The oldest squirrel fossil in the world was found in North America and is thought to be 34 million years old. These animals have not changed much over the millions of years. Protosciurus was found to have a very primitive dentition and jaw muscles but the same unique ear structure of the modern squirrel.

The word squirrel comes from the Greek word “Skiouros”. “Skia” means shade and “oura” means tail. Thus “skiouros” means “he who sits in the shadow of his own tail”. Centuries later the French developed the noun “esquirrel” from which the English “squirrel” is derived.    

In Britain the first signs of the red squirrel appeared over 10,000 years ago after the last ice age when the land bridge between Britain and Europe began to subside.                                                

From the 15^th and 16^th Century onwards the red squirrel population declined in the North due to timber felling needed for ships in times of war. However, during the nineteenth century there was a replanting initiative to replace the trees lost through industry. A positive effect of the replanting was that the red squirrel returned in abundance.

The first pair of American grey squirrels were released in Henbury Park in Cheshire by Mr Brocklehurst in 1876. There were further releases of the grey until the 1930s when it became illegal to introduce any more into the wild.

At the present day there are only an estimated 120,000 red squirrels in Britain as opposed to 3 million greys.