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Recently we were lucky enough to book a place on one of the excellent walks planned as part of the Wales Coast Path Walking Festival 2019 ‘Nutkin Ventured, Nutkin Gained! Red Squirrel Discovery’.

The event was organised in conjunction with the Red Squirrel Trust and the Ramblers Cymru.

The event was to kick off at 10am, quite an early start for a bank holiday Sunday nevertheless we raced over to Newborough Warren on Anglesey to sign in and meet with the rest of the red squirrel fans.

The rendezvous point was Llyn Parc Mawr car park where there is are feeders for the squirrels and birds, picnic tables, walking trails and free parking. The walk was an easy stroll along a section of the red squirrel circular walk – this is a very easy 1.5-mile circuit that takes you through the woodland and passed the lake.

Leading the walk was Holly Peek from the Red Squirrel Trust Wales to tell us all about the squirrels from how to spot feeding sites to how to identify red from grey – it’s not as easy as you might think!

My seven-year-old daughter loved learning all these new facts and trying to spot the squirrels – since the weekend she has made sure the whole family know lots of squirrely facts!

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Sadly, we didn’t see any furry red friends, but we have been lucky enough to spot reds at the Dingle near Llangefni and in the grounds of National Trust’s Plas Newydd property on other occasions.

Despite the lack of squirrel sightings we had a lovely time, learnt an awful lot and got to see a lovely little Nut Hatch on the bird feeder.

Thanks to careful conservation Anglesey has become a stronghold for the UK’s native red squirrels to find out more visit: https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/our-work/anglesey-red-squirrel-project-island-haven

For information the walks including the Red Squirrel Trail (page 33) follow the link:

https://cdn.naturalresources.wales/media/688915/newborough-site-guide.pdf?mode=pad&rnd=132017826190000000