Red Squirrels Northern England (RSNE)

Red Squirrels Northern England

Red Squirrels Northern England (RSNE) is a red squirrel conservation partnership working across Northern England.

About us

Red Squirrels Northern England is the lead organisation striving to conserve reds, working in seven counties, where wild living red squirrels still exist; Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Lancashire & Merseyside.  

The project is managed by Northumberland Wildlife Trust, in partnership with other northern Wildlife Trusts, Forestry England, Natural  England and Red Squirrel Survival Trust. The partners work hand-in-hand with local communities and hundreds of passionate volunteers, with a core aim to secure the future of this most cherished British mammal.

We protect red squirrels in the following ways:

• Helping people understand why reds are under threat and why action is needed
• Working with communities and volunteer red squirrel groups to encourage local support and involvement  
• Monitoring woodlands to better understand where reds live so we can take action to conserve them  
• Managing grey squirrels in areas where reds are found in order to allow reds the space they need to thrive
• Developing and nurturing partnerships to ensure there is a joined up approach to this work

How you can help

• Submit a squirrel sighting - sightings are crucial to track the fortunes of red squirrels
• Join your local Red Squirrel Group - meet like-minded advocates of red squirrels
• Donate to the red squirrel project here
• Join Friends of the Red Squirrel
• Become a corporate member

Learn more about RSNE, including how you can get involved, via their website www.rsne.org.uk

You can also follow our progress on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

After collating and preparing around 19,000 records, thanks to the Northern Red Squirrels community volunteer groups, we put together a summary of the year’s grey squirrel management efforts/results. Of the total grey squirrels managed, >80% was due to local volunteer group effort. RSNE contributed 13% in Cumbria and 27% in Northumberland (or 16% of the combined area) - principally around strongholds and filling in the gaps.

RSNE’s annual squirrel monitoring programme

We established the annual squirrel monitoring programme in 2012. Standardised monitoring is undertaken in 300 woodlands and gardens each year during a three month period in spring from 1^st March to 31^st May across known red squirrel range in northern England. The aim of the programme is to build a long-term dataset that will evidence changes that may occur to red and grey squirrel range over time in areas where red squirrel conservation activity takes place. View the latest report here.