Regular readers of my blog will be more than aware of my love of our precious red squirrel and my efforts to spot them over the last few months, mostly ending in disappointment. I posted on here about a trip to Garsdale station in the Yorkshire Dales in October to where I had previously enjoyed watching them scamper across the tracks and platforms to the garden feeders. I returned again in February and stayed for a couple of hours, again I left disappointed.
I spent a great day's hiking in the Lake District a couple of weeks ago with my mate Chris and I was well aware that we would be pulling off the motorway and driving through the village of Shap. Close to the village is Shap Wells, a well known red squirrel habitat and I dropped a few hints that I would not have minded stopping off for a quick peep, alas, my hints fell on deaf ears. We had a busy few hours ahead of us and really could not afford any time for detours, we had serious mountains to climb.
We were embarking on the Swindale Round, a ten-miles or so hike in a remote area of the Lake District containing the four most easterly of the Wainwright fells. We parked up and set off, both of us excitedly chatting about the walk ahead when suddenly I saw a dash of rustic jump onto a nearby tree, the tail and ear tufts a dead giveway. We both stopped in our tracks, expecting the squirrel to have been long gone however it ran further up the tree and paused for a quite a while, posing for our videos and photos. It was quite happy to just sit and stare at us whilst I giddily greeted it and wished it a good morning. I would like to say this was the highlight of the day but it’s hard to compare when on a snowy Lakeland hike with clear blue skies, snow on the ground, not to mention the great company too.
I was in Anglesey at the weekend, a stronghold for red squirrels and mostly free of the pesky grey squirrels, for now. Sightings of the greys however are becoming more frequent and inevitably cases of squirrel pox, spread by the greys and deadly to the reds is on the increase.
My visit to Anglesey did not allow much time for nature as it was mostly celebrating a good friend's hen weekend, lots of alcohol, crazy people, hot tubs and a zip wire! I did, however manage to escape for a short while for a beach walk and along the way passing a designated red squirrel woodland, but with no time to explore and so tantalisingly close.
The following day, as we were heading for breakfast before the journey home, we drove past another designated red squirrel woodland and as we passed by I was certain I spotted a wee scamp on the feeders left out for them by locals. We drove by quite quickly so I was not certain if it was an actual squirrel or an ornamant on the feeder or even a mirage, possibly due to my desperation to always spot them, especially when I am being made aware they are there! In my mind it was definitely the genuine article and I will keep on telling myself so.
Now Spring is upon us, I’m looking forward to plenty of walks in the Dales and Lakes and hopefully more meetings with the nation’s favourite rodent, in my opinion. Hopefully a visit to Snaizeholme Red Squirrel Trail near Hawes is on the cards with a special viewing area.
There is almost a guarantee to see them and I will be with a very dear friend, they know who they are, making this a memorable day, watch this space. Meanwhile, the love affair continues.
Happy springtime ❤️
Wonderful blog son