25/11/2024
The Isle of Wight is still one of the few strongholds for our native Red Squirrels and I wanted to give a shoutout of appreciation to Helen Butler MBE for her dedication to these alluring creatures. As founder of the Wight Squirrel Project with over 30 years of experience and research, she is the first port of call for anything Red Squirrel here on the Island. Helen and I have met on several occasions over the years, and I take my hat off to her for her hard work and hope there are many more years to come.
She has also written a book, well, it is more of a study and report of the Isle of Wight Red Squirrels from 1991 through to 2020, ( I hope more copies will be available soon) and even Helen would say this book could not have been possible without the contributions from an army of volunteers throughout the Island over the years, who have been reporting their sightings, and a whole host of other activities to enhance the Red Squirrels habitats, but with any project like this, there is always more to do. One of the projects is to connect and create corridors between habitats so that Squirrels can travel to find new territories. This involves cooperation from not only landowners but various environmental bodies and the IW Council.
If you know of two plots of woodland in your area which need a corridor between the two
then get in touch. These corridors can also help a huge number of other wildlife species too.
Please don’t forget that winter is closing in and our wildlife needs our help. Remember to put out fresh water and if you have wildlife visiting your garden then please have a supply of food available for when they need it most.
PHOTO CREDIT: Wight Squirrel Project
