Yes, in the national news!

One of the country's most beautiful sand dune and pinewood coastal areas is to become a red squirrel refuge. The National Trust said the Sefton Coast Woodlands, part of its Formby Estate on Merseyside, is the third national red squirrel refuge in the UK.

It is being launched at the start of Red Squirrel Week by Red Alert, a partnership of 120 organisations and individuals, including the National Trust and Lancashire Wildlife Trust, all committed to protecting the threatened species.



The woodlands will be surrounded by a three-mile "buffer zone" in an attempt to stop the movement of grey squirrels into the refuge area and safeguard the future of the much-loved creatures.

Andrew Brockbank, the National Trust's Countryside Property Manager at Formby, said: "People in the Formby and Sefton Coast area are justly proud of their red squirrels and fiercely resist anything which threatens their long-term survival.

"Long-term conservation of red squirrels will only succeed in this area, if grey squirrels are effectively controlled."

Once found throughout most of the UK, the distribution of red squirrels has declined dramatically in the last one hundred years with the break-up of their woodland habitats and the spread of the larger, more dominant North American grey squirrel.

As a result, red squirrels have only a few remaining habitats - mostly the coniferous forests of Scotland, Wales and Northern England.

There are about 160,000 red squirrels left in the UK compared with 2.5 million grey squirrels.

The other two National Red Squirrel Refuges are Spadeadam in Keilder Forest and Oasis Holiday Village, Penrith.


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