Scotland's red squirrel population remains stable

Squirrelpox is carried by grey squirrels but is deadly only to reds

The red squirrel population across Scotland remained stable last year, a survey has found.

It also saw a small drop in the number of sites with greys in southern Scotland and a "very positive" trend in the north east of the country.

Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels (SSRS) has been monitoring populations for nearly a decade.

It said the results were "worth celebrating" but the good work which had been done would need to continue.

SSRS carries out its studies in areas across Scotland where red squirrels are most threatened by greys.

It is due to the threat of squirrelpox - which is carried by grey squirrels but is deadly only to reds.

The number of sites with red squirrels only rose in southern Scotland

A survey has been carried out in northern Scotland since 2011 and in the south since 2013.

SSRS said that in recent years results had indicated that red squirrel populations had stabilised, following several decades of decline.

In southern Scotland the number of sites reporting reds remained between 51% and 52% but locations with greys fell from 60% to 51%.

The number of spots with only reds rose from 29% to 34%.

Volunteers help to carry out the study across Scotland

SSRS project manager Dr Mel Tonkin said: "The small changes in favour of red squirrels in the south of Scotland are certainly promising, but survey results can fluctuate from year to year and we will need to gather more data in future years to determine a definite trend.

"For now, we can say that red squirrel distributions in the region are stable.

"This is worth celebrating, and it is only possible thanks to ongoing work by volunteers, land managers and many others.

"However, we need to keep up the good work to hold on to our reds in the area and fend off the widespread grey squirrel threat."

'Good walk'

Dr Tonkin added that grey squirrels had "continued their retreat" in Aberdeenshire and were now largely limited to Aberdeen city itself.

Martin Hayes, who monitors feeder boxes at Glentress in the Borders, saw his survey site change from grey-only to red-only for the first time last year.

"After a number of seasons of detecting greys only, it's great to see the area's red squirrels finally getting a look in," he said.

"This year's spring survey is going well so far, and as usual taking part makes a good walk in the outdoors even more enjoyable."