Red Squirrels Northern England (RSNE), the conservation group dedicated to protecting red squirrels, has introduced its inaugural corporate membership program.

According to the annual spring squirrel survey in 2022, red squirrels were found in 53.2 per cent of the 235 sites surveyed - the same percentage as the previous year.

Grey squirrels were found in 57 per cent of the survey sites, a slight decrease from 59.9 per cent in 2021.

This indicates that red squirrels continue to thrive across much of northern England.

However, the conservation work is costly, prompting RSNE to launch the corporate membership scheme.

The three membership categories range in price from £250 to £1,000.

Bronze members will provide 200kg of squirrel feed, while silver members will purchase 25 squirrel feeders.

The gold membership, priced at £1,000, will fund 10 wildlife monitoring cameras.

The proceeds from each membership will support conservation efforts in several areas of Northumberland, including Hexham, Bedlington, Cramlington, Rothbury, Morpeth, and Alnwick.

Mike Denbury, RSNE project manager said: “Following a number of enquiries we realised that there are many companies that share our passion about preventing the very real threat of red squirrels becoming extinct in the UK which led to the launch of the corporate membership scheme.”

Those interested in joining can visit: www.rsne.org/corporate-membership.