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About the Wight Squirrel Project
Wight Squirrel Project is an independent, local charity that relies on donations, fundraising events, sponsorship and grants to keep it going. If you give a donation of £5 or more, you will become ‘A Friend of the Red Squirrel’ for a year and receive a certificate. This will give half price concessions to some red squirrel events. Funding is also needed to cover general running costs, insurance, post mortem expenses, monitoring, providing an annual newsletter, advice, veterinary bills and leaflets to the general public. Also food to fill hoppers at ‘safe’ road crossings. Please CLICK here to make a Donation
Collating data and monitoring is an important part of the work. Please CLICK here to fill in the General Sightings Form
People with red squirrels in the garden are sent an garden questionnaire annually. This can now be filled in on-line. Please CLICK here to fill in the Annual Garden Questionnaire
Post mortems on red squirrels are carried out by Helen Butler.
Histology is courtesy of vet, Vic Simpson and various laboratories.
The project is run by volunteers, all are unpaid but highly important to the project
We are affiliated to the registered charity the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers.
Wight Squirrel Project was founded and is currently managed, voluntarily, by Helen Butler, the Isle of Wight's leading Red Squirrel expert .
2000 newsletters are sent out annually. Bio Bubble kindly contributes towards printing and Wight Wildlife pays half the postage costs.
If you are able to help out with Wight Squirrel Project, running costs either financially or by offering space at shows (the Chale Show and Wolverton Show for instance) please get in touch. It is through these events that we are able to continue our work - having to pay for stalls is a big drain on our funds, so if they're free, it means that more of the WSP money can go to help out the squirrels.
The Project works with (and sometimes against!) other organisations such as the Forestry Commission, Isle of Wight Council, Wildlife Trusts, National Trust and so on.
We are currently trying to develop non-invasive methods of research as red squirrels stress and sometimes die during handling.
The Isle of Wight was the first place in the country to put rope bridges across busy roads to save small, fragmented populations of red squirrels from local extinction. Wight Squirrel Project is now working on a squirrel friendly 'tube' to span roads that are too wide for a rope.
Research, monitoring and surveys are carried out regularly. Currently, 'hair-tubes' are in use to monitor squirrel activity. This is merely a foot length of drainpipe with sticky pads either end and food in the middle. As the squirrel enters to take out food it leaves hairs on the sticky pad. These are then examined under a microscope to ensure that they came from a red squirrel.
All possible sightings of grey squirrels are taken seriously and Wight Squirrel Project follows up immediately all reports. No living grey squirrel sightings have been confirmed. It is very easy to misidentify as reds are often greyish in colour.
If you think you have a bit of time to help out, please get in touch! There are various ways that you can lend a hand from helping to man stands at fetes, shows and exhibitions, through to putting up hair tubes in your woods. Please contact Helen to show your support!
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