THE range of the Cumbrian red squirrel remains the best of any English county, a survey has confirmed.

Red Squirrels Northern England (RSNE), who collected the results, said the findings ‘reflect the huge community support for red squirrel conservation’ in the county.

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The study shows that the Lake District is ‘outstandingly red’, thanks to solid conservation networks in most of the Lakeland valleys.

The results of the survey have been released following three months of spring survey work in 289 different woodlands and gardens across the north of England.

Beyond the National Park, new pockets of community-driven conservation are continuing to grow, and this survey suggests that this work may also be helping reds expand into the western edges of North Yorkshire and County Durham.

Particularly interesting this spring are the new rash of red squirrel sightings in the northern Yorkshire Dales (Upper Swaledale) and North Pennines (Teesdale, County Durham), where red squirrels had not been detected since the project started in 2012.

RSNE is appealing for local communities to help them learn more about the size and health of these potential populations over the next six months, and are encouraging people to report red squirrel sightings at www.rsne.org.uk/sightings.

Across the North, the survey shows that red squirrel range has remained stable over the last two years, bucking a trend of over a century of loss in England.

Jackie Foott, co-ordinator of the Northern Red Squirrels Cumbria Community Network, said: “We’re delighted by the passion and commitment Cumbrian residents show in the conservation of an animal they love and this survey shows these efforts are being successful.

This is the fifth monitoring survey run by the RSNE project .

Community volunteers and project staff found red squirrels in the same number of sites as during the autumn 2013 programme, despite seeing an increase of nine per cent in the number of sites with non-native grey squirrels.