By Melissa Corkhill
25th September 2016
WHERE TO FIND RED SQUIRRELS
1. Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Loch of the Lowes Visitor Centre and wildlife reserve. There are specially designed squirrel feeder boxes and rope walkways set up in the woodland feeding station, within metres of a large observation window.
2. Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s Smardale Gill is a premier nature reserve for spotting reds, along with Wreay Woods.
3. Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s reserves where you might catch a glimpse of red squirrels include Hauxley, where they have been captured on trail cameras on a feeder near the visitor centre, and East Cramlington Pond.
4. Brownsea Island nature reserve, managed by Dorset Wildlife Trust, has a strong population.
5. Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s Bouldnor Forest may offer glimpses of red squirrel leaping from branch to branch. With no introduced grey squirrels on the island, their smaller cousin thrives here.
RED SQUIRREL FACTS
Female red squirrels can give birth to two litters a year – each litter usually consists of two or three babies known as kittens. Around 20-50% of them will survive into adulthood.
Red squirrels don’t actually hibernate; in autumn they’ll spend time collecting food for the winter when they’ll be less active but they’ll still actually be awake.
Red squirrels like to eat seeds, fungi, fruit and even bird eggs.
Although usually reddish or a russet-brown in colour, their fur can vary, and you’ll sometimes find darker red squirrels. Confusingly, some grey squirrels can have quite a red tinge to their fur, and in late summer, red squirrels temporarily moult their ear tufts, so for a little while they can sometimes be easy to confuse at a very quick glance.
When they’re scared, red squirrels will make a ‘chuk chuk’ noise – listen out for it next time you’re in a red squirrel woodland.
There are thought to be about 140,000 red squirrels left in Britain compared to around 2.5 million greys squirrels.
