A HAVEN for the UK's dwindling population of red squirrels is being set up in an area of Merseyside woodland.

The Sefton Coast Woodlands, part of the National Trust's Formby estate, will be only the third national red squirrel refuge in the UK.

Other red squirrel refuges are in Kielder Forest, Northumberland, and Penrith, Cumbria.

There are about 160,000 red squirrels left in the UK, compared with 2.5m grey squirrels.

The refuge area will be home to about 1,000 squirrels and will be surrounded by a 5km "buffer zone" to try to stop the grey squirrels moving in, reports BBC Merseyside.