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Meet The Squirrel

see copyright notice. Page created 20-May-2005

The presence in my garden of several tall trees, including a horsechestnut, has attracted a more-or-less permanently resident grey squirrel. There's been more than one incumbent, but I'll use the generic name "SQL". Every autumn we go through the same ritual: SQL buries nuts in the lawn; I dig them up to protect the lawn and mower; SQL goes spare trying to find them. Clearly they aren't a vital part of SQL's diet (indeed I read somewhere that they don't eat horsechestnuts! In the second picture below, it's "peeling" one prior to burying it).

This year (2005), following the brief appearance of a companion, SQL's attention switched from chasing nuts to collecting material for what I presume was drey (nest) building. In March, with snow on the ground, SQL kept warm by dashing around with mouthfuls of chewed-up grass. When the sparrows were picking tufts from the pampas grass, SQL was hard at work pulling leaves from last year's flag iris.

We generally keep a respectful distance apart, but SQL is getting quite used to my appearance at windows with a camera. This rest/grooming session was a great photo opportunity!

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