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points from which the squirrel can keep
a look-out for danger whilst feeding.
As with Grey Squirrels, Red Squirrels will
eat acorns and beech mast when available.
Acorns tend to be split, rather than
gnawed as they are by mice and voles.
Squirrels also eat some toadstools, and
these will bear the marks of the incisor
teeth, much larger than the toothmarks of
mice and voles, and readily distinguishable
from the peck-marks of birds, and the
irregular holes and slime trails left by
slugs.
Other signs include young conifer shoots
bitten through, and spiral strips of peeled
bark on conifer trunks.
Dreys may be of two types. Main dreys
are spherical structures about a foot in
diameter. Constructed from conifer twigs
and lined with grass and moss, they are
built against the main trunk of the tree,
usually at a height of at least 8 m., though
occasionally lower. They are used for
breeding and for winter shelter. The smaller,
more open summer dreys, used for sleeping or
resting, may be situated farther out on the
branches, where they could be confused with
the platform-like nests of Wood Pigeons.
Actual sightings of Red Squirrels are
relatively rare, since population densities
are typically lower than those of Grey
Squirrels, which typically inhabit broad-
leaved woodland, where food is more plentiful.
In the Thetford area, Red Squirrel population
densities are about two per block - easily