May 2023 was a tale of two sightings. Without them it would have been a very quiet month
indeed for red squirrel news in Bute.
We have deployed our feeders to the final major blocks of woodland on the island as we
complete this initial phase of the red squirrel project. So far I can report that visitors to the
feeders include Great Tits, Great Spotted Woodpeckers, roe deer and several mice. But zero
red squirrels.
The good news in May was our two red squirrel sightings, both in Cnocnicoll Wood, near
Mount Stuart. Donald Kinnear saw one there on 5th May and he managed to grab a photo
before the squirrel disappeared in the trees. The highly enlarged image clearly shows a
squirrel outline. That was exactly the sort of confirming evidence that we need.
The second sighting, also of a single red squirrel, was on 28th May in more or less the same
place in Cnocnicoll Wood.
Whilst we cannot draw any conclusions from two sightings, they do fit into the general
pattern of our red squirrel sightings – we tend to see single squirrels only, we might see
them repeatedly in the same area for a period of time, then nothing. That suggests a small
squirrel population, perhaps one that is quite mobile as the animals move around to take
advantage of patchy food availability. I hope we will build a clearer picture in the coming
months and years as we take the project forwards.