Welcome to Good News Monday! Today is an absolute scorcher. Whether you’re sitting, sweating in an office, or struggling to find the coolest spot in the house to hide away from this heat, you can enjoy for a few minutes a lovely bit of good news.
This Monday is the arrival of four new baby red squirrels or ‘kits’, which were born at the Yorkshire Arboretum on the Castle Howard estate, which has had a captive breeding colony of red squirrels since 2023.
What makes this such good news is that there are fewer than 40,000 red squirrels left in England. And, since the introduction of non-native grey squirrels from North America in the late 1800s, the population has struggled.
Posting to the Yorkshire Arboretum Facebook page they said: “We now know we have 4 babies from Holly which are out and about and Hazel has been feeding so there are more to come. They are so cute and watching them is wonderful, do come over and see if you can find them”.
The BBC reported that Ben Paterson, the red squirrel officer at Yorkshire Arboretum, said: “As soon as people realised that there was the possibility of kits, there was a large buzz around the whole place. It was all people were talking about. It’s been a really exciting atmosphere, it makes all the hard work worth it.”
This news is amazing and isn’t the only great Red Squirrel story we’ve had this year. Back in January, we reported that endangered red squirrels have been found in a wood in the Western Yorkshire Dales for the first time. Red squirrels had not been seen there before, according to a UK Squirrel Accord project officer who identified them. They were found in an 18-hectare Sitka spruce plantation, and the news couldn’t have come on a better day, as it was Red Squirrel Appreciation Day.
The 21st of January celebrates the humble red squirrel, and what better news than new sightings of the creatures? UK Squirrel Accord’s project officer, Julie Bailey, identified them as believing the colony will prosper and increase.
Check out the new baby red squirrels playing on a tree here:
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Feature Image Credit: Yorkshire Arboretum
