What is happening with Red Squirrels in mid Summer?
Share
Published by The Wildlife Food Company | July 2026
Mid-summer is one of the most active times in the red squirrel calendar. Kits born in spring are finding their feet, second litters are being raised in the treetops, and the season's first hazelnuts are beginning to ripen. Here's what red squirrels are doing right now — and what you might spot if you're lucky enough to live near them.
Before we get into the season, it's worth understanding why moments like this matter so much.
The red squirrel population has fallen from a high of around 3.5 million in the UK to a current rough estimate of just 287,000. Around 75% are found in Scotland, with the population in England thought to be as low as 38,900.
Without conservation management, red squirrels will be extinct in England in approximately 10 years — and the rest of the UK will follow. rsst
Every kit that survives this summer matters. Every well-stocked and cleaned feeding station in red squirrel territory plays a genuine role in that survival and monitoring of grey squirrels in neighbouring areas is vital.
Do Red Squirrels Stay in the Same Territory?
Yes — red squirrels are strongly territorial, and mid-summer is when those territories matter most. Red squirrels range over an average of 70 hectares, with core areas of intense use that are actively defended against intruders. Territory quality directly impacts how successfully they breed. Meandering Wild
Red squirrels have no fixed partners and mate between February and March, and again between June and July. Outside of these periods, they are largely solitary — a female will fiercely defend her home range during summer, particularly if she has a second litter in the drey. squirrelaccord
What Are This Year's Kits Doing?
Pregnancies last 38 to 39 days and on average produce three kittens. Born blind, with no hair or teeth, they are vulnerable to disease and attacks from carnivores and birds of prey. The mortality rate is as high as 50% in the first year of life. squirrelaccord
If a female squirrel gains sufficient food over the summer months, she will have a second litter in July or August. That means right now, your local woodland may contain kits at two very different stages of life. Natural England
Spring kits, born in March or April, are now approaching independence. Young squirrels are active outside the nest by seven weeks and become fully independent soon after weaning, establishing their own territories by nine to eleven weeks of age. Look out for small, slightly tentative young squirrels venturing into new ground this month — they're this year's spring litter, finding their feet. Meandering Wild
Meanwhile, some females are raising their second litter in the drey right now. If a female is disturbed, she will carry her kits in her mouth, one by one, to an alternative nest — sometimes quite a distance away. If you have a feeding station near a known drey, keep activity around it calm and consistent. UK Wildlife Cameras
What Do Red Squirrels Eat in Summer?
Summer is actually the leanest time of year for red squirrels. The big autumn harvest of nuts, cones and fungi is still weeks away. Food can be scarcer during spring and summer, when the diet extends to include plant shoots, bulbs, flowers, wild fruits and berries, and even insects and occasionally bird eggs. Better Planet Education
Red squirrels are specialist tree-seed feeders. Favourites are hazelnuts, yew seed, elm seed and the seeds of pine, spruce and larch cones — it has been estimated that a single squirrel can eat the seeds from up to 20,000 cones in a year. Substack
Early hazelnuts are the first major food source to ripen, and red squirrels will begin visiting hazel trees in earnest from late July. This is where a well-stocked supplementary feeder makes a real difference — providing the right nutrition during the lean weeks before the autumn harvest arrives.
Squirrels have an exceptional sense of smell. They can find food buried beneath a foot of snow and can sense a rotten nut without having to open it. A little fascinating detail worth knowing — and a reminder that food quality matters. Poor quality or stale hazelnuts won't fool them. squirrelaccord
Where Do Red Squirrels Sleep?
Red squirrels sleep in a nest called a drey — and in summer, that drey looks quite different from its winter equivalent.
There are three types of drey: summer, winter and breeding. The summer drey tends to be a shallow, lighter, more open platform of twigs. Winter dreys are larger — typically the size of a football — and more robustly insulated with moss, lichen, soft bark, feathers and fur. Breeding dreys are intermediate between the two. Woodland Trust
Squirrels make more than one drey to reduce the risk of it being found by predators and in case one gets damaged. They will abandon a drey if it has too many fleas or has become waterlogged. squirrelaccord
The red squirrel is diurnal — active during the daytime — but in summer it will rest in the drey during the middle of the day. So if your feeding station goes quiet around midday, the squirrel hasn't gone far. It's almost certainly dozing in the canopy above. Natural History Museum
Why Does My Red Squirrel Look Different in Summer?
If you've spotted a red squirrel recently and thought it looked a little different — slimmer, brighter, and oddly lacking in ear tufts — that's completely normal.
Red squirrels moult twice a year, with fur replaced in spring and autumn. Their coats look much thinner in summer than in winter, and for most reds their distinctive pointy ear tufts thin out and are almost completely gone during the summer season. Don't worry — they'll be back fully by autumn. Shropshiremammalgroup
Red squirrel colouration can in fact be quite variable — from wheaten through ginger to dark brown. Their fur can slightly change in winter, which is also when their characteristic ear tufts fully develop. squirrelaccord
The Threats They Face
Understanding what red squirrels are up against makes supporting them feel all the more urgent.
Grey squirrels were introduced to the UK from 1876. They are larger and more aggressive than red squirrels, outcompeting them for food and habitat — resulting in reds starving and being unable to reproduce. Grey squirrels also carry squirrelpox virus, which is almost always fatal to red squirrels and causes a population to die off 25 times faster than competition alone.
Habitat loss and fragmentation are also significant problems. Road traffic collisions are another cause of red squirrel deaths — slowing down for wildlife in known red squirrel areas is a simple but meaningful action.
Conservation efforts include monitoring, active protection from grey squirrels, reintroductions and translocations to areas where reds were lost, and conservation breeding programmes. The UK Squirrel Accord — a partnership of 48 leading conservation and forestry organisations — coordinates much of this work nationally and is also researching fertility control for grey squirrels as a longer-term solution.
If you spot a red squirrel — or a grey squirrel in a red squirrel area — reporting your sighting helps conservation teams track population movements. You can report sightings directly at squirrelaccord.uk.
How to Support Red Squirrels This Summer
Hazelnuts in shell are the single best supplementary food during the summer lean period. They provide the right fats, protein and energy, and the act of cracking them open is natural enriching behaviour. [Shop our hazelnuts in shell →] (link)
A dedicated red squirrel feeder keep topped up with Red Squirrel food and keep clean to prevent disease spread from grey squirrels.
Fresh water is just as important as food in summer. A shallow dish, kept clean and refreshed daily, is a simple and valuable addition to any feeding station.
Keep it calm. Consistent, predictable feeding station activity builds trust with red squirrels — sudden changes in routine, noise, or nearby disturbance during the breeding season can cause unnecessary stress to nursing females. If grey squirrels are seen in the area, contact your local Red Squirrel group to help prevent the risk of the deadly squirrel pox.
A Species Worth Fighting For
Red squirrels live for three years on average, they are extraordinary animals — native to this land since the last Ice Age, and now clinging on in a handful of strongholds. At The Wildlife Food Company, red squirrel conservation sits at the heart of what we do. Every product in our red squirrel range is formulated with their specific nutritional needs in mind.
[View our full red squirrel range →] (link)
To find out more about the national effort to save red squirrels, visit the Red Squirrel Survival Trust and the UK Squirrel Accord.