At this time of the year, red squirrels often have very dark
winter coats.
You can see in the photo above that they can
look very grey indeed! This can cause confusion and they are
often recorded as grey squirrels, when they are actually red in
their winter coat. There are no known populations of grey
squirrels in the Highlands currently.
We are very keen for people to record all
sightings, and if you are not sure if it
is red or grey, please do let me know as it can be checked
out. If you do see a confusing squirrel, try and
have a look at the size of the squirrel and whether it has ear
tufts. A grey squirrel is almost twice the size of a red, it
is often seen on the ground and it never has ear tufts.
The postcard below shows the difference between reds and greys
in the summer. This is not always as straight forward in the
winter! Click on this link for more guidance on how to
identify red and grey squirrels.
