I know there is quite a few wildlife enthusiasts on here so I thought I would mention one was spotted down Grove lane woods in Padiham over the weekend. Next to Burnley's training ground for people who don't know the area.
According to peoples replies on the Padiham community site it wasn't thought any reds were left in Lancashire.

Nice. Dont think I have ever seen one round here.

On subject of Redsquirrel wasnt there a poster on here by that name?

There used to be quite a few in the woods around the Gawthorpe estate when I was growing up but they Grey has all but killed them off.

As long as whoever has spotted this Red Squirrel understands that Grey Squirrels can sometimes have rather red fur.

Some of Grey Squirrel have some reddish colour in their hair and it probably has been assumed to be a Red by the person seeing it. Especially if they've never seen the smaller Red before.

cricketfieldclarets wrote:Nice. Dont think I have ever seen one round here.

On subject of Redsquirrel wasnt there a poster on here by that name?

There was a guy called Redbeard wasn't there? Can't remember a Redsquirrel.

Good place to see them easily is at the Formby Nature Reserve.

Now i know it's not near Burnley but in fact in another country but have quite a few around my place , always love to see them bouncing down the stone walls at the end of the garden here in Co Galway .

Maybe someone mistook redbeard for a red squirrel?

Saw some red squirrels yesterday. But it was on Brownsea Island in Poole harbour!

chekhov wrote:Maybe someone mistook redbeard for a red squirrel?

To stop the confusion Redbeard has a eye patch, hook and cutlass.

chekhov wrote:Maybe someone mistook redbeard for a red squirrel?

Redsquirrelbeard sounds good to me for the old Pirate .

If they're in Padiham, they should be thankful they haven't been eaten.

Last red squirrel I saw in Lancashire was in about 1974. Be great to imagine they were making a comeback.

It would be impressive if they were to make a comeback, the grey squirrel an awful critter with their pox and out muscling our little reds; I view and photograph mine up near Hawes; they really are wonderful to watch.

Flying Red Squirrel by Andy Pritchard, on Flickr

AP4_6008-1 by Andy Pritchard, on Flickr

A Grab Shot by Andy Pritchard, on Flickr

ALP wrote:It would be impressive if they were to make a comeback

I'm pretty sure that they've seen a Grey Squirrel ALP.

Great photos though and the top one shows how, if you don't know what you're looking for, you could get mixed up between the two.

You can't just go off the colouration of the fur to distinguish them, obviously there's a size difference with the Red being smaller.

If in doubt it's all about the ear tufts, which Grey's don't have.

https://www.facebook.com/chris.obrien.9 ... 098494676/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This is the footage he took.

Quite a few down here in Derbyshire - up yours Greys!

Redsquirrel and Redbeard were both posters on the old board, though quite different.

Not seen Redbeard on here for a while. He's being chased out by the greys? It comes to us all.

I'd be ecstatic if it was a red squirrel as chances are there'd be at least a pair.
Sadly grey squirrel's are bigger and more aggressive and I'd go with the majority in here and suggest it was a grey. Can't really mistake a red from a grey as they are different sized and that distinctive tufty ear. If you know what you're looking for of course.
Though I'd be delighted if they were making a comeback.

I can confirm that I saw several squirrels, among other wildlife, on my last visit to Gawthorpe. Sadly I have to report that they were all grey squirrels.

ThinLizzy wrote:I'd be ecstatic if it was a red squirrel as chances are there'd be at least a pair.
Sadly grey squirrel's are bigger and more aggressive and I'd go with the majority in here and suggest it was a grey. Can't really mistake a red from a grey as they are different sized and that distinctive tufty ear. If you know what you're looking for of course.
Though I'd be delighted if they were making a comeback.

Look at the footage taken in post 17 if you think you can tell the difference, I'm not that talented.

Have they been cross breeding and that's why some Greys are half red?

I get this message when I click on the link at post 17 -"Sorry, this content isn't available at the moment" - so I cannot help you there.

However, red and grey squirrels do not interbreed. They are different species.

Quickenthetempo wrote:I know there is quite a few wildlife enthusiasts on here so I thought I would mention one was spotted down Grove lane woods in Padiham over the weekend. Next to Burnley's training ground for people who don't know the area.

Was it a Kevin Blackwell sized red squirrel?

spadesclaret wrote:I get this message when I click on the link at post 17 -"Sorry, this content isn't available at the moment" - so I cannot help you there.

However, red and grey squirrels do not interbreed. They are different species.

It leads to a video on a facebook site, so I presume you have to be a member of facebook or maybe even the group?

Unfortunately I'm not clever enough to get the video on here by other means.

Quickenthetempo wrote:Look at the footage taken in post 17 if you think you can tell the difference, I'm not that talented.

Have they been cross breeding and that's why some Greys are half red?

To be totally honest. I feed Grey Squirrels here. I am a sucker for animals. We have them tinged, but that could just be the soil. They do tend to like dust baths in the soil. As I have found to my annoyance when they roll around in my troughs!
Red Squirrels are smaller and have tufty ears. Grey squirrels are bigger and very aggressive. They even chase my dogs

Squirrels may chase a dog, but they're no match for a Goshawk. Which is a bird of prey which kills squirrels and is one of its food sources, mainly found in forests. It's a pity there's not more than the estimated 400 pairs of Goshawks in Britain, to keep the tree rat numbers down.