Growing up in the 1950s in England often involved reading Squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter and / or being taught how to cross the road by Tufty Fluffytail the road safety red squirrel. But in today’s England, red squirrels are an endangered species; they have all but been pushed out by the bigger, introduced grey squirrels except in a few remote or island locations, mostly in Scotland or Wales.
But you don’t have to go to a remote location to see English red squirrels. The National Trust looks after a reserve of ancient Scots pines running down to the beach at Formby, near Liverpool - one of the top 10 picnic sites in the UK - that is also home to a thriving colony of 400+ red squirrels who have dodged predation by local cats and grey squirrels.
