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| Sun is shining, the weather is sweet. Time to head out to Formby and check out one of Lancashire’s finest landscapes – the coastal pinewood and sand dunes of the Sefton coast. |
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| The star attraction – as an ex-member of the Tufty Club I’ve always had a lot of time for Red Squirrels. Great to see at least 7 within an hour of arriving at the National Trust managed reserve. Difficult to imagine that without help in 20 years they could be extinct within England. |
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| According to the latest research the number of squirrels has now reached approximately 50% of the pre 2008 devastating outbreak of Squirrel Pox. Hopefully lessons have been learnt. Encouraging that after 140 years signs of resistance to the Pox have been detected in the Formby population. |
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| In contrast to the lighter coloured Red Squirrels found on Brownsea Island the Formby ones are far darker. Naturally within the species there appears to be a lot of variation ranging from red through to black with red being the most common within the UK population. |
