Red Squirrels (Hansard, 23 June 2004)

§ Lord Whitty

The red squirrel is protected under Section 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which prohibits the unauthorised killing, injuring, taking, possession, sale or disturbance in a place of shelter or protection, any wild animal listed on Schedule 5 to the Act. It is also protected under Section 11 of the Act which prohibits certain methods of killing and taking of wild animals listed on Schedule 6 to the Act.

Under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan an individual species action plan has been prepared for the red squirrel. The UK Red Squirrel Group, a partnership of public, private and voluntary organisations led by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, is responsible for delivery of the red squirrel action plan.

The UK Red Squirrel Group has consulted widely among scientists, woodland managers and conservation bodies on a prioritisation process for the UK's surviving red squirrel populations. This identified the areas where action to maintain red squirrels is most likely to be effective in the long-term, including the Isle of Wight, the Poole Harbour Islands and the North Tyne area. The continuing expansion of the grey squirrel is to be expected and red squirrel conservation is focused on limiting that expansion in areas where the two species overlap. Some significant progress has been made in developing more effective and targeted ways of defending healthy populations of red squirrels against replacement by the grey squirrel.

In northern England, these priorities have now been translated into management plans for key forest areas, where we believe a combination of large-scale habitat management in forests and buffer areas allied to surveillance and targeted grey squirrel control gives the red squirrel the best chance of survival. These plans will form the basis of a bid for Heritage Lottery funding within the next few months by a consortium of government agencies, wildlife trusts and private landowners.

The Isle of Wight Red Squirrel Forum, led by the Isle of Wight Council has drawn up an action plan for the red squirrel population on the island. The plan, which is supported by the UK Red Squirrel Group, includes contingency arrangements that will trigger immediate actions in the event of grey squirrel incursions. The owners and managers of Poole Harbour islands are working with the Forestry Commission and English Nature on a joint Poole Harbour red squirrel management plan, including contingency arrangements in the event of a grey squirrel incursion.

134WA

Landowners and others may take action to control grey squirrels which are not a protected species. The Forestry Commission is preparing a new policy statement on grey squirrel control. This is one of the commitments contained in the "Sustaining England's Woodlands" review. The widespread UK eradication of grey squirrels is not currently considered practicable but this will be kept under general review in the light of experience and research, in particular into non-lethal control methods.