Nature: Red squirrels are being put at risk by conifers planted across the UK to PROTECT them

Red squirrels in the UK are being put at risk by non-native conifer trees that have been planted with the aim of protecting the threatened species. This is because the greys prefer trees like oaks that provide larger, more calorific seeds to eat, whereas red squirrels are fine feeding on the smaller seeds of conifers. The problem with providing red squirrels more coniferous habitats to call home, the team found, is that such fails to take into account the resurgence of the pine marten. In the UK, red squirrels are often confined to coniferous habitats where their rivals, the invasive grey squirrels, have found it harder to secure a foothold In the UK, populations of red squirrels are often confined to coniferous woodlands — as their invasive rival, the grey squirrel, struggles to gain a foothold in such habitats. The problem with providing red squirrels more coniferous habitats to call home, the team found, is that such fails to take into account the resurgence of the pine marten and the absence of pine martens 'Timber plantations are often promoted as being beneficial to red squirrel conservation, but our results show that they will have a detrimental effect on the species in the future,' said biologist Joshua Twining of New York's Cornell University and Queen's University Belfast 'The planting of extensive commercial conifer forests in the last century provided a vast additional area of habitat for red squirrels,' Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels project manager Mel Tonkin, who was not involved in the study, told the Telegraph.