large spread expansion because of this."

Conservationists are often frustrated when there are calls to reintroduce red squirrels to areas where the grey population is endemic, as culls - which are necessary to allow reds to thrive - are costly and labour intensive.

"Without total eradication of the greys, the reds won't spread beyond the refuges."

The National Park Authority participates in a monitoring project in which hundreds of sites across England are surveyed for the presence of both species of squirrel, yet Mr Court points out that head counts are extremely difficult.

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"We tend to monitor distribution rather than numbers, as the population naturally fluctuates. You get really high or really low numbers each year, and it is difficult to count them and accurately determine how many are in each woodland. It all depends on the food supply - in some years territories will become smaller and there will be more squirrels. We do an annual survey and set up a camera at a feeder for two weeks."

The conservation team also work with landowners and the Forestry Commission to encourage responsible commercial forestry operations, including staggered felling, to reduce the impact on wildlife.

"It's not the case that they are expanding across the National Park or becoming widespread. We have refuge areas at places like Snaizeholme and Greenfield Plantation in Wharfedale, where there is a sustainable population surrounded by a buffer zone where greys are controlled. We have to concentrate our resources on these areas so that they can survive.

"A cull of greys is very labour intensive. You need funding, support from every landowner and skilled contractors. You don't want an ad-hoc, patchwork effort, as even with one or two greys left, they will breed again quickly. It needs to be co-ordinated properly.

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"I know there are groups in Grassington who want to reintroduce reds, but they're 30-40 miles away from the nearest refuge. You would have to get rid of every single grey squirrel in that area.

"I would love to see reds across the whole of Yorkshire, but there is an awful lot of work to be done first, or you are back to square one."

A century ago, reds were common in woods and plantations throughout all three Ridings of Yorkshire, but they were virtually wiped out following the severe winter of 1962-63 and the spread of squirrel pox.

The red squirrel’s recovery in the Dales took off when the late Hugh Kemp and his wife Jane encouraged a small colony around their farm, Mirk Pot, in a remote part of Wensleydale called Snaizeholme.The National Park Authority and local landowners have funded a viewing area and feeding station, which can be found in a woodland clearing.

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There are now small populations in the Howgill Fells, near Sedbergh, where red squirrel rangers are employed to protect them. They are licensed to shoot grey squirrels.

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