FAQ: How long have red and grey squirrels been in Scotland?
The red squirrel is found throughout Europe and Asia and the first evidence of the red squirrel in Britain appears at the end of the last Ice Age (10,000 years ago). Reds were once widely distributed across the UK. There numbers have been known to fluctuate, sometimes naturally and at other points due to human intervention, however red squirrel numbers have declined dramatically throughout the course of the 20th Century, mainly due to the spread of grey squirrels.
The grey squirrel is an invasive (non-native) North American species. Greys have been introduced to the UK at various locations since the 19th Century. They were first introduced in 1876 by the Victorians, who regarded the grey squirrel as an exotic species.
