Red Squirrels
and other visitors to our garden

Happily, red squirrels still thrive on the Isle of Wight. It is one of very few remaining refuges in the UK for these delightful little creatures - and long may it continue so.

Elsewhere, throughout much of England and Wales, the red squirrel has been replaced by its American rival, the grey squirrel, which was introduced to England sometime between 1876 and 1929.


The greys and reds do not attack each other, but the greys carry the squirrelpox virus which is deadly to the reds. And so, over time, they can wipe out an entire population. For this reason no greys are allowed on the island!

Red squirrels usually live in coniferous forests and dine on pine cones. But we do not have coniferous forests, so the Isle of Wight red squirrels live in broad-leaved woodlands and dine on hazel nuts, sweet chestnuts, pine cones, walnuts and beechnuts.

'Red', as we call him, grabs some nuts .....

We have a wood right next to our house where red squirrels live. We have not found their drey yet, but we see them quite regularly burying nuts in the garden. They also visit the squirrel box to eat the nuts we put out for them. They are full of character and 'chatter' noisily from the trees to tell us to go away when they want to feed. And when they are very annoyed, they whip their tails up and down in a very impatient manner!



Badgers also live in the woods next door and visit us each evening. We put out left over meat scraps, vegetables, wholemeal bread and peanuts for them (badgers love peanuts!) and we enjoy watching them from our lounge window.

This year we were lucky enough to see mother badger with her two cubs.

Mother and cubs (Skippy and Bumble) enjoying supper

They are a delight to watch - and illustrate beautifully the 'pecking order'!. Father badger is very bossy and pushes all the others away until he's had his fill. Mother, on the other hand, often watches from a discrete distance while her babies eat, then eats herself. But the cubs (one of each sex we think) often argue and squabble like most siblings. For this reason we've taken to putting out two bowls of food each night!


Our next regular visitor is Squarky (an elderly pheasant). Squarky visits several times each day for his sunflower hearts and squashed peanuts, and if we are not around he pecks on the window until we hear him! Most mornings he sits on the back doorstep until his breakfast is served.

Squarky enjoys his lunch - much to Robin's annoyance!

Squarky has sired several broods since we've lived here, but sadly very few of the young survive. Last year, for example, his 'wife' injured her foot and soon disappeared (probably eaten by local foxes), one daughter vanished and then his only son got run over. This year he appears to be living with his last remaining daughter - very naughty, but that's pheasants for you!

If you also love wildlife, you will enjoy your visit to the Isle of Wight, I'm sure. If you specially want to see red squirrels, try the woods around Newtown Creek, or Parkhurst Forest, or Borthwood, or the Mottistone Estate.

And if you want to see badgers, look out for them in or near the woods at dusk.

I wish you good luck!

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