SIBLING SQUIRRELS

The family of red squirrels have been spending a lot of time each day visiting the nut feeder in the Firs Chase garden over the last fortnight. At times both siblings have been feeding together and seemingly quite relaxed in each other's company.

The sight of two drinking together from the cup of water was very unexpected as the feeder and water had only just been topped up five minutes earlier towards the end of the afternoon of Sunday 7th. One squirrel was already at the feeder and soon noticed its sibling scramble down the trunk straight towards the cup of water, and so it climbed across to join it drinking cheek by cheek!
They don't seem too bothered about eating or drinking whilst hanging upside down!

After their drink the two young red squirrels tucked into the newly replenished nut feeder, taking it in turns to reach in for a nut or seed. One of them occasionally scuttling higher up, taking a nut to eat on top of a big limb.

About an hour earlier a red squirrel was noticed clambering about in a cherry tree in the garden, here reaching over to pluck some unripe cherries to eat.

It spent several minutes in the cherry tree before heading over to the main nut feeder in the cedar tree.

Sunday was a busy day for squirrel activity with at least five periods during the day when a red squirrel came to the feeder, with one visit lasting forty minutes. Even the dad made a fleeting visit early in the morning.

One of the red squirrels enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine from one of the big branches on the cedar tree on Monday 8th. The sunshine really highlighted the bright orange-red fur.

Some of the hazel-nuts from the feeder are taken higher up the tree where the squirrel spends several minutes opening it up to eat the inside of the nut.

A red squirrel was also seen further up Firs Chase in the back garden of the Newmans near Stonehill Way on Saturday.