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KATE MARTIN: Hello and welcome
to the National Trust podcast.

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In this mini episode, we're
getting up close and personal to

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one of the UK's most elusive
creatures. The Red Squirrel.

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ROGER: Hi, I'm Roger.

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KATE: This is Kate.

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ROGER: Yeah. Well, we, we tend
to work as a team when we're

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doing squirrel feeding.

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Ah, there goes the squirrel
running across the road in front

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of us. Yes, there is a mixture
of colours and then this one has

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quite a dark tail actually. This
is an adult. It's got its

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tuft-ear tufts. It's a mature
one.

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It's got the white front. The
big difference is if you, the

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greys are bigger, they tend to
be greyer, but there's still

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some red fur even on the Grey
Squirrel quite often. But they

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have a, a characteristic halo
around the tail. You can always

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tell it's a grey if you see that
fringe of dark fur around the

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tail, which the reds do not have
and the reds have the ear tufts

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which the greys do not have.

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KATE: So now he's coming to the
feeder, isn't he? He's saying,

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is there any food in there? No,
there isn't yet. Sorry.

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ROGER: Now, people ask us, why
are we feeding them, given that

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there is plenty of food around
and the main food they get here

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is of course the, the seeds
inside the pine cones. We feed

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them partly to, to keep them
here so that people can see

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them. But there's also the,
matter that it is easy food. So

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if there's a sick squirrel, then
they will come to the feeders

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and can be seen.

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We've been volunteering for the
trust for, oh, you, you, more

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years than me?

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KATE: I started about eight
years ago and you started about

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five years ago.

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ROGER: Yes.

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KATE: We're husband and wife.

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ROGER: Yes. Which is why we
managed to come as a team at the

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same time. But, we will show you
how it all works.

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One of us actually puts the feed
up into the boxes high up on the

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tree and the other one engages
with the public who ask what on

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earth we're doing.

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This is where the, the food is
stored for the squirrels and

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sometime between 10 and 11 every
morning, when the, the feeding

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is going on, somebody will be
here to get a bucket full of

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seed and to go out.

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And everyone wonders how on
earth do you get the feed up

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into the feeders high up on the
tree? Well, a decorator's

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extending pole with the cups
fastened to the top. A high tech

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piece of equipment is the secret
to that!

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Going into the kiosk.

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This is a TARDIS by the way, it
looks very small on the outside.

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But the amount of stuff that
gets crammed into here. A

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bucket, a scoop of seed.

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We used to sell, feed to the
public at the kiosk. And, they

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used to throw their peanuts out.

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Or even hand them out because
the squirrels got so tame, they

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would come and take the peanuts
from people's hands.

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That was a recipe for disaster
to come because when a Grey

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Squirrel did come in and
introduced the Squirrel Pox,

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there was a crowd of squirrels
here so dense that it cut right

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through them.

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And with a very short space of
time, we thought we were going

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to lose every squirrel on the
site. It was a, it was a very

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sad time, but, they did recover
but over time they've, they've

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built their numbers up again to,
oh, what would you say? About

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80%? Is that right? Kate? Would
you agree with that?

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KATE: Yes. It's very difficult
to give a-

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Every-

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There is a question that
everybody asks us how many

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squirrels are there in the area,
but they don't exactly line up

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for us to count them. But, I
would say four or five hundred.

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ROGER: This year, there have
been a lot of juveniles around

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coming out late in the year. So
we suspect this will be a good

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second litter this year and
numbers are probably up.

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KATE: I mean, people come from
miles away, they come from the

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Midlands, they come right over
from Yorkshire to see the

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squirrels. But it is very, very
important that they don't get

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tame. I mean, people do come
sometimes on a very hot, sunny,

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often crowded afternoon and say
there's no squirrels.

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Where are they?!

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But they are wild and you cannot
have them on demand. And the

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best time to see them is, is
early in the morning when

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they're, when they're very
active and looking for food.

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And sometimes they're up in the
top of the trees and you can

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hear this sort of noise and
they're saying, Come on! Come

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on! Where's the food?

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Neither Roger nor I are local to
Formby. We, we moved here a good

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many years ago, but I mean, when
I grew up, there were only Grey

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Squirrels, I didn't even know
what a Red looked like and it is

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just so beautiful to see
something so small. They're so

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quick the way they jump from
tree to tree, an absolute

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delight to watch.

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And I say it is, you think when
Beatrix Potter wrote her

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stories, you know, Squirrel
Nutkin, there were only red

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squirrels, that's all people
knew. And now the majority of

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people in Britain never see a
red squirrel. So it's so so

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important that we look after
them.

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KATE MARTIN: Thanks for
listening to this week's mini

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episode, our next full episode
will be available in a couple of

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weeks, but there'll be another
mini episode available next week

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while I'll be exploring the
intriguing treasures buried in

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the Formby Dunes. So until then
from me, Kate Martin, goodbye.