Spoiler Alert: there are no red squirrels in wild Surrey, but there is a small number in captivity at the wonderful British Wildlife Centre in Lingfield.
Once abundant throughout the UK, the red squirrel is now classed as 'near threatened', common only in Scotland, the Lake District and Northumberland; with a few small, isolated populations further south in England and Wales
The decline of the red squirrel is almost entirely due to human interference, i.e. the introduction of the grey squirrel from North America and the increasing habitat erosion
On the upside, red squirrels - unlike many other endangered species - are still abundant in central Europe, and the Scottish population has recently grown.
