Red Squirrel Conservation Scheme

Kilnsey Park Red Squirrels

Red Squirrels once lived in the wild all over the UK. However since the introduction of the grey squirrel in 1876 there has been a catastrophic decline in the numbers of red squirrels. There are still small pockets of red squirrels living wild in Scotland, the Lake District, Wales and the islands of Wight and Anglesey.

Mrs Roberts has always been interested in red squirrels and was becoming increasingly alarmed by their decline. In 1998 she managed to buy a pair of red squirrels and happily they bred straight away.

The Kilnsey Park red squirrels became part of the Red Squirrel Captive Breeding Plan which ensures that the gene pool of Red Squirrels is as large as possible, hopefully ensuring that they will never become extinct.

We have close contact with various organisations with interest in protecting red squirrels. Indeed in the Easter of 2006 we gave a female red squirrel to Anglesey Red Squirrel Project. In fact she gave birth to a litter of two kittens within about a week of arriving so hopefully we have given then even more support than we had planned!

We are sometimes asked whether the Kilnsey Park squirrels are happy to live in their enclosures. To answer that, they have all been bred in captivity and are completely used to life in their enclosures. We can tell by their movements and activities that they are happy, and the fact that they are breeding well confirms that they are very contented.

Ultimately we would like to be able to release the red squirrels into the area around Kilnsey Park. However this can only happen when we are sure that the area is clear of grey squirrels as they pose too great a threat to the reds.

KEEP UP TO DATE To follow the lives of our red squirrels please don't forget to join our Kilnsey Kids Club or become a Friend of Kilnsey Park. You can also follow their progress through the News Section of this website, where we post regular bulletins. Special newsletters are sent out during the year to those people who have adopted a Kilnsey Park red squirrel. ADOPT A SQUIRREL Please support us and help us to look after the red squirrels. You can do this by adopting a red squirrel which costs just £10 for a full year. For this you will receive a special adoption certificate and your name will go onto the Adoption List in our main notice boards. You will also receive updates on the squirrels' progress during the year. It makes the ideal birthday, Christmas or anniversary gift! Download a Squirrel Adoption Form here and send it to Kilnsey Park, Kilnsey near Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 5PS or contact us by email for more details.

They store nuts in the ground in the Autumn They do not hibernate over Winter They can swim They eat seeds, buds, flowers, shoots, fruits of many trees and shrubs, fungi, insects & occasional bird eggs They are left or right handed when eating pine cones They moult whole coat twice a year. They moult ear tufts and tail once in late Summer They can hang upside down with their four fingers and five toes and can live up to 6 years. Their young are called kittens and are born blind, pink, hairless and toothless. They can have two litters a year (March and June) with 3-4 kittens in each litter. They weigh 275- 300gms and their body length is 20-22cms, tail 17-18cms The Grey Squirrel is much stronger than the red squirrel in that it can digest unripe nuts so it takes available food first. It is resistant to the Parapox virus. It breeds more often and in greater numbers and there are now more than 2.5m in the UK. It was introduced at Woburn Abbey in 1867 from North America. It needs to have the numbers controlled in sensitive areas.