I take great pleasure in watching and encouraging the wildlife that visits my small patio garden. Apart from foxes, occasional badgers, and many birds, our most constant visitors are grey squirrels. Those cheeky and crafty invaders from North America that I find intriguing to watch. For many years we have had at least one true albino in the area but we have none at the present time. As the strain is present in the local community I have no doubt we will see more before too long. One female is pregnant right now so who knows? Here is an old picture from a time when we had 4 albinos, and a few pics from this afternoon when relaxing outside in the pleasant warm weather......
Must of trapped about 350 squirrels in the last 20 years and taken them down to the woods. They are nothing but rats with a bushy tail as our top naturalist once said. Have taken two in the last two days.
Raddang, squirrels are cute, and we had several when we lived in town (we also had a large pecan tree). We don't have any here on the farm, and I can't say I miss them. They can play havoc if they get into the house, and that seems to be one of their favorite pastimes. I did enjoy seeing your photos, though. Thanks for sharing (and you have a lovely patio garden!).
I don't think the 'greys' are SUCH a pest here but I am a 'townie' and may be out of touch. The main complaint is that after their arrival late 19th century they slowly decimated the indigenous red squirrels other than in Scotland where reds still survive,. I am also a big fan of Magpies, those crow scavengers and small bird killers. I just find them elegant in their black and white plumage and the iridescence in the black.
I wouldn't mind grey squirrels as much as I do if they didn't carry a pox virus that kills our native reds. They may be cute to look at but I'd like to see the virus eradicated so that our reds can survive as well as the greys. I do like the photograph of your four white squirrels. I've only ever seen one albino here over the last 30 + years.
hiya Raddang--What nice pics you have posted this time. The albino's were quite something to see in concentration. Your pics of the grey squirrel are so good to see. nice detail and clarity. Well done.
Those are considered small game in my part of the USA. They are rather tasty. The woodland kind that is, the urban/suburban ones tend to eat too much refuse to have a good flavor.
I am a townie too, right in the middle of a suburb of Dallas, we have several who visit my garden on a regular basis, some try to get into the attic....eat all the peanuts if they can fend off a Blue Jay attack and if the winter is particularly bad they will eat just about anything to get by in spite of the fact that I put out seed and peanuts all year round. A couple of years ago we had a wet and cold winter and a couple of them started eating the painted gourds I had hanging as pretties out on the trellis, pulling bark off the tree out front and I have a small plaque made from plaster that one started eating. And I have heard that they are pretty good with cream gravy.
Great pictures Raddang,..i have never come across an albino squirrel,..so yours look very cute,..nice to see the close up of the grey squirrel,..we don't have any within miles of where i live but further afield its a battle between the red squirrel and the grey as to who will survive,..alas its the grey that kills of our native reds,..years ago some greys were given as a present by a visitor from England to the daughter of a local landowner,..since then they have multiplied.
This was 3 years ago and the last time we had an albino. This little mother had kits but they were all normal greys.
They are very high on the cuteness chart, but that's where it ends. I had two last year chew a hole through my roof to nest. Repaired the hole that day, and the next day they chewed thru the exact same spot. Racoons will do this also. I could have live trapped them, but our laws do not allow one to relocate wildlife. So I had no other choice other than sit in the attic waiting for them to stick their heads thru the hole. Problem solved.
Toni, not everyone would be kind enough to fix cream gravy for squirrels. You really do love wildlife, don't you?
Oh dear! As I have never had a problem with grey squirrels I assumed that to be the norm. Not so it would appear. @Kildale If you trap a 'grey' in the UK the law requires you to humanely dispatch it. It is illegal to release it in another place as they are classed as non native pests and may be destroyed. Sadly, I like ALL wildlife, even the bad boys
Our Animal Control Dept will let us use their heavy duty non-kill traps to catch feral cats, opossum, squirrels and other problem critters. They come empty the trap when we call and the cats are kept in quarantine for a couple of weeks to see if they are adoptable, if they are they get shots, neutered and put up for adoption (if not, let's just say they are sent to the farm to live with Gramma and Grampa) All other wildlife is relocated after the quarantine period. Their facility is about a half mile from the east fork of the Trinity river so they are usually released out there to live out a normal life. Back in 1999 our city smart people got fed up with listening to some people complain about the noise and mess created by the nesting White Egrets so they bull dozed the trees where they were nesting and then they found out that the Egrets were protected by federal law since they are migratory birds and received a very large fine. Had to clean that area and turn it into a look but don't touch park until such time as the hazardous waste left by the birds was no longer a health problem. Now we have an Egret problem in many neighborhoods and the city is more considerate of other stray animals too.
Another nice picture Raddang,..i have to admit they are cute and very entertaining to watch,..i admit to liking Squirrels,..Moles and Voles,..of course there are none in my garden or area so i don't see the damage they do,..who likes Voles?,..not many because of the resemblance to Rats or Mice,..they are cute,..see below. Cute Voles
