A Conservative peer has called for the nationwide eradication of grey squirrels, branding them a “menace” to the countryside.
Lord Roborough, a shadow minister for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said Natural England needed to protect “our green and pleasant land” from the “vermin” grey squirrels that cost millions of pounds of damage.
He made the call while tabling an amendment to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which, if passed would require Natural England to remove invasive non-native species, such as the grey squirrel, from protected environments.
Research by the Royal Forestry Society (RFS) suggests that grey squirrels’ habit of stripping tree bark causes about £37m in damage per year, with the majority of costs falling on the owners of woodland across the UK, including farmers and the Forestry Commission.
Lord Roborough called the species, first introduced to Britain in 1876 as an ornamental curiosity, “rats that live in trees”.
He added: “They are killing millions of native broadleaves every year as they enter their prime and threatening the survival of red squirrels.
“It is time Natural England finally took responsibility for eradicating these vermin and other menacing invasive species in order to protect our green and pleasant land and the native creatures that call it home”.
The population of grey squirrels is now estimated to be around 2.7 million, with the invasive species competing for food and resources from the native red squirrel.
They are blamed not only for displacing the red squirrel, whose numbers are now reduced to fewer than 300,000, but also for causing extensive damage to Britain’s forests, by stripping tree bark.
They often chew away the bark on trees, removing the outer layer and leaving them weakened, in some cases killing them.
RFS estimate that as much as £13.5m of the £37m estimate could be in damage to timber, with a further £9.2m in lost carbon capture.
‘Controlled Urgently’
A further £14.1m was estimated to have been lost through damage mitigation costs, with £0.2m potentially spent on replanting damaged trees.
The Countryside Alliance said it has estimated that 15 per cent of broadleaf area and 5 per cent of coniferous forest area are damaged by grey squirrels.
Johnnie Furse, a spokesman for the Countryside Alliance said: “We need to get serious about the importance of protecting native species and effective wildlife management”.
He called for their numbers to be “controlled urgently”, and praised the work of dedicated conservationists who have ensured Britain’s dwindling number of reds remain.
In 2021, the King, the then Prince of Wales, marked Squirrel Appreciation Day on Jan 21 by personally thanking volunteers who work to protect red squirrels.
In 2014, he ordered the “humane and lawful control of grey squirrels” across the Duchy of Cornwall, and later backed proposals for the mass sterilisation of greys.
Awareness of the rising threat of grey squirrels appears to be growing, with an increasing number of wild food advocates, including Welsh hill farmer Gareth Wyn Jones, calling for Britons to consider eating grey squirrels as a sustainable meat option.
On Good Morning Britain in 2023, Mr Jones called for the mass consumption of the grey squirrels, saying they were “causing our red squirrels to be taken out of the equation, so every one of these grey squirrels we’re eating is going to give room for the red squirrel”.