Whinlatter is Cumbria’s largest Red Squirrel Stronghold and the Forestry Commission rangers work with Red Squirrel Northern England and a group of volunteers to help protect this native species.

Whinlatter Forest is one of a number of red squirrel strongholds in Cumbria and Northumberland. It has been designated as a Stronghold as it still has a good population of red squirrels and is ideally suited because it is largely coniferous, one of our larger forests and has few large seeded broadleaves. We are managing Whinlatter Forest to provide a good habitat for Red Squirrels with a mixed age structure, range of conifer species and by not planting large seeded broadleaves. 

Working with a small team of volunteers, they conduct regular surveys of red squirrel population as well as monitoring the buffer zones around Whinlatter for the presence of grey squirels. If you want to find out more about how you can help monitor the squirrel population, join one of our red squirrel survey training days, through the Friends of Whinlatter group. The training and surveying work helps the conservationists to monitor the red squirrel population in the forest.