A Red Squirrel on the Isle of Arran 25th December 2018

This year, as a family we decided to spend Christmas on the Isle of Arran which is a fifty minute Caledonian Macbrayne ferry trip from Adrossan on the coast of Ayrshire in Scotland.

We rented a spacious double fronted house in the small town of Lamlash on the southwest coast of Arran looking directly out over the sea to the looming bulk of Holy Island, now a Buddhist retreat and nature reserve.

The view from our house across to Holy Island

A small road ran between the bottom of the sloping front garden and the sea shore and we took a morning walk along it on Christmas Eve. On the rocky shore Curlews and Oystercatchers wandered the tideline while out on the sea Red breasted Mergansers, Shags and Cormorants fished in the company of both Grey and Common Seals but the best encounter we had was with a Red Squirrel, a much loved and iconic inhabitant of Scotland's woodlands, running in and out of the gardens of the other houses, that like ours fronted the seashore.

That afternoon we went into nearby Brodick, the main town on Arran to do some last minute shopping at the Coop and remembering the encounter with the squirrel I went in search of some peanuts but failed to find any, so instead got a small pack of mixed unsalted nuts from the wholefood section of the store.

My plan was to spread the nuts under a hedge which formed a boundary to the front garden close to the bay window of the living room, in the remote hope that I just might tempt the Red Squirrel to visit us. It was a long shot but like most things of this nature if you do not try then you will never know.

The hedge and palm trees

That evening I scattered the nuts on the grass near to a couple of palm trees growing by the hedge, retired inside and thought no more about it.

On Christmas morning we had our traditional Christmas breakfast of scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and prosecco, sat around the table in the bay window, looking out to Holy Island. A couple of hybrid Hooded Crow x Carrion Crows were busy digging up the lawn and making a right mess. Arran is on the border where Carrion Crows reach furthest north and Hooded Crows reach their southern limit.This results in not only pure Carrion and Hooded Crows being present on the island but also frequent hybrids as the two species readily interbreed here.

Hybrid Hooded Crow x Carrion Crow.There is a little too much black on
the breast and the belly is black rather than grey

As we were all about to leave the table my wife exclaimed that she could see a Red Squirrel was in the palm tree right outside and so it was.

It soon descended the trunk and made for the nuts. I leapt up and ran to get my camera and returned to find the squirrel stuffing nuts into its mouth. It then bounded down the garden in a series of leaps, each leap lifting it airborne, its four legs outstretched and long bushy tail streaming out behind, to hide the nuts for future hard times. It did this repeatedly, returning at speed each time to collect more nuts and then disappearing to different parts of the garden and even neighbouring gardens to bury the nuts. It returned to repeat the exercise over and over until there were no nuts left.

I only saw it pause to eat a nut once but for most of the time it was totally pre-occupied with hiding them, burying them with its front paws in the soft wet earth and grass.

Red Squirrels have an undeniable cuteness about them that is denied the larger and commoner Grey Squirrel, introduced to Britain in 1876 from America. Maybe it's the Red Squirrel's tufty ears and big fluffy tail. Possibly their smaller size and more demure behaviour. I really do not know but it certainly possesses an appeal to most people  and of course has forever been immortalised as a loveable creature in the children's book The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter.

To see one so close was a real privilege and I pushed my luck by slipping outside and sitting on a bench under the window in one of the squirrel's absences. During its absence I was joined by a friendly Robin that was also attracted by the nuts but found them a little too robust for its delicate bill. While the squirrel was away the Robin pecked at the nuts but as soon as the squirrel returned it retreated to the hedge.

On its return the squirrel showed not an ounce of alarm at my close presence on the bench, although I was now only a couple of metres from it, but continued with its quest to  gather and store the nuts around and about the garden as quickly as possible.

Its coat at this time of year looked quite grey on the flanks with the thick guard hairs serving to insulate it against harder weather.This thicker coat will be moulted towards Spring of next year and it will take on a much redder chestnut appearance but even now the chestnut brown showed through on various parts of its anatomy especially its front legs and its identity was quite unmistakeable.

Red Squirrels are our only native squirrel and were once found all over Great Britain but their populations were decimated by the introduction of the larger, more aggressive Grey Squirrel, which out competed it for food and living space and as a result the Red Squirrel is now mainly confined to remote parts of Scotland and on islands such as Arran, and also in areas where measures have been taken to prevent the Grey Squirrel from encroaching. Grey Squirrels also carry the threat of squirrelpox virus to which they are immune but which is fatal to Red Squirrels.

The Isle of Arran and similar wooded islands such as Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour in Dorset have thriving populations of Red Squirrels as the Grey Squirrel is unable to cross to these places and so the smaller native squirrel can survive and exist without competition.

There are only around 160,000 Red Squirrels left in Britain, of which 125,000 (75%) are in Scotland and the Isle of Arran is one of their last strongholds, supporting, as I mentioned, a large and thriving population.It is now considered that without concerted action the Red Squirrel could disappear from Scotland by 2030.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust together with Scottish Natural Heritage, Forestry Commission Scotland, RSPB Scotland, Scottish Land and Estates and the Red Squirrel Trust are making a co-ordinated attempt to halt the decline of Red Squirrels in Scotland and create the conditions it requires to thrive. Since 2009 the decline of Red Squirrels has been halted over wide areas by a strategically targeted and co ordinated programme of Grey Squirrel control allowing Red Squirrels to re-establish themselves in many areas.

                                         A pleasant story to end the year.