KATE MARTIN: Hello and welcome to the National Trust podcast.
In this mini episode, we're getting up close and personal to
one of the UK's most elusive creatures. The Red Squirrel.
ROGER: Hi, I'm Roger.
KATE: This is Kate.
ROGER: Yeah. Well, we, we tend to work as a team when we're
doing squirrel feeding.
Ah, there goes the squirrel running across the road in front
of us. Yes, there is a mixture of colours and then this one has
quite a dark tail actually. This is an adult. It's got its
tuft-ear tufts. It's a mature one.
It's got the white front. The big difference is if you, the
greys are bigger, they tend to be greyer, but there's still
some red fur even on the Grey Squirrel quite often. But they
have a, a characteristic halo around the tail. You can always
tell it's a grey if you see that fringe of dark fur around the
tail, which the reds do not have and the reds have the ear tufts
which the greys do not have.
KATE: So now he's coming to the feeder, isn't he? He's saying,
is there any food in there? No, there isn't yet. Sorry.
ROGER: Now, people ask us, why are we feeding them, given that
there is plenty of food around and the main food they get here
is of course the, the seeds inside the pine cones. We feed
them partly to, to keep them here so that people can see
them. But there's also the, matter that it is easy food. So
if there's a sick squirrel, then they will come to the feeders
and can be seen.
We've been volunteering for the trust for, oh, you, you, more
years than me?
KATE: I started about eight years ago and you started about
five years ago.
ROGER: Yes.
KATE: We're husband and wife.
ROGER: Yes. Which is why we managed to come as a team at the
same time. But, we will show you how it all works.
One of us actually puts the feed up into the boxes high up on the
tree and the other one engages with the public who ask what on
earth we're doing.
This is where the, the food is stored for the squirrels and
sometime between 10 and 11 every morning, when the, the feeding
is going on, somebody will be here to get a bucket full of
seed and to go out.
And everyone wonders how on earth do you get the feed up
into the feeders high up on the tree? Well, a decorator's
extending pole with the cups fastened to the top. A high tech
piece of equipment is the secret to that!
Going into the kiosk.
This is a TARDIS by the way, it looks very small on the outside.
But the amount of stuff that gets crammed into here. A
bucket, a scoop of seed.
We used to sell, feed to the public at the kiosk. And, they
used to throw their peanuts out.
Or even hand them out because the squirrels got so tame, they
would come and take the peanuts from people's hands.
That was a recipe for disaster to come because when a Grey
Squirrel did come in and introduced the Squirrel Pox,
there was a crowd of squirrels here so dense that it cut right
through them.
And with a very short space of time, we thought we were going
to lose every squirrel on the site. It was a, it was a very
sad time, but, they did recover but over time they've, they've
built their numbers up again to, oh, what would you say? About
80%? Is that right? Kate? Would you agree with that?
KATE: Yes. It's very difficult to give a-
Every-
There is a question that everybody asks us how many
squirrels are there in the area, but they don't exactly line up
for us to count them. But, I would say four or five hundred.
ROGER: This year, there have been a lot of juveniles around
coming out late in the year. So we suspect this will be a good
second litter this year and numbers are probably up.
KATE: I mean, people come from miles away, they come from the
Midlands, they come right over from Yorkshire to see the
squirrels. But it is very, very important that they don't get
tame. I mean, people do come sometimes on a very hot, sunny,
often crowded afternoon and say there's no squirrels.
Where are they?!
But they are wild and you cannot have them on demand. And the
best time to see them is, is early in the morning when
they're, when they're very active and looking for food.
And sometimes they're up in the top of the trees and you can
hear this sort of noise and they're saying, Come on! Come
on! Where's the food?
Neither Roger nor I are local to Formby. We, we moved here a good
many years ago, but I mean, when I grew up, there were only Grey
Squirrels, I didn't even know what a Red looked like and it is
just so beautiful to see something so small. They're so
quick the way they jump from tree to tree, an absolute
delight to watch.
And I say it is, you think when Beatrix Potter wrote her
stories, you know, Squirrel Nutkin, there were only red
squirrels, that's all people knew. And now the majority of
people in Britain never see a red squirrel. So it's so so
important that we look after them.
KATE MARTIN: Thanks for listening to this week's mini
episode, our next full episode will be available in a couple of
weeks, but there'll be another mini episode available next week
while I'll be exploring the intriguing treasures buried in
the Formby Dunes. So until then from me, Kate Martin, goodbye.