Wight Squirrel Project

14/02/2025

The pelage (coat) consists of layers, the closest to the skin is the insulating underfur. The main body of hair is the colour we are familiar with and this is topped with longer guard hairs. In red squirrels, the summer coat can be a different colour from the winter coat. The winter coat is moulted in the spring, beginning with the face and working backwards. The long eartufts are lost completely on most animals but some do retain a vestige of tufts.

Kittens can have very pale grey fur, so it’s obviously not age related. Colours can range from every shade of grey through to virtually black. Equally, many shades of brown and ginger are found. Occasionally, multi-coloured reds are seen. One of the oddest winter coats I observed belonged to a red squirrel (it had eartufts) with a brindled grey body and a bright ginger tail. It is quite common for a squirrel to have a light or dark tail tip or a dorsal stripe but occasionally a squirrel will have racoon-like rings in the tail or just a mixture of colours. In the summer some red squirrels may have very blonde tails.

12/02/2025

If you haven't filed in the Local Nature Reserve Strategy questionnaire yet, here is the link. There are just 2 days left....

Isle of Wight Local Nature Recovery Strategy Consultation on draft LNRS for the Isle of Wight In December 2024, Defra and Natural England approved the draft LNRS for the Isle of Wight. The next step is to hold a period of public consultation before local councillors are asked to approve the final ve...

12/02/2025

Red squirrels share some common – and uncommon – causes of mortality and morbidity with humans. Internal vital organs are aligned in a very similar way to those of humans. Their heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, kidneys, spleen and digestive tract look remarkably similar to ours. The digestive tract has a stomach that stretches when full and contracts when empty. I found that in a few animals the stomach was small and not as elastic when empty, while, going to the other extreme, the full stomach dominated the body cavity. The intestines are long, as you would expect from a predominantly herbivorous animal.

Since squirrels are very active animals, few have excess fat deposits, and those that do generally have pathology. The most common area to store fat, in the animals I’ve autopsied, has been around the kidneys. The fat is pure white and of a mucilaginous texture. Pelage The pelage, or coat, colour can vary enormously in red squirrels and is nothing to do with age or gender but genetic variation. There is more on genetics in the next chapter.

24/01/2025

Local Nature Reserve Strategy

Please comment on this strategy, it is very important! The Isle of Wight is the most important stronghold in the UK so we must look after the habitat as without it we will lose this precious population of red squirrels.
There is a lot about woodland in the document, so please scrutinise it carefully and think what will benefit red squirrels. Woodland management is beneficial and so is an age range in the trees plus a variety of tree species. Opening up the canopy too much or leaving wide open glades make the squirrels vulnerable to predation as it’s easier for buzzards to pick off the squirrels. Rides make woodland edge and it’s here the hazel produces the most nuts and older hazel produces the best nut crop for squirrels, mice and birds. This description is greatly simplified, so please do some research of your own or get back to me and ask. https://www.islandnature.org is the link to comment or I can send you pdfs which are easier to read; email address: [email protected].

Isle of Wight Local Nature Recovery Strategy Consultation on draft LNRS for the Isle of Wight In December 2024, Defra and Natural England approved the draft LNRS for the Isle of Wight. The next step is to hold a period of public consultation before local councillors are asked to approve the final ve...

21/01/2025

It's red squirrel appreciation day today! How can you not appreciate these cheeky, charismatic mammals!

20/01/2025

and page 3...

20/01/2025

Page 2 coming up

20/01/2025

Following on from the last post, here is the guide I've worked on for the last 34 years.... There are 3 pages, so plenty to read and learn!

16/01/2025

Red squirrels fed on peanuts have weaker jaws – here’s why that matters for conservation
Published: January 15, 2025 5.16pm GMT
Author, Philip Cox
Associate Professor in Anatomy, UCL

Disclosure statement.

Philip Cox has received funding from the Royal Society. Partners
University College London provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation UK.
The Conversation UK receives funding from these organisations have been replaced over a large part of Great Britain by the non-native grey squirrel, introduced from North America in the late 19th century. Today, the British population of red squirrels (approximately 287,000) is mostly restricted to Scotland, northern England and some offshore islands.
This fragmented distribution is bad news for conserving red squirrels, but provides an interesting case study for scientists. Given the different climate and habitats the remaining red squirrels live in, and the duration of their isolation from one another (many decades in some cases), might these squirrels have developed anatomical differences as other separated populations of the same species elsewhere?
In a similar case, Charles Darwin famously noted how the finches of different Galápagos islands had different beak shapes that reflected the things they were eating.
My colleagues and I compared the shape of the skull and lower jaw in red squirrels from four populations – north Scotland, the Scottish-English border region, the Formby red squirrel reserve in Merseyside, and Jersey in the Channel Islands – and found that there were indeed significant differences between the populations.
You are what you eat.
Red squirrels from the Formby reserve near Liverpool in north-west England had skulls with flatter braincases and longer faces. These squirrels also had less robust lower jaws, with muscle attachment sites closer to the jaw joint compared with their relatives elsewhere.
hese differences all implied that the Formby squirrels had smaller and less efficient jaw muscles, and less forceful bites than red squirrels from other populations.
Disinformation is dangerous. We fight it with facts and expertise.
What’s more, within the Formby population, we found changes in anatomy over a short period of time. Red squirrels from the 1990s had less efficient muscles than Formby squirrels from the 2010s.
These differences could be the result of random genetic mutations, or inbreeding as the red squirrels at Formby have been through population crashes owing to disease. But the impact of the differences in skull and jaw shape on the strength and efficiency of the squirrels’ bite suggests that diet could be an underlying cause.
Red squirrels in the UK eat a variety of food, depending on where they live. In northern Scotland, red squirrels almost exclusively eat pine cone seeds which they extract by gnawing away the cone scales one by one. In northern England’s mixed deciduous and coniferous forests, red squirrels eat a more varied diet of hazelnuts, beechnuts and yew seeds, alongside pine and spruce seeds, and on the Channel Island of Jersey, red squirrels eat acorns, hazelnuts and sweet chestnuts.
At the Formby reserve, red squirrels live among pine trees. However, throughout the 1990s and 2000s they were provided with supplementary food all year round in the form of peanuts in the shell (or monkey nuts). Workers at the reserve cut back on this type of feeding from 2007 onwards and encouraged members of the public to do likewise.
Peanuts are much easier to prise open than hazelnuts or pine cones – we can crack peanut shells with our bare hands, but few of us can break a hazelnut shell without nutcrackers. So, we think that the less mechanically demanding diet at Formby led to a change in the skull and jaw anatomy of the red squirrels. This change was then partially reversed when supplementary peanut feeding was stopped.
Evolution or development?
The question that remains over our research is whether the anatomical changes seen at Formby were a product of evolution over several generations or a developmental response within the lifetime of each individual squirrel. The latter mechanism is known as bone modelling and occurs in all vertebrates such that bone mass decreases with reduced use of the muscles (as seen in astronauts who don’t have to work their muscles against gravity).
The two scenarios are difficult to tease apart, although the rapid change seen in the Formby squirrels following the removal of supplementary peanuts suggests it might be developmental.
Whatever the mechanism, our research may have important implications for the conservation of red squirrels and other species, particularly where animals are being bred in captivity for later release into the wild.
It seems that, based on our results, it would be wise to match any supplementary food to what the animals are most likely to find in the wild in order to give them the best chance of survival.

10/01/2025

The squirrel’s brain is not fully broadsides, is not between the eyes and ears, but above and behind the upper/rear corner of the eye. The cerebellum is a small protuberance to the rear of the brain and beneath it is the junction of the brain and spinal cord. The cerebrum is located towards the front of the brain but behind and above the olfactory bulb. The hippocampus is located on the underside of the brain and is believed to be the main memory store location. Squirrels have excellent memory for locating food and navigation. It is believed they make a mental map of each area using landmarks to triangulate the location of food stores.
The large olfactory bulbs receive neural input about odours detected by cells in the nasal cavity. The axons of olfactory receptor (smell receptor) cells extend directly into the highly organised olfactory bulb, where information about odours is processed, which allows squirrels to detect food below the surface. The cerebrum performs higher functions like interpreting touch, vision and hearing, but unlike in higher primates it is rather small. The cerebellum receives information from the sensory systems, the spinal cord, and other parts of the brain and then regulates motor movements. The cerebellum coordinates voluntary movements such as posture, balance, coordination, resulting in smooth and balanced muscular activity. By Dr Jon Fishman

09/01/2025

We support the work of the Millenium Green trustees and they need help to keep the woodland in good shape for the public and wildlife. There are lots of red squirrels there. Here is their message:

The Play Lane Millennium Green is monitored and maintained by a small group of Trustees and volunteers, supported almost entirely from personal donations. Basic running costs are approximately £500 each year. If you would like to help us maintain the Green, both now and for future generations, there are a few easy ways to do this.

1. The simplest way to donate is to use online shopping opportunities such as ‘easyfundraising’. All those tiny amounts add up and are gratefully received! You would need to download the App, do your normal shop and PLMGT would receive a small donation at no cost to you.

2. A direct personal donation can be completed using the website, www.playlane.org.uk; anything you would like to give, no matter how small, is always much appreciated!

Or, if you would like to be more involved;

3. Become one of our Guardians and support us with a small regular donation, together with a simple monitoring role when visiting the Green.

4. We also need people who are interested in the local environment, or have a background in forestry, native wildlife and native plant life to join us as Trustees. There are currently three vacancies. This would mean attending meetings throughout the year to discuss management plans, potential fund raising strategies and possibly even being involved in the practical elements of maintaining the health of this wild woodland.

If you would like more information about Play Lane Millennium Green Trust, or any of the fund raising points above, please contact us via the email address on the website, or phone Rose (07720 275297) or Mandy (07587 154300).

Thank you.

23/12/2024

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

20/12/2024

Haven't bought your red squirrel calendar yet? AAA Records in St Jame's Street Newport, Biscoe's High Street, Newport, No 66 Union Street, Ryde and Squirrel Den, Arreton Barns have them in stock.

04/12/2024

Sadly squirrels are still getting killed on Island roads. It's not always the driver's fault as the squirrels just dash out. I've been trying for 34 years to find an answer and the the only time things were better was during lockdown! Today a gentleman witnessed a squirrel being hit by a car and the poor animal didn't die immediately, it is very distressing. Please look and slow down where there are trees either side of the road and especially if you see a warning sign.

25/11/2024

When Helen Butler Mbe lived in a property bordering an Isle of Wight forest, it was a great opportunity to study red squirrel behaviour and personality but the greatest insight into red squirrel personality is raising orphaned red squirrels. Living with them makes you realise they are just as diverse in their traits and development as humans. For example, like us, squirrels are right- or left-handed.

Most orphaned red squirrels adapt to having a human mother and she only had one that most certainly did not. Food and warmth is paramount and if you are providing that, they are generally content. Some are brighter and faster to learn, whilst others just give up when presented with a challenge.

The young wait their turn at the feeders or picked up pieces dropped by the older squirrels. There is a pecking order and it is not always the largest squirrel that dominates. Gender doesn’t appear to influence dominance either. Red squirrels are not kind to aged or infirm squirrels. One member of the public reported the bullying of an old squirrel. When Helen Butler Mbe had the body for post mortem, he was found to have had an arthritic hip joint that immobilised a hind leg.