Scone Palace vows to protect endangered red squirrels

By Rory Reynolds

THE crowning place of Scotland’s kings is to be the site of a battle for survival for one of the nation’s most endangered creatures.

Scone Palace, where Robert the Bruce and Charles II were crowned king of Scotland, is to be awarded funding to battle the invading grey squirrel, in order to protect the red variety, which is native to Scotland.

The red squirrel – of which only 160,000 survive in the UK – has been struggling for survival since the rise of the diseased grey squirrels, which campaigners say plague Scotland.

Scone Palace has said it will develop a trapping scheme for the grey squirrel, while working on a conservation area to protect the red variety.

Ken Neil, at Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels’ said: “Unlike grey squirrels, which were first imported into this country from America in 1876, the red squirrel is native to the UK.