I always thought that squirres hibernated. Yesterday & today I have seen 2 squirrels as lively as anything raiding the bird feeder & doing what squirrels do best. Skippy reckons that they are getting ready to mate, which disappointed me as it means we get 2 litters again & like last year we will have as many as 6 hooligans running round the garden.
Has anyone else seem any this early? or is it not early in the squirrel calendar?

If you are talking about the dreaded EGS, they do not hibernate. They tend to stay in their nests, but no actual hibernating.

I don't know about in the UK, but in their native environment they breed twice a year, so you could have up to 12 little hooligans .

Kingfisher

Around here (Lincolnshire) the grey squirrels, that's all we have, don't hibernate or stay in their nests in the winter, but are just as active as in the summer, and it's rare that you can go for a walk in any kind of wooded area without seeing a few.

In a local country park, an inner city one, if you sit at any of the picnic tables usually one or two squirrels will come bounding across the grass, jump-up onto the table and sit there waiting to be fed, giving you all sorts of black (maybe that should be grey) looks if you haven't brought any sandwiches.

I have never heard of a hibernating squirrel before...