Archive news stories from Merseyside and West Lancashire

Sefton's Sad Survey Results

Monitoring in Sefton for spring 2008 shows how our Red Squirrel Population has been affected so far, by the squirrelpox virus.  Monitoring of red squirrels is carried out twice a year across the refuge and buffer zone area by visual survey. The graphs below show the results of the monitoring as an index, showing changes over time. The baseline was set at 100 in 2002.

The refuge area graph shows a massive decline in red squirrels in Spring 2008 a decrease of approximately 60%. The graphs below show the monitoring results from Ainsdale NNR and Formby National Trust which show an even more alarming picture.

The results from Ainsdale NNR also show a decline. Pox was identified here in Autumn 2006. Continuing, though, sporadic cases appear to have caused a local extinction on this site. A squirrel pox outbreak during the Autumn of 2007 on Formby National Trust is shown on the graph as a similar downward trend. Unfortunately, this outbreak continues.

The monitoring results paint a bleak picture. It is really very worrying for our Red Squirrel population. Continuing support from the local community ensures that everything that can be done, is done. We have many eyes and ears searching the woodlands every day on a grid system, volunteers report any sick or dead Red Squirrels so they can be picked up and cared for or sent for post mortem. This information is vital if we are to develop the science behind this disease and future strategies for Red Squirrel Conservation.

As the numbers of Red Squirrels decrease, we expect to see an increase in Grey Squirrel numbers as they fill in the ecological niche, if we want our Red Squirrel population to recover from this decline then we need to ensure that they have a disease and Grey Squirrel free environment in which to expand.

So our work is far from done, but many thanks must go out to all those who continue to support us in this sometimes thankless task, and please, keep it up!