We went across to Dundonnell to check on progress with our red squirrel recovery project; it’s starting to get exciting as single young squirrels have been seen this month at Dundonnell and also at Leckmelm. It was a wild blustery day so we were lucky to see an adult squirrel at one of the release sites. But there is so much foliage in the deciduous trees and such huge amounts of food for squirrels,that the chances of seeing one were very small. The beech trees, in particular, are laden with mast, but all of the trees this year have big seed crops, and then today there were lots of fungi and brambles (blackberries)- good food for squirrels, and the rowan trees are spectacularly laden with red berries this autumn. Knowing that Breagha has been in the Dundonnell area in the last week, I kept a special eye open for sea eagles, and in the afternoon one came spiralling down over the cliffs and landed in a dead Scots pine. With the telescope, quickly out of the vehicle, I managed to read the wing tag before he flew off – it was red/white 2 – last seen last year on the island of Skye and ringed as a chick in the Loch Maree area in 2005.
August 29, 2009