A Scurry of Squirrels

THESE DAYS, it can seem that nature writing takes itself quite seriously, from lyrical personal narratives to more academic (and sometimes alarming) tomes on climate change and rewilding.

It’s refreshing, therefore, to find a book that steers a smooth course down the middle, avoiding the choppier waters to either side. Polly Pullar has devoted her life to caring for wildlife, and this engaging book about the red squirrel is an important part of her mission to help people foster a connection with nature.

Throughout much of history red squirrels have been under threat, driven from former strongholds by aggressive new forms of land use, deforestation, the grey squirrel, and direct persecution.

These fragile and beautiful creatures need to be protected, and Polly Pullar is one of a number of wildlife rehabilitators in Britain – people who take in injured and abandoned animals and care for them, prior to (hopefully) releasing them into the wild. This is an intense, time-consuming experience, and it isn’t for everyone; many people love the idea of looking after abandoned baby squirrels, only to come to her for help when they find that it’s a full-time job!

This is a book about love and worry: love of the animals themselves, both the species as a whole and the wide variety of individuals she has helped over the years; and constant worry, too, for the creatures in her care and also the state of nature as a whole. Many of the animals she attempts to save don’t survive, despite her best efforts. The book often returns to the challenges facing nature and the author’s worries that people won’t learn from the lessons of lockdown. Polly’s wildlife diaries have documented declines and losses in the natural world over many years.

Although I was captivated by the tales of individual animals, their quirks and surprising antics, the book also explores many important subjects – from misconceptions about red squirrels to looking at areas where they are being restored to parts of their former range.

The book finishes with a vision of rewilding as restoration ecology: of a sane future, in other worlds, for both wildlife and humans.

With a fluffy red squirrel on the front cover just inviting you to pick the book up and start reading, A Scurry of Squirrels is at once a wonderful tale of wildlife and a highly accessible entry point to learning about conservation and rewilding. My squirrel-obsessed wife managed to grab it off the shelf and get stuck in to it before I had the chance, and she told me that it raised a lot of interesting questions she hadn’t considered before. I think that this book will do much good in making more people ask important questions about conservation and rewilding, and that’s a positive thing.

Alex Roddie