Red Squirrel Awareness Week

September has been a busy month for our red squirrels here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary. Our first three squirrels have settled in well, and are becoming bolder and more adventurous as the days go by. Its an absolute delight to see them busy caching their hazelnuts, and chasing each other across the top of their enclosure. The final two enclosures are near completion, and we will be working hard to get these ready for new furry occupants soon.

We started the month with some very generous donations from two garden centres - Katie’s Garden Plant Centre https://www.katiesgarden.co.uk, and Bypass Nurseries Garden Centre. https://bypassnurseries.co.uk. Thank you to these fantastic local businesses. Their donations will allow us to continue planting up our enclosures, and be able to offer seasonal browse to our squirrels.

On the 5th of September we attended the Red Squirrel Husbandry Workshop at Wildwood Devon. This was a chance to meet with other Red Squirrel keepers, and share ideas and expertise. We spent the day listening to different talks, and even had the chance to examine an old squirrel drey (the nest of a squirrel), and count the number of twigs taken to construct it- 477.

As we move into Autumn, we will be taking part in Red Squirrel Awareness Week from Monday, 30 September - Sunday, 06 October. Join us for daily talks at 12.30pm at our new squirrel enclosures, and learn all about these fascinating creatures.

Did you know?

The name Squirrel originates from Latin, meaning ‘little shadow tail’.

Squirrels are divided into three groups - ground squirrels, flying squirrels, and arboreal/tree squirrels. Red squirrels are tree squirrels.

Squirrels can hide thousands of individual food items throughout the year, and remember where most of these are hidden.

We will also be running a Name the Red Squirrels competition, and be looking for name suggestions to name our first three red squirrels, so please keep an eye on our socials. 

Come along this week and celebrate all things Red Squirrel with us. We will be running a themed trail, an activity and colouring table, and our Name the Red Squirrels competition.

✍️ 📷 Animal Keeper Luke

📷 Liam Austin