Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris): Facts and UK Decline

What does a red squirrel look like?

The red squirrel has a slender body, a long fluffy tail and, in autumn and winter, long tufts of hair on the tips of its ears. The belly is always white or cream. The eyes are large and dark, and the hind legs are long and strong for leaping.

Despite the name, the color of the back varies enormously. Red squirrels may be bright ginger, chestnut, brown, gray-brown or almost black, and in parts of continental Europe and Asia dark and red animals live side by side. In Britain and Ireland most red squirrels are ginger-red. Many British reds have tails that bleach to a pale cream color by late summer.

The squirrel molts its body fur twice a year. The summer coat is thinner and redder, with small or no ear tufts. From about August to November it grows a thicker, often grayer winter coat with long ear tufts. The tail fur is replaced only once a year.

How big is a red squirrel?

Red squirrels are noticeably smaller than eastern gray squirrels. Males and females are the same size.

Squirrels in the north and east of the range tend to be larger than those in western Europe.

Habitat and range

The red squirrel has one of the largest ranges of any tree squirrel. It lives from Britain, Ireland, Spain and Portugal across Europe and Russia to Siberia, Mongolia, northern China, Korea and the Japanese island of Hokkaido. It is absent from Iceland, and many authorities now treat the squirrels of Calabria in southern Italy and of Japan’s main islands as separate species.

It is a forest animal. The highest densities are found in large conifer forests of Scots pine, Norway spruce and Siberian pine, whose seeds are its staple food. It also lives in mixed and broadleaf woods, parks and large gardens, especially in continental Europe, where there are no gray squirrels. In Britain, Ireland and Italy, red squirrels now survive mainly in conifer forests and on islands, where gray squirrels are absent or rare.

What do red squirrels eat?

Red squirrels are mainly seed eaters. Their most important food is the seed of conifers such as pine, spruce and larch, which they reach by stripping cones scale by scale. They also eat hazelnuts, beechnuts, acorns, sweet chestnuts and walnuts, along with fungi, berries, buds, flowers, shoots, lichens and tree sap. Animal food is rare: a Swedish study found traces of birds or eggs in only 4 of 600 stomachs examined.

In autumn, red squirrels store food for winter. They bury nuts and seeds one by one in the ground, a habit called scatter hoarding, and tuck fungi into tree branches to dry. They remember the rough location of their stores but rely partly on smell to find them, and forgotten nuts may grow into new trees. To compare their diet with that of other squirrels, see what do squirrels eat?

Behavior and nests

Red squirrels are active by day, especially in the morning and late afternoon, and spend most of their active time looking for and eating food. They are superb climbers that run headfirst down trunks and can leap gaps of several meters between trees.

They are mostly solitary, but home ranges overlap, and in cold weather several squirrels may share a nest. Each squirrel builds several nests, called dreys: balls of twigs about 25–30 cm (10–12 in) across, lined with moss, grass and shredded bark and usually placed high in a tree close to the trunk. They also use tree holes and old woodpecker holes. Red squirrels do not hibernate, although they may stay in the drey for a day or more in very bad weather (see do squirrels hibernate?).

When alarmed they make a “chuk-chuk” call, stamp their feet and flick their tails.

Signs of red squirrels

Red squirrels are shy and often stay high in the canopy, so their feeding signs are frequently easier to find than the animals themselves.

• Stripped cones. A squirrel bites off the scales of a pine or spruce cone one by one to reach the seeds, leaving a ragged, chewed core and a pile of scales beneath a favorite feeding perch. Cones eaten by mice look much neater, and woodpeckers leave cones wedged into bark crevices.
• Split hazelnuts. Adult squirrels crack hazelnuts cleanly into two halves. Mice and voles leave a small, neat round hole instead.
• Dreys. Football-sized balls of twigs high in a conifer, close to the trunk, are easiest to see in winter.
• Scratches and droppings on tree trunks and stumps used as feeding tables.

None of these signs separates red from gray squirrels on their own, so in areas where both species occur, a clear sighting is needed to be sure.

Reproduction and life cycle

Red squirrels breed from late winter to summer, and in good seed years a female can raise two litters, one in spring and one in summer. Mating involves a noisy chase in which several males follow a female through the trees.

Pregnancy lasts about 38–39 days. A litter usually has around three young, called kits, though it can range from one to six or more. Kits are born blind, deaf and hairless. Fur appears after about a week, the eyes open at three to four weeks, and the young leave the nest at about six to seven weeks. They are weaned at 8–12 weeks and become independent soon after. The father plays no part in raising them.

Breeding success depends heavily on food. After a big crop of conifer seeds or nuts, many females breed twice and squirrel numbers rise; after a poor crop, few young are born and many squirrels starve in late winter. Because large seed crops come irregularly, red squirrel populations naturally rise and fall from year to year, sometimes dramatically.

Lifespan and predators

Life is hard for young red squirrels. On average, 75–85% die in their first winter, often because there are not enough seeds. Squirrels that survive their first year typically live about three years, and some reach seven years in the wild. In captivity they can live to about 10.

Predators include the pine marten, wildcat, red fox, goshawk, buzzard and owls, while stoats may raid nests. Domestic cats and road traffic kill many squirrels in towns and villages.

Conservation status

Globally, the red squirrel is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, because it is widespread and common across much of Europe and Asia. It is protected under the Bern Convention and by law in many European countries.

In Britain the picture is very different. Gray squirrels were released from North America from 1876 onward and now number around 2.7 million. Red squirrels have disappeared from most of England and Wales, and estimates of the remaining British population range from about 140,000 to roughly 290,000, mostly in Scotland. The Mammal Society’s 2020 Red List for Britain’s mammals classed the red squirrel as Endangered in Great Britain. The reasons, from competition and squirrelpox to habitat loss, are explained in why are red squirrels declining?, and the full story of the invaders is in why are gray squirrels invasive in the UK?

Conservation focuses on keeping gray squirrels out of red squirrel strongholds, managing forests for reds and supporting the return of the pine marten, which seems to hit gray squirrels harder than reds.

Myths and facts

• Myth: gray squirrels kill red squirrels. Fact: grays do not attack reds. They win by eating more of the food and by carrying squirrelpox, which they survive but reds usually do not.
• Myth: a squirrel with gray fur must be a gray squirrel. Fact: red squirrels can be grayish-brown, especially in winter, and gray squirrels can show reddish-brown patches. Ear tufts and size are better clues; see red squirrel vs gray squirrel.
• Myth: red squirrels were always common everywhere in Britain. Fact: red squirrels became very scarce in parts of Scotland by the 18th century as forests were cleared, and numbers recovered after tree planting and reintroductions, long before gray squirrels arrived.

Red squirrels and people

Red squirrel fur was once traded in huge quantities in medieval Europe, and squirrels have been hunted for fur in Russia and Scandinavia into modern times. The red squirrel is the national mammal of Denmark and one of Britain’s best-loved wild animals, made famous by Beatrix Potter’s Squirrel Nutkin.

Today it is a flagship for woodland conservation in the UK, and places such as Brownsea Island, the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, Formby and the Scottish Highlands draw visitors hoping to see one. A guide to the best sites is in where to see red squirrels in the UK.