Have you ever seen a red squirrel?

[Curlewwoohoo]

Please tell me where! I've been to the Isle of Wight and looked in all the places I was told about, no luck. Same to a place in Scotland they apparently live in the garden, nowt. Please help me see one!

Local here. Unfortunately the red squirrels in Formby all died off from squirrelpox several years ago. The NT doesn't advertise this anywhere though.

Your best bet is a place like Anglesey, where they can more easily stop grey squirrels from mixing with red squirrels and infecting the population. There was no way to stop reds and greys from mixing in Formby, unfortunately.

@RaisinsOfMildAnnoyance when I was at Centre Parcs in Cumbria we had a talk from the warden and they have a genius way of telling whether a grey has invaded the forest so they can trap it and remove it.

They put food out for the red squirrels all the time which include maize (pop corn/sweetcorn). Maize is a non-native crop and comes from the Americas - brought to Europe in the Columbian Exchange - i.e. where the grey squirrels also come from. The red squirrels don't eat it - don't recognise it as food so it is always left - unless there are greys present which do eat it and then they spring into action.

I am amazed at this but they insist it works - but for a grey squirrel who has been born here to retain that knowledge is spooky!

See more reds than greys on my dog walks. Usually once a week give or take?

I live in Cumbria but not the Lake District (very close to) and I don't live rurally. Village on the edge of a coastal town.

Wow, that's really interesting. When we went to a national trust in Anglesey the woman told us how they emply all sorts of tricks to keep grey squirrels off the island. The squirrels somehow cross the 2 bridges even so! From what I remember the council employs grey squirrel hunters, essentially, and they work up to a mile around the bridges and coastline on the mainland side to keep grey squirrels away.

Red squirrels are basically on the verge of extinction in the UK, so they are taking their preservation quite seriously.

Isn't it? The legacy memory down all those generations is amazing! But then other animals do the same don't they - like killer whale pods are very specific in what they eat - they don't try to catch a seal or (thankfully a human) if they eat dolphins.

As far as I know the pox that they carry which doesn't affect them but kills reds. I think for a long time it was thought they were simply outcompeting reds for food - greys could eat unripe acorns etc but it isn't that.

I think there is work being done looking at vaccines etc so hopefully good news for the future

I saw one in the IOW this year. Just the one

I was just about to say Howick Hall!

like killer whale pods are very specific in what they eat

Extra fun fact, and nothing to do with the thread - they aren't whales, they are dolphins.

Only in Yorkshire, near a DSis’s house in the Dales.
She gets the odd one in her garden, too.

My 6yo told a stranger in the street this fact last week 🤣

I’ve seen plenty in Scotland, generally north from Pitlochry. They seem to lack road sense as I’ve seen them squashed in the middle of fast roads.

Took me a year of living on the Isle of Wight before I saw on and now I see them everywhere. Once you spot one, you literally can't miss them. They're very small and quite well camouflaged.

One jogged across a pedestrian crossing on a main road in front of me recently, that made me laugh!

Agree with the PPs who suggested Howick Hall in Northumberland. There's a feeding station just outside the tea room window so they come up really close.

Plus it's in a very handsome part of the county, near Craster and Dunstanburgh.

I live near Formby nature reserve that is famous for red squirrels but never seen one there. Then last year I went to the bus stop round the corner and there was one running along the fence. I was thrilled!

Gosh that's incredibly unlucky. I grew up videoing the reserve 60+ years ago and visit frequently still. I rarely don't see some - and recent environmental research suggests that they have become urban squirrels too, and are recovering after a downturn in their population.

This is where I've seen them.

Kinda proud to see so many people know about Formby 🥰 Hopefully not all of us are from there 😂

The site of ancient Troy in Turkey. The squirrels dash all over the ruins, occasionally chased by a dog.

Pine martens keep down the grey population , apparently. Presumably because they are less cautious than the reds? Another factor in the decline of the reds us surely the destruction of native forests and their replacement by the dreaded sitka spruce plantations. There is one near me. I call it the Dead Zone.

I live about a 10 minute drive from Formby in a semi rural area so perhaps they are becoming more urban. Not seen one since. Plenty of greys!

I have sat in a hide on the Isle of Wight for nooody hours. Nothing.

went to the Isle of Bute in Scotland, two sitting by the side of the road, casual as you like.

contrary things they are!

keep trying though op. They are so lovely.

We were once driving through the lakes and I spotted a red squirrel sign at the side of the road. I had a minor rant to dh that I was forever seeing the signs but never a red squirrel and didn't believe them.

Round the next corner was another of the signs, with an actual red squirrel perched on top of it.

I really felt like the little bugger was giving me the finger. 🐿️

Yes on Guernsey and in Prague where we watched one for ages

Yes, keep trying OP.

The first time I went to Brownsea, I didn't see a single one (and I was disappointed - despite having a lovely time).

So I went to Formby with a friend who'd seen them there lots (she lives fairly close). We didn't see a single one. Disappointed again, despite having a lovely time with my friend. It actually became a standing joke between us that there's only one "red squirrel on duty" in Formby and because it was a bank holiday, the duty squirrel had the day off.😜

So my third attempt was more carefully planned. I booked an AirBNB in Poole Old Town (so a few mins walk to the Brownsea ferry) in late Sept so peak squirrel spotting time. Of course on the drive to Poole, the rain was torrential and roads were flooded. Weather was unseasonably bad. Didn't bode well. I took a chance on the first morning when it wasn't raining (despite rain being forecast for later on) and got the ferry to Brownsea. Of course it started raining on the ferry and by the time it arrived, it was a torrential downpour. Argh! I felt like crying. But I went on the squirrel walk with an umbrella and a NT volunteer guide (who was very pessimistic about chances of seeing squirrels given the weather). It took about an hour but we finally saw one. And then another. And another. On the way back to the ferry alone I lurked in the woods under my umbrella and suddenly 2 little squirrels appeared and I was able to watch them stashing nuts etc for over half an hour. They were so close to me, it was amazing! I saw 11 in total and it made my day / week / year. So don't give up! It can happen.

@HundredMilesAnHour that's lovely, I was going to say third time lucky, but it wasn't luck it was perseverance! So well done.