Squirrels - red or grey, on the railways or otherwise: merged topic

[whole diary]

[TonyK]

I saw a pet shop advertising "Baby rabbits in stock". Sounds tasty. "Lightly killed, then poached gently in a perfect court bouillon" or similar.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Baby red squirrel found in felled tree in Insch



A one-week-old baby squirrel was rescued after a nest was discovered in a felled tree in Aberdeenshire.

The Scottish SPCA is now caring for the tiny red squirrel - which has been named Billy - after the find in Insch earlier this month.

Billy is being hand-reared at the charity's National Wildlife Rescue Centre in Fishcross.

Centre manager Colin Seddon said: "Billy currently needs fed by syringe every few hours."



He explained: "He should open his eyes at around five weeks old, and that's the same time the weaning process will begin.

"Billy will remain in our care until he is completely independent.

"Ideally, he'll be part of a group of red squirrels that can be returned to the wild together, at a supported release site.

"Nesting season for both squirrels and birds is well under way so we urge people to take care when cutting down trees/trimming hedges. It's best to check for nests first to avoid any accidents."

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Rare white squirrel spotted in Bath


(c) Cliff Toghill

This rare creature has been causing a stir in Bath, with various reported sightings around the city.

Cliff Toghill was working at Bassett Farm in Claverton when he spotted a flash of white fur on Monday.

He said: "I looked round and saw him going into the undergrowth and picking up seeds. He didn't seem bothered by us at all and I got within about 80 inches of him."

The odds of a squirrel being born white is thought to be about one in 100,000.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

A one in 100,000 chance of snapping that!

If you go down to the woods today, you never know what you might spot.

Neil McCarty was lucky enough to see a very rare sight when he went for a walk on the outskirts of Bedford.

At first he thought it was a cat stuck up a tree, as all he could see was a white ball of fur, but on closer inspection it was an albino squirrel.



So like every good photographer, he went back the next day "hung around for ages" and caught these amazing images.



He says it's a bit of a change from his day-to-day job of music photography, as he usually snaps "grungy bands in the dark".



"The irony is I have snapped some amazing artists passing through Bedford over the last five years, many who have gone on to be huge... and I am going to get my 15 seconds of fame over a squirrel," he said.

The odds of a squirrel being born white is thought to be about one in 100,000.

All images (c) Neil McCarty.

[Chris from Nailsea]

When I was very young, I remember a squirrel character called Tufty taught me how to cross a road safely - 'look right, look left' and all that, in educational films shown in primary schools in those days.

Then, when I grew up, I found that squirrels actually have the least road sense of any animal. 

One day last week, driving my van in Long Ashton near Bristol, a squirrel scampered along a lane in front of me. I slowed down, hoping that the little fellow didn't run out into the main road at the junction - but he did.  The driver of an oncoming huge quarry lorry braked quite harshly to avoid hitting the silly animal, which then did a brief double back across the white lines before nipping into an adjoining garden.  I did give the lorry driver a 'thumbs up' gesture of thanks with a grin, as we had both clearly tried to avoid squishing the silly squirrel.

This afternoon, however, I had a quite different experience.  Driving my van down Queens Road in Clifton, I saw something move low down on the nearside. It was a squirrel, which scampered out from the left - across a zebra crossing - then paused at the central island, apparently looking left and right, before scampering on across the zebra crossing to the right hand pavement.  The squirrel then turned left on the pavement and darted right, up into the gardens of one of the big buildings there.

I could only wish that I had a dashboard camera to have recorded that - it really was worthy of posting a clip on youtube!

 

[JayMac]

Now, rabbits. They're the real idiots. Followed closely by pheasants.

Whilst driving to Tarr Steps a couple weeks ago I was on a single track road doing my best to avoid the pheasants. They will at least fly out of the way if you get real close to them. I was unsuccessful in bagging one for the pot, although one did hit the bonnet, but as I was barely doing 10mph if just flew off.

After clearing the pheasants and accelerating a little, a rabbit bounds out from the hedgerow and proceeds to run down the middle of the road ahead of me. Darting left and right but never heading for the safety of the hedges either side. Quite a turn of speed has Flopsy. Round bends, past field gates, staying in the road just ahead of me. This went on for a good two minutes. I slowed down, so did he. But he stayed in the road. Not until we approached a dry stone wall did he finally get out of the road.

My dash cam recorded this, but I forgot to hit the 'save' button, so that portion of memory got overwritten.

They really are idiots, including the Scottish ones (fruity language warning):

https://youtu.be/wVN4PRLrpsA

[broadgage]

When I lived in London, red squirrels were surprisingly numerous, a wildlife expert attributed this this to the large numbers of pet cats in the area.
Cats chase and kill large numbers of grey squirrels thereby leaving more food and space for the red ones. Although cats also the chase the red squirrels, these are almost always too quick for most cats to catch.

My cat killed dozens of greys, but only a single red despite these being locally more numerous.

[IndustryInsider]

I didn’t think there were any reds other than on the IoW, Scotland and a couple of isolated English towns in the North?

[Western Pathfinder]

A whole nest of the little red critters on Brownsea Island when I was last there a couple of years ago.

[TonyK]

Brownsea Island, parts of the Lake District, and bits of Northumberland now have significant numbers, thanks to enthusiastic slaughter of the greys in those areas. Formby, near Liverpool, and Anglesey have them too.

[IndustryInsider]

Good to hear, but ‘numerous’ in London?

[Bmblbzzz]

Hares are far more intelligent than rabbits. One came running up a country lane towards me near White Castle in Monmouthshire a few weeks ago, saw me, doubled back and ran ahead of me at quite a pace until a handy gate appeared on the left. Far cleverer than rabbits and cooler ears too!

[trainer]

In northern Sweden the reindeer are a hazard on road and rail.  I was on a train that has hit such an animal and it was one of locals who explained to me the source  of the unidentifiable bits that flew past the window as the train braked sharply and stopped.  In the discussion about the stupidest animals it may be worth remembering natural instinct. I was told that reindeer usually aim for the high ground when spooked and since the railway is often on embankment they tended to turn their back on the train and run in front. Sadly a loco and coaches doing 70mph is always going to win and the iron-ore trains probably won't try to stop.

Lest I have strayed too far from the thread topic, let me add that red squirrels seem to thrive in Sweden.

[chrisr_75]

I didn’t think there were any reds other than on the IoW, Scotland and a couple of isolated English towns in the North?

Also quite a healthy population on Anglesey (I've seen some, sadly including a squashed one on the road outside the red squirrel centre...) and reputedly a population in Clocaenog Forest, Denbighshire.

[Red Squirrel]

...not forgetting a family of four somewhere near Montpelier Station...