A leading environmental charity involved in the fight to save Scotland's red squirrels, has received initial lottery support with the prospect far more to come to help its work.

The red squirrel is the UK’s only native squirrel and numbers have declined rapidly since the introduction of grey squirrels from North America in the 19th century. Subsequently more were introduced by the the likes of the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey where they thrived.

Consequently, although once widespread, there are now only around 160,000 red squirrels remaining in the UK with 75% found in Scotland.

The Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels project was formed to reverse this decline. It has been running for the last seven years, led by the Scottish Wildlife Trust in partnership with Scottish Natural Heritage, Forestry Commission Scotland, landowners's organisation Scottish Land and Estates, RSPB Scotland and the Red Squirrel Survival Trust.

The project has proved that it is possible to halt the decline of red squirrels by co-ordinated grey squirrel control.

The challenge is to craft a sustainable programme to deliver this work over the long-term, "creating communities and landowner networks" that are motivated and capable of acting together to protect red squirrels in their local area.

Development funding of £37,800 has now been awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to help the Scottish Wildlife Trust develop plans to apply for a full grant of £2.46 million at a later date.

Project Manager of Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels, Dr Mel Tonkin, said: “We’re delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given us this support. Our work over the last seven years has shown that it is possible to reverse the decline of our much-loved red squirrels and safeguard them for future generations, but to do this we need to keep up the protection work for a long time to come.

“People love red squirrels. We want to harness that enthusiasm and get communities involved in their conservation. This Heritage Lottery Fund grant will give us the chance to share our expertise with a range of people who are passionate about their local red squirrel population.”