Red squirrels are ‘holding on’ in the county according to a conservationist, despite new research warning that the British icon is an endangered species across the country.

This comes after the Mammal Society released its pioneering Red List, which has identified that 11 of 47 native mammal species are classified as being at imminent risk of extinction.

“This is no surprise, given the distribution change of red squirrels across the country over the last century,” said Heinz Traut, project manager of Red Squirrels Northern England (RSNE).

“However, the reduction in range has been halted in Northern England.”

RSNE is managed by Northumberland Wildlife Trust, who work closely with Cumbria Wildlife Trust.

The project, as well as collaborating with numerous local-led volunteer red squirrel groups, has two full time red squirrel rangers in the Lake District, centred around Bassenthwaite, Coniston and Windermere.

Thanks to the project’s hard work and monitoring programme, which relies on an army of volunteers, red squirrels have kept their footing in the county.

However there is still a lot of work to do.

“Here reds have held on thanks to the tremendous effort by all in stemming the tide of grey squirrels ,” said Mr Traut.

“Yet, the battle is ongoing!”

Grey squirrels have posed a huge threat to red squirrels since they were first introduced to England in the 1870s from North America.

Fighting over territory as well as passing on the lethal squirrel pox virus has massively dented the native breed’s numbers,with England's population thought to be as low as 15,000.

“There is much being done by various groups to safeguard the future of red squirrels in Cumbria,” said Mr Traut.

“Although the picture looks ‘rosy’ there still remains a constant threat of the invasive non-native grey squirrel.

“If reds were to become extinct it would be a sore loss to our natural heritage.”