Red Squirrels

The red squirrel population in Ireland is in decline. These pages look at the cause of this decline and examine some of the steps that are being take to help ensure the survival of this native species.

As part of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, the Government has published a Species Action Plan to aid the conservation of the red squirrel. The implementation of the Species Action Plan is overseen by the UK Red Squirrel Group, on which the Forest Service is represented. (The UK Red Squirrel Group is a partnership of public, private and voluntary sectors, working to conserve the native red squirrel through the UK Biodiversity Action Plan).

The Northern Ireland Red Squirrel Action Plan has identified five areas in Northern Ireland where conservation of existing populations of red squirrels is likely to be most successful principally through appropriate habitat management. A favoured habitat of the red squirrel is forest and this is the major land use within each of these "Preferred Areas". A buffer zone encircles each preferred area within which grey squirrel incursions should be controlled.

These guidelines will inform those woodland owners and forest managers on how best to manage their wooded areas in order to benefit the red squirrel. While the conservation efforts of the Northern Ireland Red Squirrel Forum will be focused within the Preferred Areas, many people may wish to benefit their own local red squirrel populations even where they lie outside the Preferred Areas.

It is hoped that these guidelines will benefit all conservation efforts. The use of literature sourced from the Forestry Commission and the UK Red Squirrel Group is acknowledged.