The Kilnsey Park red squirrels were very quiet during the extreme cold of December and January and there was a fear that they may not all have survived. However they have been seen out playing and eating in the recent winter sunshine. We now think that we lost one red squirrel during the extreme cold, but thankfully the rest survived. Fortunately we had replaced all of the red squirrel boxes during the autumn and filled them with very warm bedding so they should have been very snug, but of course the temperatures were extreme.
At the end of January we swopped two red squirrels with the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey which has recently been featured on BBC’s Countryfile. This means that they have two of our males - and we have two new male red squirrels at Kilnsey Park. By extending our family of red squirrels we hope that we will have even stronger baby red squirrels in 2010. We have sent other red squirrels to the British Wildlife Centre in the past and also previously sent red squirrels to Anglesey.
We have also been reviewing which red squirrels live in which enclosures. We have to make sure the mums are separate from their offspring, but we also have to be careful not to break up any couples. And of course we have the two new males to consider. Red squirrels become very attached to their mates and build a strong relationship. If that bond is broken the squirrel may not mate again.
During the springtime red squirrels moult which is when their coats will change colour to take on their beautiful deep red shade. Our red squirrels still have their distinctive tufts around their ears – one of the features that distinguishes them from the grey squirrels. The tufts will disappear soon when the moult will be complete.
Having gone through a winter of semi-hibernation, our red squirrels are now becoming much more active. Their appetites will start to increase soon when they will want to eat a lot of fresh twigs (they strip off the bark), nuts, sweetcorn, carrots, apples and coconut.
