Dear Friends,
As I write, the squirrels have been going nuts (sorry!). I have seen them all over the place; in the churchyard, the trees, in the parks and as regular visitors in our garden, busily collecting and squirreling away food for the winter. I grew up near a red squirrel reserve and remember having to look especially hard to see a single one. Not this year – though it’s the grey squirrels and not their shyer native cousins, the reds, who are in abundance around the Rectory. They race to and fro’ across the road in front of the office window with their collections of beech nuts.
I recently found out just how smart these creatures are.
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We know they use their tails to stay balanced when jumping from tree to tree, but they can also use them for communication, by twitching them to warn other squirrels if they become suspicious of a threat.
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They can hide up to a whopping 10,000 nuts a year, planning ahead for the winter. And when they come to find them again, they use familiar objects such as trees, bushes and logs to guide them to where they’ve hidden them.
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They can smell a food stash buried underneath a foot of snow – which is probably just as well since they lose up to 25% of their food to thieves (usually fellow squirrels and birds who are happy to take advantage of a free meal!)
They are not alone in preparing for winter. Urban Outreach are already preparing their Christmas Dinner. Not for themselves, but for people in Bolton who will have to put Christmas on hold through illness, sadness, or financial problems. Their Christmas Dinner on Jesus campaign helps over 1500 families every year by providing the gift of a Christmas Dinner with all the trimmings, and with it, bringing a little bit of light and hope. As schools and churches across the Turton Moorland Team, we are contributing to this wonderful campaign by collecting packets of biscuits. We have pledged 500 packs, but it would be great if we exceeded this estimate.
When you next do a shop, please could I ask you to buy an extra packet or two of the biscuits you would like to eat at Christmas, and to bring them into church or school during November. I will collect them at the end of the month and take them to Urban Outreach depot where they will already be getting the hampers ready.
It’s not just squirrels who are getting prepared for winter!
Thank you for your support.
With love and best wishes,
Rev’d Ian Hepburn
Team Rector
Turton Moorland Team
Please click this link: Christmas Dinner on Jesus to read more about our contribution for URBAN OUTREACH’S ‘Christmas on Jesus’.
Please bring your biscuits into church or school for collection before November 27th. Thank You.
TURTON MOORLAND TEAM MINISTRY
