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The ears have fur tufts, and the winter coat is darker than the summer one but with a greyish shade on top. The changing of the coat lasted for more than a month.

 

Food is spruce and fir seeds. The supply of cones varies between years but years with a poor cone harvest are rarely the same for spruces and firs. The winter of last year was severe and there were few cones; young spruce shoots, tree bark and the buds of deciduous trees had to be eaten to keep alive. The thick snow covered the hidden winter stores of the squirrels. Near living houses bird feeders were visited.

 

For some reason our squirrels aren’t particularly interested in acorns, but nuts are carefully hidden and rose hips and mushrooms are hung up between twigs. The necessary daily food ration is calculated at 15 grams of seeds for a squirrel weighing about a quarter of a kilo – that represents many tens of cones.

 

The present cone year is poorish for spruces but there are fir cones about...