Around the Kielder Water and Forest Park area, knowledge of red squirrel populations is incomplete with the team knowing they are there, but the presence of greys squirrels in the area is giving some cause for concern.

Earlier this year, support from Forestry England enabled RSNE’s local contract ranger to monitor and control 50 grey squirrels at Kielder Village and Falstone, either side of Kielder Water. It is very likely that some greys have slipped through the ‘net’ and are present along the 26 miles of water’s edge of the Lakeside Way.

Northumbrian Water’s environmental funding has arrived at the perfect time, as it will allow the team to protect local red squirrels on the Kielder shoreline, including the popular Waterside squirrel hide at Leaplish, where greys have been recently sighted, by deploying monitoring stations for six months. Such deployment will give a better understanding of the local situation and will allow the area’s ranger to respond rapidly to any grey sightings.

Northumbrian Water’s Conservation and Land Manager, Stuart Pudney, said: "It’s fantastic we can support the RSNE project to help protect the woodland habitat for the survival of red squirrels.

“We’re really proud of our Branch Out initiative, with the original scheme funding delivering an investment of more than £530k and supporting 131 different projects.

“We recently expanded the programme to include two new funding streams to specifically support priority habitats and INNS, which has enabled us to invest a further £140k into local projects in 2020. Our overall scheme is helping to make a positive difference in benefiting local communities and wildlife.”

In 2021, the funding from Northumbrian Water will allow RSNE to join forces again with Forestry England and two private estates in the Harwood area to support the work of RSNE’s ranger Elliot Lea. This follows an initial effort over 18 months in a 10km radius around Ray Estate, which is strategically important in protecting Harwood and Raylees ‘red squirrel reserves’ and its 5km ‘stronghold’ buffer.

Over the past one-and-a-half years, progress has been made in managing grey squirrel numbers and the reds are slowly returning in the Harwood area thanks to local landowner collaboration and support from local land agent James Brown.

Finally, pivotal to the success is the work of a small number of volunteers in the area who, thanks to the Branch Out fund will now be supported with grey squirrel control and monitoring training, equipment and the installation of wildlife cameras.