On Saturday we ventured up to the coastal forest in Formby in Lancashire in quest of the red squirrel. Our native red squirrel is a rare sight since the introduction of its American cousin the grey squirrel and they can now only be found in a few locations, mostly in Scotland and the North of England. Formby is one of the few locations you can still hope to see the red squirrel, largely by virtue of the fact that they keep the grey squirrel population down there.
It was with much excitement that we arrived at the forest and Lily and I both spotted a red squirrel before we even got out of the car. Thanks to a nappy related incident, Mark dropped us at the forest and then drove back to a nearby supermarket to sort out the offending baby. Whilst he was gone, I bought the older Podlings an ice cream and we ambled about the forest and saw at least four or five red squirrels.
When Mark and Alex got back, we walked through the forest to the beach and spent a happy hour on the sand there. Mark hadn't yet seen a red squirrel, but we had seen so many we thought he was sure to see them on the way back to the car. We were wrong! Poor Mark! We drove all the way up to Lancashire so Mark could see a red squirrel and we all saw one except for him! We all had a lovely time though and we will definitely go back, not least to give Mark a chance to actually see a red squirrel next time!
These little chaps are hard to photograph as they are so fast!
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