We need your help to protect our red squirrels. Could you:
- Join our membership >>, preferably committing to a standing order payment?
- Volunteer to help >>? – there are all sorts of ways;
- Report your squirrel sightings >>?
- Make a donation >> – that one of our benefactors will match £ for £?
With your help, we will:
- Recruit a contractor to work with volunteers to control grey squirrels and conserve the reds;
- Encourage and support more local volunteers to monitor and report squirrel sightings, and promote our work;
- Raise more money to secure a long-term commitment to red squirrel conservation in the Lyth Valley. Extra funds will allow us to buy more remote cameras, buy supplementary feed for red squirrels and increase publicity.
Our much-loved native red squirrels are under threat of extinction. Even here, in and around the Lyth valley, they are at risk from:
- competition with grey squirrels;
- disease carried by grey squirrels; and
- changes in woodland management.
Songbirds have suffered too, as greys predate their eggs and nestlings. Covid-19 hasn’t helped, as we’ve been less able to control grey numbers.
Our success over the last fifteen years or so has largely been due to the determination of Westmorland Red Squirrels’ volunteers not to lose our iconic red squirrels. We can only make space for reds to thrive with the long-term financial support of residents, landowners and businesses. Already, a local benefactor has offered to match every £ raised up to £5000. Will you support us too?
To lose our red squirrels to the non-native greys would be unthinkable. Let’s work together to look after this special and delightful animal. Thank you.
