By LAURA ROBERTS

Last updated at 19:52 07 May 2007

After 10,000 years here, they

seem to have all but vanished from

the landscape in many areas. But

now the red squirrel is fighting

back.

A pioneering project to protect its

last strongholds and halt the seemingly

unstoppable spread of the rival

grey squirrel has had surprisingly

quick results.

In three areas in Northumberland, greys

have been cleared, and in one of those

spots reds have returned and even started

breeding.

The success has also led to the sound of

birdsong returning because, while grey

squirrels eat young birds, reds do not.

Organisers of the scheme hope the

success could be repeated countrywide,

although they insist they do not want to

eradicate the grey squirrel.

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The project, funded by the Department

for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,

works by laying down traps to catch squirrels.

Any greys caught are killed humanely

while reds are re-released.

Mike Bell, co-ordinator of the Red Squirrel

Protection Partnership, said: 'This isn't

about eradicating the grey squirrel. It's

about having an area of the UK where

there are red squirrels left.'

He said the project had shown greys

were more prevalent than previously

thought. His colleague Paul Parker said:

'People think grey squirrels are nice little

cuddly things. They're not. They are no good whatsoever. If we don’t get rid

of them now, we'll have greys right

across the country.'

Reds are believed to have come to

Britain from mainland Europe by

the end of the last Ice Age.

Over the last century they have

declined to the point where they are

extinct in much of southern England,

Northern Ireland and Wales

and are an endangered species.

The main cause has been the

arrival of the grey squirrel from

America. The first pair were released

in Henbury Park, Cheshire, in 1876.

More were released until the 1930s

when it became illegal to introduce

any into the wild.

Currently there are only an estimated

120,000 red squirrels in

Britain but around three million

greys, which dominate most of

England and Wales.

The greys are a problem because

they are better than the reds at finding

food and shelter and spread the

squirrel-pox virus which they are

immune to, but which kills the reds.

They are also a pest for gardeners

because they steal bulbs. The Northumberland scheme began late last year and will last two

years, though organisers hope it will

be extended.

They want to get rid of all greys

between the rivers Tyne and Tweed.

So far red squirrels have returned

and bred in Vindolanda, a Roman

fort on Hadrian’s Wall. Fifty greys

were removed in Stockfield, leading

to a rise in bird numbers, while in

Heddon 43 greys were snared.

The project was started by Lord

Redesdale, the LibDem agriculture

spokesman in the Lords. He said: 'If

we had left it another five or ten

years there wouldn't be a red squirrel

left in Northumberland.'