ENDANGERED red squirrels are thriving because of the Red Alert North West Fellowship offensive to curb the spread of marauding greys.

Earlier this year The Lake District National Park Authority supported the five-year action plan to help save the area's native reds.

Greys compete for food and also carry the Parapox virus which causes a slow, painful death in reds. But reds are now thriving again, explained LDNPA ranger Val Edmondson.

Humane trapping of greys had led to the elimination of more than 200 and there were now very few left in the district.