Sciurus vulgaris
The Red Squirrel is a rodent about 19–25 cm long. Its bushy tail measures 15–20 cm, and it weighs 200–425 g; the female is larger than the male. The coat is reddish but in the winter turns slightly grey, but in northern Scandinavia it is completely grey in winter. Individuals with a completely black coat also occur. A Red Squirrel has prominent ear tufts that grow larger in the winter.
Red Squirrels feed principally on plants, conifer buds, beechnuts, acorns, nuts, and mushrooms as well as fruit and berries but will also take insects and occasionally birds’ eggs and young.
Squirrels are active during the day and prefer deciduous or mixed woodland, but they also inhabit gardens and parks. Squirrels are agile climbers; they can turn their hind feet 180 degrees to help climb down a tree headfirst.
A young Red Squirrel in its dark summer coat. AK.
The toes are long, narrow, and very dexterous. Squirrels have powerful curved claws and large foot pads. The front foot has five toes, but the thumb is very small and has one flat nail that does not leave a mark. The footprints are 3–4 cm long, and about 2 cm wide, while those of the hind feet are 5–6 cm long and 2.5–3.5 cm wide.
Red Squirrels spend the majority of their time in trees, so their tracks usually begin and end at a tree. On the ground, they move in jumps, exactly the way a Rabbit does, placing their front feet first, and then the hind feet in front of them, and this is the reason the prints of the front feet are found close together in the direction of movement. Immediately in front of the front footprints, those of the hind feet leave broader marks, and they are normally slightly oblique. When the squirrel moves normally, the distance between prints is 30–50 cm, but when it runs, the distance can be up to 1 m.
The scat is almost spherical, slightly flattened, and pointed at one end. In summer it is brown, 5–8 mm long and 5–6 mm thick; in winter it is darker or even black and usually smaller. It contains finely ground plant matter and occasionally the indigestible parts of insects. You normally find scat under trees, scattered on the ground, or at feeding sites.
The female builds a spherical nest, called a drey, high up in a tree. Unlike the somewhat larger Magpie nests, squirrel nests are built abutting the trunk, preferably in the fork of a branch. They are commonly found in conifers but can also be in deciduous trees. The drey is built from branches and twigs and then anchored to branches so it is not blown away in a storm. The nest is about the size of a football, about 30–50 cm in diameter, with a lateral entry hole of about 5 cm. The nest is somewhat loose in structure and filled with grass, moss, and strips of bark.
The innermost part of the nest is cushioned with hair, feathers, and other soft materials.
In addition to this nest, squirrels may also resort to other, simpler resting places in their territory, or sleep in hollow trees or large nest boxes.
Red Squirrels will peel bark off trees, and you may find loose bark as a result. Particular favourites are larches, oaks, beeches, birches, and sundry conifers. When used to build a nest, bark is not eaten and there are no tooth marks. When squirrels eat part of the softer cambium under the bark of a tree, you can see clear gnaw marks on the tree and bark strewn around.
Red Squirrel tracks in snow. Below are the tracks of the front feet, above these the prints of the hind feet. AK.
Squirrels eat the buds and younger branches of conifers, especially spruces. The gnaw marks are uniform. The branches are chewed off directly behind the male flowers, and the buds are hollowed out, leaving a cup-shaped remnant. Large quantities of chewed-off branches often lie below trees.
Fir and pine cones are bitten off. The squirrel holds the cone in its front feet by the tip and chews off the outer scales of the cone to get to the seeds. Cones that have been gnawed on by squirrels have a frayed and somewhat pointed appearance, like a little brush. The base of the cone is always frayed. When cones are gnawed on by mice, the base is always smooth, and mice also leave a smaller point on the cone.
Squirrels eat cones on moss-covered hillocks or tree stumps, where the discarded cones and scales can be found in great numbers. The animals also eat cones up in the trees. They will often use favoured feeding sites, and here you will find the remains of cones on the ground; mice prefer eating in secluded and well-hidden places.
Squirrels hold hazelnuts with their front feet. They gnaw off the tip to form a small opening, then use their lower teeth like a crowbar to gain access to the kernel. They crack open the stones of fruit in the same manner.
Squirrels open walnuts by pressing their lower incisors into the thinner parts of the shell and then using the teeth to prize open the shell.
Squirrels like the grubs in pineapple galls, which can be found on the green shoots of fir trees. The shoot with the gall is bitten off, and the grub is exposed and consumed.
Squirrels hold food with their front feet. AK.
Red Squirrels eat a lot of mushrooms, and the teeth marks can be seen as indentations 4–5 mm wide. Squirrels even store mushrooms to dry, placing them on forks in branches or skewering them on broken branches.
Hazelnuts gnawed on by squirrels. LG.
A Red Squirrel with a pine cone. LG.
Pine cones gnawed by squirrels are frayed and scattered everywhere, often on stones or mounds. LG.
They stock winter supplies of beechnuts, acorns, and hazelnuts, either massed or stuck individually in cracks and crevices in trees or small holes in the ground. When squirrels forget the location of these supplies, young trees sprout from uneaten nuts.