Red Squirrel*

Red Squirrel and Grey Squirrel

The Red Squirrel is our native species of squirrel. It's actually better adapted to the conifer woodland of a colder Europe just after the Ice Age, but in the absence of competitors when the land bridge to France was flooded 10,000 years ago it was able to adapt to the broadleaved woodlands that came to dominate much of the British Isles when the climate warmed as the glaciers retreated.

When the Grey Squirrel was introduced in the 19th century, the Red Squirrel met its match. The Grey Squirrel had evolved in North American broadleaved woodland and was well adapted to what it found here. It also carried viruses to which the Red Squirrel had no natural immunity.

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Grey Squirrel*

Grey squirrels first appeared in Pendle, Lancashire, in 1954. Today red squirrels survive only in parts of North Merseyside and the extreme southwest of Lancashire, with a recent report of a small population in the western edge of Greater Manchester.