Black squirrels

[HeyWayne]

Anyone seens any of these? Becoming more common apparently.

Squirrels turn to the dark side - Bedford Today

[SueA]

I've heard about them but not seen any, I don't think they've got this far north yet! There was a bit about them in the Times last week & a funny comment in Rod Liddle's column about them. Here's a link, scan down a bit below the bit about 'Boris' to the squirrel comment.
Oh crikey, the spin monkeys have lobotomised Boris | Rod Liddle - Times Online

[HeyWayne]

I've heard about them but not seen any, I don't think they've got this far north yet! There was a bit about them in the Times last week & a funny comment in Rod Liddle's column about them. Here's a link, scan down a bit below the bit about 'Boris' to the squirrel comment.
Oh crikey, the spin monkeys have lobotomised Boris | Rod Liddle - Times Online

Seems to have summed them up! I reckon the ones that will eventually (and soon probably) arrive here will no doubt be donning hoodies or those "dappy" hats that marauding gangs round these parts seem to wear as part of their uniform.

[moggssue]

I wuz brung up in Formby, home of the red squirrel reserve, but I've never seen a black one ... I guess I soon will though.

[Finedon.Dandy]

You have got the date wrong....its the 1st May not 1st April - April Fools day!

[jeannine]

When I lived in London there were two albino squirrels who lived in a hole in a tree in the nearby park. They looked stunning jumping around in a copper beech tree.

Saw a grey squirrel a few days ago, laying on its back and playing with a twig just like an otter would play with a pebble.

Will look out for the black ones.

I'm very fond of squirrels and think that all the good wiork they do helping to plant trees (albeit inadvertently) should be more widely recognised.

[HeyWayne]

When I lived in London there were two albino squirrels who lived in a hole in a tree in the nearby park. They looked stunning jumping around in a copper beech tree.

Saw a grey squirrel a few days ago, laying on its back and playing with a twig just like an otter would play with a pebble.

Will look out for the black ones.

I'm very fond of squirrels and think that all the good wiork they do helping to plant trees (albeit inadvertently) should be more widely recognised.

I quite enjopy watching them in the garden. We have a few reside in the trees next to the house - 1 seems to "own" our oak tree, and he's recently been breaking off bits of the vine/ivy that grows up the tree and taking them up - presumably to make a nest (do they nest?).

One thing that LadyWayne finds amusing is when they gather the acorns in the autumn. They dig a little hole in my lovely lawn that I spend all summer tending, and then they place their acorn in said hole, have a little look around and then "push" the lawn back down by jumping up and down on it with their front paws.

The neighbours across the road have squirrels in their loft though as the oak tree they have is quite close to the house. They're having it lopped (?) to hopefully discourage the squirrels.

I would imagine that if these rebel black squirrels took up residence though, they'd demand squatters rights or some such.

[Alice]

I've seen black squirrels in America, but not here.
Round these parts there's quite a good population of red squirrels and we're lucky enough to see them regularly.

[HeyWayne]

I have never seen a red squirrel in the wild.

[moggssue]

In Formby we were virtually overrun with red squirrels. As a child they would eat peanuts out of my hand - it was wonderful having them around. Now in Bucks all I see are the grey ones.

[amandaandherveg]

I saw a red squirrel whilst out walking in the woods years ago. Unfortunately it was dead, it was kind of 'pointing' out its little paw/hand. I popped it on top of a post so it could show everyone the way. OMG, that sounds awful, it was years ago and I was young, well, about 23.

[Polly Fouracre]

I also remember red squirrels in Devon as a child, haven't seen one now for more than thirty years.
Are these black squirrels another intruder or are they a natural offshoot of the grey's?
In Haldon Forest,just down the road from us we have black Roe Deer. I have never seen them anywhere else and they are a real charcoal colour,not just dark red.
Not terribly fond of grey squirrels,I know it's not their fault but they have decimated our native red's and are too fond of songbird chicks!!

[areia]

i remember when i was little i used to see red squirrals down on the lympne castle now im in the west side of middlesex we have loads of grey ones not liking the term "mutated" in the artical,

[Jardiniere]

we have red and black squirrels here but they are very shy...occasionally get a red along the (Closed) railway line at the bottom of the garden but the black ones live up on the 'causse' - the hills not seen one in the valley....

[bluemoon]

There's a black gene in the red squirrel, which is why there are a lot of black ones in the channel islands - closed population, lots of inbreeding. I've never heard of it in greys, but if a mutation has given them some sort of advantage; making them less obvious to the local cat population for example, then their numbers will probably increase.