I’D like to ask readers to help save one of our most loved wild animals by supporting Trees for Life in an easy and free online vote before October 21.

Urgent action is needed to secure the future of the red squirrel in the UK.

Only an estimated 138,000 survive, most in Scotland – their numbers decimated by reduction of their forest homes to isolated fragments, and by competition and lethal disease from non-native grey squirrels.

Our Reds Return project has been shortlisted for the prestigious European Outdoor Conservation Association’s awards, with more than £25,000 at stake.

Winning would allow us to expand our pioneering work reintroducing red squirrels to woodlands in the northwest Highlands, where new populations can flourish in safety. This will offer hope for the reds’ long-term survival.

Please make a difference, and vote at www.treesforlife.org.uk/voteTFL.

Steve Micklewright
Chief executive, Trees for Life