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The groups dispersed by car to their
allocated areas and there proceeded to
survey each stand by means of systematic
'beats' back and forth between the forest
rides, looking for signs of squirrel
act i vi t y.
Apart from actual sightings, the presence
and relative abundance of squirrels may
be inferred from various signs, including
feeding signs and dreys.
Feeding Signs consist principally of the
discarded remains of conifer cones. Typically
the cores of such cones have a gnawed base
and a somewhat ragged shaft, unlike those
stripped by mice or voles which look much
neater. Although ragged in appearance,
closer examination of these cone cores often
reveals clean-cut scale bases where the
squirrel has bitten off the scales in order
to reach the twin seeds which lie at the
base of each scale.
By contrast, crossbills split the cone scales
longitudinally to get at the seeds, while
woodpeckers hack at the cones, leaving them
very 'frayed'. Unlike the Red Squirrel,
these birds leave the scales attached to the
central core.
Isolated cones may have been dropped by
squirrels feeding aloft, whilst numbers of
stripped cones, and cone debris, scattered
over an area of several square feet, indicate
a favourite feeding place up in the trees.
Heaps of cone remains lying close together
are from fallen cones which have been stripped
on the ground, and are often found on and
around tree stumps or other low vantage