Book Review: Red Squirrels by Tom Tew and Niall Benvie

I first read this a few years ago, but it's been sat, unloved, on the book shelf ever since. As we were going to Brownsea Island (one of the few places to see red squirrels in Britain these days), I packed it in the car.

I didn't actually expect to read it, perhaps just thumb through it if I had the time. But as I began to thumb through it, I started to be pulled into the book and read it properly.

I'm really glad I did. The book is aimed at a general reader that's interested in the red squirrel. There are lots of great photographs and quite simple text - but this works to the book's advantage. Being only 48 pages long, the text is well written and at the right level.

The book provides an Introduction to Red Squirrels, followed by Historical Distribution and Abundance, Biology and Ecology, Conservation, and Red Squirrel Facts.

Without this book I would never have thought of looking for squirrel dreys (a nest for squirrels) and therefore wouldn't have enjoyed spending time photographing them.

The photographs show squirrels throughout the year in wild and domestic environments - like the photo of the squirrel sharing a bowl of food with a pheasant!

If you have any interest in the red squirrel, then this is the book to start with. It certainly provided me with enough information to be going on with and some enthusiasm to look further into red squirrels when I have the time.