When Sam Beaumont sees a flash of red up a tree on his Lake District farm, he feels a swell of pride. He’s one of the few people in England who gets to see red squirrels in his back garden.

“I feel very lucky to have them on the farm. It’s an important thing to try and keep a healthy population of them. They are absolutely beautiful,” he said.

Most of us are much more familiar with their sturdy, grey American cousins. But once there were 3.4 million red squirrels in the UK, and with their glossy auburn fur, delicate frames and big tufty ears, they are the endangered animal whose loss Britons perhaps feel most deeply.