We would like to thank the hundreds of people who have supported the Kilnsey Park red squirrels by sponsoring one since we started this scheme just over in 2004

The Kilnsey Park squirrels live in protected areas within the Park to ensure that they are safe from the disease carried by grey squirrels.   We have to make sure that they receive the correct balance of food and this can be expensive - over £80 per week!   So, your support has been invaluable.    We are also thrilled to have been able to make a significant contribution towards research into a vaccine to counter act the dreadful parapox disease which kills red squirrels.

We have been delighted to help you celebrate birthdays, anniversaries,  starting school, exam results and Christmas - and just help you enjoy our red squirrels!  Thank you very much!

Fishing is the most popular country sport so why not give it a go in a beautiful and safe environment!

Fishing at Kilnsey Park

£14.00 full day catch and release

£17.50 full day fishing includes 2 fish

£8.00 rod hire (plus a £20 deposit)

£12 full day for a junior (under 14)  inc 1 fish

NB the full ticket runs from 8:30am to 5:10pm OR 1pm to 8:30pm - see note below about evening sessions.

Evening sessions

From May 1st we will be open for evening sessions on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.  These will run until the end of September. 

Evening sessions start at 5:20pm and finish at 8:30pm. 

The evening ticket, including one fish is £10. 

The junior evening ticket is £8.50, including 1 ifsh.

Please note that you will also need a rod licence which we are unable to issue at Kilnsey Park.  This can be obtained from a Post Office.

Contacts for fishing tuition 

There are several fishing coaches who regularly teach at Kilnsey Park.

Stuart Minnikin  01535 635464
www.yorkshire-dales-flyfishing.com

Stephen Cheetham - 0113 2507 244
www.fishingwithstyle.co.uk

Jeff Metcalfe 07791 700553  www.tek2flyfishing.co.uk

See also the Fun Fishing for kids is £5:00 per person including one person to supervise, plus the cost of any fish caught.   Spectators are £1 per person.

Join us at Kilnsey Park where we will be running a series of one day courses to explain fly fishing with separate sessions for adults and juniors.   Our experienced and enthusiastic instructor will provide all the basics you need to become a successful fly fisherman or woman!  No experience is required and this course makes a fantastic gift for those interested in fishing or perhaps a birthday or other special treat.

The cost of the course is £50 per person including all tuition, rod hire, day ticket for lakes and one fish.

 Adults 1:30pm to 8:30pm

Saturday 17^th May

Saturday 28^th June

Saturday 12^th July

13 to 16 years 9:15am - 4:15pm

Thursday 27^th May (half term)

Wednesday 28^th May (half term)

Thursday 24^th July

Monday 28^th July

Wednesday 30 July

 The course is designed to provide the following fly fishing skills:

• Fishing & fishing techniques (most of the course)
• Tackle & assembly
• Basic knots
• Casting
• Safety issues
• Safe handling of fish
• Gutting and filleting demonstration

 To book please contact the Kilnsey Park shop on 01756 752150 or if you would like more information please speak to Stuart on the same number  or 07765688780.  Please bring your own drinks and packed lunch - or you can pre-order drinks and sandwiches from the Kilnsey Park farm shop.

Evening sessions

From May 1st we will be open for evening fly fishing sessions on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.  These will run until the end of September. 

Evening sessions start at 5:20pm and finish at 8:30pm. 

The evening ticket, including one fish is £10. 

The junior evening ticket is £8.50, including 1 fish.

Please note that you will also need a rod licence which we are unable to issue at Kilnsey Park.  This can be obtained from a Post Office.

All through the Easter holidays you can go on the Kilnsey Park Easter Egg Hunt!  Simply follow the Kilnsey Trail and look for the giant eggs hidden along the Kilnsey Trail.

It costs £1 to go on the Easter egg hunt - and every person who finds them all receives a chocolate egg at the end!

You will also have to pay the usual admission to the Kilnsey Trail

Good luck!

  Red squirrel Update    February 2008

We have just enjoyed some wonderful bright, sunny days at Kilnsey Park and the red squirrels have been out to play!  We are now busy cleaning out their nesting boxes (you may have seen them high up in their enclosures) as we hope that there might be some babies this year!

Red Squirrel Update                December 2007

 We have enjoyed a very pleasant autumn at Kilnsey Park.  The weather was extremely mild and we all enjoyed watching our red squirrels making their preparations for winter- and it was a total joy to watch!

 Despite all having been bred in captivity, natural instinct kicks in and our red squirrels were very busy, burying food ready for the winter.  First of all they put their scent onto it so that they will be able to find it again.  Then, keeping tight hold of the nut between their teeth they prepare a hole, quickly drop it in and then cover it all up.   We continue to feed the red squirrels every day at Kilnsey Park, but their bodies are telling them that food will soon be in short supply. They are also eating a lot more than usual as they increase their weight ready for the winter.   This will help to keep them warm in the winter months.

 The red squirrels moult twice a year and in the autumn they grow a new coat that is thicker and a much darker colour.  Their winter coats cover a bigger area of their feet and their tails become a lot more bushy.  Also watch out for the ear tufts  as these distinctive tufts are one of the most noticeable differences between red and grey squirrels.

 Now we are into winter and we are enjoying some very cold but bright days at Kilnsey Park which the red squirrels love!  During the winter they are particularly active on sunny days.    Red squirrels do not hibernate and they remain active virtually every day.  They cannot survive more than a few days without food and so even when the weather is very bad they will always be out.  We continue to feed them every day and they can also be seen digging up their hidden food supplies! 

  6th August

We have just spotted ANOTHER baby red squirrel!   This one is in the lower section of the top enclosure and was spotted for the first time on Monday 6th August.  It is much smaller than its mum so we guess it is about 8 weeks old.  Its coat is a very light red colour and it is absolutely adorable!  We are not sure yet whether this kitten is a girl or boy - we'll keep you posted!  We think that the earlier baby is a boy.

 July 2007

  We are delighted to announce that one of the females in the lower part of the top enclosure has produced a kitten!    The young red squirrel can now be seen playing – and is still smaller than mum, but catching up fast! 

Generally, red squirrels will produce two litters of kittens throughout a good year, one usually in spring and then another in late summer. There are on average 3 kittens in a litter, and they are born blind, pink, hairless and toothless.   Their eyes open by the time they are 1 month old and from 7 weeks old they will leave their nesting box and start to eat solid food.

 Otherwise all of the red squirrels are well.  They were disappointed at the very poor weather we had in June as they like bright, sunny days – and this is when they are usually most active.  But they are now out and enjoying the sunshine!   Their moult is now complete and so they have their lovely deep red coats.  Their ear tufts have disappeared as usually happens when they moult.

We have decided to change the focus of our red squirrel fundraising at Kilnsey Park.  We are now supporting the Wildlife Infectious Diseases Group based at the University of Liverpool.  The Group is currently researching why parapox virus occurs in red squirrel populations – and is looking for a cure.  We are now donating all of the money we receive for red squirrel adoptions to this Group.  We have also recently introduced Red Squirrel Ale to Kilnsey Park.  It is made by the Wharfedale Brewery which is based very close to us here in the Yorkshire Dales.  We are donating 5p for every bottle sold to the Wildlife Infectious Diseases Group.  We hope that you will continue to support Kilnsey Park in our endeavours to support red squirrels.

Spring 2007

We were saddened to see reports of parapox at the red squirrel sanctuary on Anglesey.  One of the Kilnsey Park squirrels went there last Easter (you may recall that we discovered she was already pregnant when she left us) so we hope that she and the other red squirrels survive.

The weather has been fairly mild this winter at Kilnsey so the red squirrels have been quite active, especially early in the morning.  Now that the days are becoming brighter and sunnier, they are keen to come out and play.

Very soon they will be moulting when their coats will change colour to take on their beautiful deep red shade.  Our red squirrels still have their distinctive tufts ariund their ears - one of the features that distinguishes them from the grey squirrels.  These tufts will disappear in about two months when the moult will be complete.

Having gone through a winter of semi-hibernation, they are becoming much more active.  Also their appetites are absolutely huge!   They are currently enjoying a lot of fresh twigs (they strip off the bark), nuts, sweetcorn, carrots, apples and coconut.

The squirrels are starting to pair up so we are hopeful of breeding again this year.  In fact we are hopeful that one of the females may even be pregnant already!  The nesting boxes have all been cleaned out and any repairs made,  including to the very high ones, in readiness for any kittens!  We are also looking at possible new developments such as webcams for the nesting boxes - we'll keep you posted!

October 2006

On the 7 - 8th October we held our Red Squirrel weekend as part of national red squirrel week.   It was a huge success and we would lke to thank everyone who came.

We have just had an update on the Kilnsey Park red squirrels who went to the British Wildlife Centre.   They have all settled very well and indeed are thriving!  They have mixed in well with the squirrels who were already there and are currently housed in one very large enclosure joined to two smaller ones which they can run through.  They will be split into breeding groups tearly next year. 

The red squirrel male given to us by the British Wildlife centre is also thriving and seems to be very content at Kilnsey Park.

Sadly we have lost one of our red squirrels.  Last week Vanessa noticed that one of the squirrels had a sore eye so she took him straight to the vet.   Unfortunately it turned out to be a tumour and he died naturally shortly after the visit. 

Autumn is arriving at Kilnsey Park!  Not only are the trees beginning to turn but the red quirrels are starting their preparations for winter - and it is a total joy to watch!

Despite all having been bred in captivity, natural instict kicks in and our red squirrels are busy, burying food ready for winter.  First of all they put their scent onto it so that they will be able to find it again.  Then, keeping tight hold of the nut between their teeth, they prepare a hole, quickly drop in the nut and then cover it all up.  We continue to feed the red squirrels every day at Kilnsey Park, but their bodies are telling them that food will soon be in short supply.   They are also eating a lot more than usual as they increase their weight ready for winter.   This will help them to keep warm in the winter.

The red squirrels moult twice a year and in the autumn they grow a new coat that is thicker and a much darker colour.   Their winter coats cover a bigger area of their feet and their tails become a lot more bushy.  Also watch out for the ear tufts which are growing at the moment.   These distinctive tufts are one of the most noticeable differences between red and grey squirrels.

Red squirrels do not hibernate and they remain active virtually every day.  They cannot survive more than a few days without food and so even when the weather is bad they will always go out for food.   During the winter they are particularly active on sunny days. 

18th September -  

watch out for the Red Squirrel Weekend - 7th and 8th October 2006!!

Red Squirrel Update                                                                                                                                                                  July 14th 2006

Great news!  We have had a very successful breeding year, so far!  There are two separate cages within our top enclosure (ie beside the water garden) and we have had a litter born in each!

In the lower of the two sections we have 2 boys and 1 girl, and in the upper section there are 2 girls and 2 boys.

The kittens are nearly 4 months old so they look almost the same size as their parents.  They stayed in the box until they were about 3 months old, but we knew they were there as we could tell from the mother that she was feeding babies.

As we have done so well this year ,we have given some of our red squirrels to a wild life reserve in the south of England.  We are sure that they will be very happy there and hopefully they will have babies this year or next year.

In exchange for these squirrels the wild life reserve has given us a red squirrel boy.  This is fantastic news for us as it extends the genes within our red squirrel family.

The other news is that while we have been moving red squirrels about, we have taken the opportunity to refurbish the lowere red squirrel enclosure (ie beside the goats).  So we are planting new trees, sorting out the boxes and giving them a new playground.  Many thanks to the Hawes Ropemaker WR Outhwaite who supplied the rope for their new climbing area and also gave us lots of spare rope.  This is invaluable as the red squirrels will take fibres from the rope to make bedding for the nests. 

We have been keeping a very careful eye on our remaining 12 squirrels following the departure of one female to Anglesey.    We are confident that one of the squirrels in the top enclosure has produced a litter, however it will be some time before we see any kittens.  Also it seems that the red squirrel who left us was the dominant female in her own enclosure so we are hopeful that following her departure, one of the other females may become pregnant.

This is a baby squirrel (picture from the Anglesey project at www.redsquirrels.info  )

Generally, red squirrels will produce two litters of kittens throughout a good year, one usually in spring and then another in late summer. There are on average 3 kittens in a litter, and they are born blind, pink, hairless and toothless.   Their eyes open by the time they are 1 month old and from 7 weeks old they will leave their nesting box and start to eat solid food.

We will keep you posted about any further kitten developments!

Red Squirrel Update
22nd June 2006

Great news - we have more baby red squirrels!    So far we have found 3 kittens in one enclosure and 4 in another!  Wonderful news and we are hopeful of more as the summer progresses!

Also - perhaps even more excitingly, Vanessa has discovered a young red squirrel living OUTSIDE of the enclosure at Kilnsey Park!   This means that we have not lost all of the red squirrels who escaped in October 2004 and that two of them have in fact bred!  We are assuming that they are living close to the Park and that the young squirrel visiting us is their baby.   We think that it is about 3 months old and that it has left the nest to make space for a second litter.  We are now placing fresh food outside of the red squirrel enclosures for this young squirrel.  We will keep you posted!

May 5th 2006

A Kilnsey Park Red squirrel goes to Anglesey!

The Kilnsey Park red squirrels are part of the Red Squirrel Captive Breeding Plan which ensures that the gene pool of Red Squirrels is as large as possible, hopefully ensuring that they will never become extinct.    As a result of Vanessa Robert.s contact through this group she has recently given a female red squirrel to the Anglesey Red Squirrel Project.  

Vanessa took the squirrel to Anglesey very early one morning during the Easter holidays.  As the traffic was quiet the journey was fairly swift and the squirrel did not seem at all distressed.  The Kilnsey Park red squirrel was taken to a large enclosure where she will be by herself for about two months.   However there will be two wild, red, male squirrels living in the area outside of her cage so that by the time she is released so she will have had the chance to make friends!

There is however a strong possibility that when the Kilnsey Park red squirrel was taken to Anglesey she was already pregnant!  We will keep you posted!

Anglesey is one of the leading examples of red squirrel conservation in the UK   The red squirrel there was close to extinction in 1998, but through a well organised conservation project which included active grey squirrel management,  red squirrels increased in numbers and also recolonised woodlands previously only occupied by grey squirrels.

To see more information about the Anglesey Red Squirrel Project please see www.redsquirrels.info

March 21st 2006

The weather is still cold here at Kilnsey Park but the red squirrels are becoming keen to come out and play when the days are bright and sunny.  Very soon they will be moulting when their coats will change colour to take on their beautiful deep red shade.  Our squirrels still have their distinctive tufts around their ears . one of the features that distinguishes them from the grey squirrels.  The tufts will disappear in about two months when the moult will be complete.

Having gone through a winter of semi-hibernation when they have only been out occasionally, they are becoming much more active.  Also their appetites are absolutely huge!  They are currently enjoying a lot of fresh twigs (they strip off the bark), nuts, sweetcorn, carrots, apples and coconut. 

The squirrels appear to be starting to pair up so we are hopeful of breeding again this year.   The nesting boxes have all been cleared out and any repairs have been made, including to the very high ones, in readiness for any kittens!
 
Red Squirrel Update - 12th October 2005

Autumn is arriving at Kilnsey Park!  Not only are the trees beginning to turn but the squirrels are starting their preparations for winter.

Despite all having been bred in captivity, natural instinct kicks in and our red squirrels are busy burying food ready for the winter.  First of all they put their scent onto it so that they will be able to find it again.   We continue to feed the red squirrels every day at Kilnsey Park, but their bodies are telling them that food will soon be in short supply. They are also eating a lot more than usual as they increase their weight ready for the winter.   This will help to keep them warm in the winter months.

The red squirrels moult twice a year and in the autumn they grow a new coat that is thicker and a much darker colour.  Their winter coats cover a bigger area of their feet and their tails become a lot more bushy.  Also watch out for the ear tufts which are growing at the moment.  These distinctive tufts are one of the most noticeable differences between red and grey squirrels.

Red Squirrels do not hibernate and they remain active virtually every day.  They cannot survive more than a few days without food and so even when the weather is very bad they will always be out. During the winter they are particularly active on sunny days.

Update - August 2005

You may recall that a small number of squirrels escaped from their enclosure after structural damage during the autumn's high winds and they have been living free around the Park. One of the females who escaped has successfully had two kittens however we are very sorry to report that she strayed onto the road outside of the Park last week and died. Her babies are still very young but seem to be surviving as they have been spotted a number of times around the Park. We are continuing to ensure a plentiful supply of food outside of the enclosures for them.   The latest news is that the young squirrels are surviving well and have been seen regularly since the loss of their mother.

We do unfortunately have other worries for the squirrels at the Park. Grey squirrels have been spotted in close proximity to the Park - and within the past couple of weeks three have been captured within the Park while they were taking the food put out for the red squirrels. The greys have caused a lot of damage, such as gnawing through many of the wooden boxes put up around Kilnsey Park. However, more worrying is the concern that the greys could infect the red squirrels with the parapox which is deadly to red squirrels. All visitors are asked to notify Kilnsey Park staff if they spot a grey squirrel in or around the Park

Help us to support red squirrels across the UK. You have probably enjoyed seeing the red squirrels at Kilnsey Park, but remember that they are an endangered species.   You can help us to help the plight of red squirrel across the country.

We have decided to support Wildlife Infectious Diseases Group based at the University of Liverpool.  The group is currently researching why the poxvirus disease outbreaks occur in red squirrels populations - and it is looking for a cure.

You can help us at Kilnsey Park to support this research.   

You can adopt a red squirrel for just £10 and all of the proceeds go straight to the Wildlife Infectious Diseases Group.

You can also buy a bottle of Red Squirrel Ale whichis made for us by The Wharfedale Brewery.  5p form every bottle sold goes to the fund for the Wildlife Infectious Diseases Group.

Together we can fight this disease that is killing the UK's red squirrel population.