We heard a heck of a row coming from our back garden first thing in the morning. We were immediately concerned in case an animal had been hurt.
We traced the noise to a large tree in our garden and we could see a squirrel - a grey squirrel. We weren't too sure what was wrong because of the awful noise he was making.
This finally stopped and the squirrel appeared okay as he was sitting on a branch.
We went indoors and both agreed we never realised squirrels made such loud noises.
I looked out of the window a few minutes later and there was the squirrel in our bird house, as per the photos. He seemed quite happy munching on the seeds and nuts I had left for the birds.
The food was soon devoured and the squirrel appeared to push the dish forward as if asking for more - see below - an Oliver Twist moment!
We occasionally have a grey squirrel passing through our garden as we live opposite a small wood.
I did a Google search and found the exact noise the squirrel was making on the British Library web site. It seems that they can make chattering, rasping and barking noises and can become particularly noisy when alarmed or angry. You live and learn!
According to the British Library they are highly intelligent mammals.
As I guess most people in the UK know the grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) were foolishly introduced to the UK in the 1870s from the USA. This consequently resulted in a decline of our native, more attractive, red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris).
Back in the 1870s there were an estimated 3.5 million red squirrels in the UK. Nowadays, in England, there are only an estimated 15,000. The major problem is that the grey squirrels carry the Parapoxvirus, which does not appear to affect their health but can kill red squirrels. And we all know about the danger of viruses! We shouldn't mess with nature.
