Red squirrels have reddish-brown fur with a white chest and, in winter, they have characteristic long, red tufts of fur on top of their ears. Red squirrels spend almost all their time in the treetops and rarely come down to the ground. High up in the branches, they build nests called dreys out of twigs nibbled off trees which they line with moss, dried leaves or grass.
At the moment the MP calls for support on the red squirrel.
David Maclean, former Tory chief whip and MP for Penrith and the Border, said a select committee inquiry was needed because Government policy was in disarray, with Government departments and agencies north and south of the Scottish border pursuing different strategies, none of which were working.
Grey squirrels, which carry the squirrel pox virus that is fatal to reds, recently caused the death of red squirrels at one of their last redoubts on the sands at Sefton in Lancashire, while in Cumbria, one of their last strongholds in England, the greys are advancing further into the reds’ stronghold each year.
In Scotland, where most of the 160,000 squirrels left in Britain are concentrated, experts believe the red may have only ten years left unless a vaccine is found to protect it from the squirrel pox virus.
A wildlife survey of a National Trust reserve in Formby, Lancs is expected to show that the red squirrel population has plummeted to dangerously low levels.
The culprit is the squirrel pox virus - a fatal disease spread by grey squirrels and which is devastating the few remaining English red squirrels.
Hundreds of animals are thought to have died in the last few months at their former stronghold on the Sefton Coast, Formby and many more are unlikely to survive the winter.
The virus arrived in October last year. Within six months the number of red squirrels.
In spring 2006 the reserve had around 1,000 red squirrels - a year later the number was down to 400.
