Red squirrels do not hibernate but on any sunny day throughout the winter months they will take the opportunity to forage.

Yesterday was a beautiful springlike day with warm sunshine and a light breeze,so this Red was out and about after any available food.Still sporting its winter ear tufts, the tufts will be lost as the summer approach's.

Photograph by kind permission of Ian Giles

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A drey is a nest built by the red squirrel in the forks of branches,situated close to the main trunk.It is made up of twigs and leaves and the hollow inside is lined with moss,grass and hair.

Depending on the size of the red squirrels territory the two or three dreys it builds may be close together or considerably farther apart.When territories overlap it is known for squirrels to share their dreys with their neighbours during the winter and early spring.This sharing normally stops in the late spring and summer when the females are raising their young.

This drey was found in Walters Copse,Newtown.