Friday 23 October 2009

We will put summer time behind us this week-end as the clocks go back. It seems moments since the nuts in the hedgerows were just appearing (photo taken in July) but now the squirrels are bouncing around the forest undergrowth, stocking up for the winter ahead.

Winter lays in front of us so at the moment, the nuts and berries are there for the taking, but soon life will not be so easy for our wildlife. Time for us all do our bit to help them to survive.

At the eastern edge of the Lake District near Penrith in Winter a very cute red squirrel is the star of this video.



The small red squirrel has retreated further north as its territory is taken over by the introduced American grey and here in Cumbria we are at the edge of the red's home. Sadly there are only about 211,000 left in the whole country, and half of those are in Scotland. It is always a treat when you spot a fluffy red, but locally I have only, so far, seen the grey this year.

1 comment:

Trubes said...

What a cutie Joy,
We have a Red Squirrel Sanctuary in The Pine Woods Formby, Merseyside..which is well worth a visit.
A grey Squirrel visits us occasionally too.

di.