The Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) can be found throughout the temperate wooded regions of Europe and Asia. Squirrels have been around for over 30 million years and today there are at least 276 species throughout the world.
Under threat from introduced Grey Squirrel
Over a century ago, grey squirrels were introduced into Britain from America and they soon spread into Ireland. They are less choosy about what they eat, being able to digest unripe nuts and berries, and have taken over much of the territory previously inhabited by reds. Grey squirrels will also take birds eggs and young and damage many trees. Greys are now found through much of the eastern counties and midlands and are reported to have now crossed the Shannon into parts of County Galway. This means that the red squirrel population is now under serious threat unless conservation measures are taken.
Photo thanks to Wildlife Trust UK - www.wildlifetrust.org.uk
Woodland acrobats
Red Squirrels are light-weight and extremely agile, spending around three-quarters of their active time above ground in trees and shrubs. They have long claws and use their bushy tails for balance as they run and leap through the trees. Often they can be seen to travel in an almost straight line through woodland, regardless of whether the branches are close together or far apart (this is natural energy conservation - remember, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line !) If disturbed, they will ‘freeze’ for a few minutes, pressing close to the tree trunk until they feel safe to move on.
Eats, shoots and leaves !
They will eat tree seeds, shoots, nuts, berries, buds, fungi, flowers, bark, lichen and insects. A tell-tale sign of the presence of red squirrels is chewed and stripped pine or spruce cones and broken nut shells. In the autumn they gather and store caches of nuts and cones for winter use. Often they hide them in the ground away from the trees and either don’t need them all, or they simply forget where they put some, resulting in growth of new trees which extends the woodland. Squirrels don’t hibernate but continue to forage for food throughout the winter, unless the weather is really bad.
2.4 children !
The breeding season usually starts in January and mating pairs can be seen chasing round and round, leaping and spiralling up and down the tree trunks. They can have spring and summer litters of average three ‘kittens’ which open their eyes at about one month old and after another two weeks will begin to venture out until, at 10 to 12 weeks, they leave home to find their own territory. They usually need at least one hectare of woodland each.
Squirrels live in a ‘drey’ high up in a strong fork of the tree. It is a hollow ball of twigs and leaves, lined with soft hair and moss. They will also use tree holes or even old crows’ nests. Red squirrels live to be 5 or 6 years old.
Protection and conservation
Firstly we must ensure that suitable habitat is plentiful - lots of mixed woodlands and preferably connected by ‘corridors’ of scrub or hedgerows. Secondly we must control the spread of the grey squirrel - this will also benefit landowners because it is very destructive.
Managing woodlands for biodiversity (the variety of living things) will naturally help the red squirrel by improving it’s food supply. Clare is the first county in Ireland to prepare its own Biodiversity Action Plan which will be of great importance to our natural heritage - the landscape and the wildlife - not to mention being attractive to tourists. Many visitors come simply because we still have animals like the red squirrel which are gone from other parts of Europe. For more about red squirrels see www.red-squirrels.org.uk and www.redsquirrel.org.uk
CELT ‘Weekend in the Woods’ events / info : www.celtnet.org E-mail info@celtnet.org
