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Community Woodland News

Squirrel Feeder Boxes in the Woodland

Thanks to a bunch of volunteers, 10 squirrel feeders have now been installed in the woodland to try and encourage the squirrels away from the area of larch felling. It will hopefully also reduce their inevitable stress levels from the felling. Some comfort food.

We had hoped to put up the feeders last Saturday 29th Jan during the volunteer day, but storm Malic put paid to that plan.

Never the less, a number of volunteers did pitch up on Saturday and said they would be willing to help get it done early in the week. True to their word we had six volunteers and kids turn out on Tuesday (1st Feb) afternoon and managed to put up 6 boxes and fill them with food. A great effort. 

Volunteers just finished getting out 6 boxes filled with food before the light faded on Tuesday afternoon.
Some of the squirrel feeders in place and filled with tasty nuts

Of the remainder, one was given to the care of a family near the Polmaise Rd entrance to the woods, one has been put up near the mud kitchen for the nursery children to keep an eye on and the last two were put up Thursday (3rd Feb) afternoon for volunteers who couldn’t make it along on Tuesday.

The volunteers have enough of the special squirrel food for a further two weeks and will be topping up the feeders in their own time.

The map below shows the approximate location of nine of the feeders. If you are in the woods keep an eye out for red squirrels near the feeders.

You can report red squirrel sightings on the “SAVING SCOTLAND’S RED SQUIRRELS” web site:

Squirrel Sightings – Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (scottishsquirrels.org.uk)

If you are in the woods, please make sure you follow all notices and instructions about the felling for your own safety. The latest update on the larch removal can be found at:

SPHN-Larch Removal

We have been working hard to try and minimise the inevitable impact on the red squirrel population. Hopefully the efforts of these volunteers will go some way to help achieve this.

If you have any comments on this article or would be interested in looking after a squirrel feeder in the future, please email volunteer@ccdt.org.uk.

Blog written by Jim O’Connor