A bid to bring red squirrels back to Cornish woodlands is being given a helping hand by a local conservation park and visitor attraction.

Paradise Park, in Hayle, is to provide captive bred red squirrels to the project.

Curator David Woolcock said it was fantastic to play a part in helping bring back a creature not seen in the area for almost 30 years.

He added: "There are people in Cornwall who remember seeing red squirrels in their local woodlands and we must take this opportunity to get the natural balance back so that future generations can appreciate them there too." The project to reintroduce the species to the Lizard and parts of West Penwith was unveiled by Prince Charles at the Royal Cornwall Show in June.

He is a patron of the Red Squirrel Survival Trust, which is working with which is working with The Cornwall Red Squirrel Project, in the £120,000 three-year scheme.

Mr Woolcock said the red squirrel had suffered a dramatic population decline in the last century and they are extinct in much of the UK.

"They have not been in Cornwall for almost 30 years," he said.