Maps showing grey squirrel spread and red squirrel decline
1945, 2000 & 2010
By Dr Craig Shuttleworth, scientific adviser to the Red Squirrel Survival Trust

How many are there?

Natural England’s Joint Publication JP025, published in 2018, estimates the native red squirrel population of the UK at around 287,000, against about 2.7 million grey squirrels.   This figure is an overestimate of the current red squirrel population in the UK. The report itself contains a number of qualifications arising from the lack of survey data on red squirrels available to it and the unreliability of the methods used. Further information can be found on Page 17 in the A Review of the Population and Conservation Status of British Mammals