Perched on a mossy sunlit outcrop in woodland near the House of Dun, north-east Scotland, the perky grey squirrel, captured by a hidden National Trust wildlife camera, seems anything but ominous.
But when conservationists at the charity saw the image they knew the squirrel was the first grey ever seen at the historic Georgian mansion – and is likely to be part of an advance party of an army that appears to have outflanked the strategic defensive line that has protected the surviving red squirrel populations in the Highlands.
The breach in the Highland Red Squirrel Protection Line, which was created by conservationists in 2009 and stretches from Montrose to Inveraray, poses a “very grave threat” to red squirrel populations further north, The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) has warned.
It recently conducted its second census of squirrel numbers across Scotland and results show that while in some areas the trapping and culling of grey squirrels has been successful, in others the reds are struggling for survival.
Lindsay Mackinlay, nature conservation adviser at NTS, said that while some of its properties, such as Falkland Palace in Fife and Branklyn Garden in Perthshire, had seen red squirrels return, there was also evidence that greys were “expanding their range” in other parts of Scotland.
“We’ve acted to hold back grey squirrels in key areas where we think our efforts will make a real difference, but in others, we’ve had to watch as reds have gone and greys have arrived,” he added.
Fewer than 120,000 red squirrels remain in Scotland, around 75 per cent of the total UK population, and conservationists believe that without action they could disappear from the UK within a generation.
The NTS is now appealing for landowners in remote parts of the north and western Highlands to come forward if they think their woodland would make a suitable habitat for red squirrels.
“We need an area where greys will find it difficult to reach should we fail to stop them along the Highland boundary fault,” Mr Mackinlay said.
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