Red squirrels tend to be elusive hanging out in the canopies of trees. If you see large dreys (nests) in trees, scratch marks on a tree trunk and chewed pine cone cores on the ground odds are you’ve come across squirrel habitat!
If you blunder through the woods noisily you probably won’t see or hear them, but if you are respectful and quiet you may catch them angrily or excitedly making their little chucking noises or tapping their feet. Red squirrels do not hibernate but store fungi on which they live throughout the winter.
Unfortunately the native red squirrels’ survival is being threatened by increased automobile traffic, loss of native woodland habitat, and the introduction of the American Grey Squirrel and the squirrelpox virus they transmit (Red squirrels need one hectare of land each to survive whereas the introduced grey squirrels can happily cram eight into a hectare).
You can read more about efforts to save these little rascals at
Red Squirrels where "Scottish Wildlife Trust has joined forces with Scottish Natural Heritage, Forestry Commission Scotland and The Scottish Rural Property and Business Association to undertake the first nationally co-ordinated attempt to save Scotland’s red squirrels."
The red squirrel is a solitary animal except when mating, but will agree to cuddle in the depths of winter. Red squirrels can swim and like humans, are either left or right handed!
The tree in which you’ll find this cache, a Coast Redwood, is native to the California coastal fog belt, and is one of only two such specimens on Gillies Hill which were planted by the owners of Polmaise Castle in the 1860s. Coast Redwoods grow to be the tallest trees on Earth.
South of the mine are the ruins of Polmaise Castle and it’s hidden spring.
If you continue to hike south from the cache you’ll come to the mine of Gillies Hill which is part of the old lime workings that run beneath the hill and Cambusbarron.
Be sure to check out robertburns’ Gillies Hill caches:
The Big Sycamores: Gillies Hill 1 - GC1EDN4
The Hill Fort: Gillies Hill 2 - GC1EDNC
The Secret Spring: Gillies Hill 3 - GC1EDNF
“Sylvester” The Scots Pine: Gillies Hill 4 - GC1EDNP
The Mystery Cache of Gillies Hill 5 - GC1EDNV
and The Sequioadendron giganteum of Gillies Hill - GC1H74Q
and nearby The Lea Rig - GC1JT2R
Gillies Hill is indeed an amazing place with historical, botanical and recreational value. To learn more or to join in the effort to save it from quarrying go to Save Gillies Hill