COLLECTING BEDDING

A busy red squirrel was seen collecting nesting material beside Firs Chase on Friday 14th. After it had begun to carry it away, it paused briefly on top of the roof of a nearby bungalow, catching the early morning sunshine while it pondered its next move.

The red squirrel had spent a moment wrapping the strips of bark into a tight ball so that it could carry it in its mouth.

The red squirrel had first been spotted from the kitchen window stripping the bark from a thin branch on the opposite side of the road. I grabbed a camera and managed to take these pictures as I watched it over the passing traffic between us! It paused once and retreated a short way when a dog-walker passed close-by along the road but then came back to strip more off the branch.

The squirrel was watched for about five to ten minutes stripping the bark off and another five or so minutes as it carried it off through the trees.

Lime bark, also known as bast, is perfect for nest material as it strips off easily in long dry strips.

The red squirrel was thinking of crossing the road at ground level which is dangerous with all the traffic passing by. I went and stood in the entrance to our driveway so that it would be deterred from running across the road towards me. It did look at me from the low fence pictured above and then decided to turn back and use the longer route but safer aerial crossing using the branches high over the road. Once over the road, it scampered along the roof of our chalet bungalow - a regular route for it, dropped down into a tree in our patio and then away into the neighbour's garden, still carrying the ball of bark!