We have some interesting and entertaining animals, but our squirrels are the best of the bunch.
http://www.blogto.com/city/2014/05/get_t...f_toronto/
Don't you love the white squirrel?
I have been trying to see one for years.
We do have a blond one in my neighbourhood. He is very fine looking.
Still, I want to see the elusive white squirrels.
I have never seen a black squirrel either or indeed an albino. All of ours here are grey squirrels, though there are areas in the UK where the red ones are coming back.
I think our squirrels are a different kind than your grey ones. They are quite big and the black ones are just a dark phase of the grey ones.
We have the small red squirrels in some areas, but in the city it is the big grey ones.
In a large park just south of me(walking distance) there are grey squirrels that are snow white. I have spend hours trying to see one, but so far no luck. They do exist, there are pictures, but I want to see one.
Maybe I should take peanuts next time. They are shameless beggars.
All winter they eat from local bird feeders. In the summer they enjoy are gardens as an all you can eat salad bar.
They drive us crazy, but we love them.
I have one or two yellow tulips in my garden each year even though I did not plant them. The people across the road have yellow tulips and the squirrels moved them.
What beautiful squirrels.
Our grey ones here in the UK are North American greys and are considered to be vermin, delightful though they are. The native Red squirrels are smaller and very limited in distribution these days. They seem to thrive on the Isle of Wight, and the Scottish highlands. They have been severely affected by the "accidental" introduction of the Greys to the wild many, many years ago. They were original brought in to populate some of the land around a few stately homes, but of course they migrated into the countryside and being bigger and more aggressive than their red cousins they took over. The reds could not compete and were also affected by disease that the greys carried but were immune to.
Hopefully the conservation programs will help their numbers to increase, but while the greys are here in number the reds will be bound to struggle.
On another note it seems we are having a population explosion in Scotland of Beavers.
They used to be native but back in the 1700 they died out and we also lost their predators (wolves, larger wild cats and possibly bears... I don't know if bears eat beavers?).
There have been some trial introductions which have been well controlled, but a big landowner has "accidentally" let his captive group of beavers escape into the local water ways and without a top predator they have thrived. All very picturesque, but farmers are complaining that all their efforts at flood prevention are being undermined by the beavers just being beavers.
Who knows how it will end!!
What a mess we create when we introduce species. Why would anyone introduce our grey squirrels to England. Of course they "escaped". Did anyone really think they could be controlled.
Your dear little red squirrels can't compete. I hope they find a way to sort things out.
Reintroducing beavers is fine, but you have so few predators left. Again, did they think the beavers would stay where they were put?
Beavers have their own ideas of water management. They don't always fit what we want to do. What a mess. Once a natural balance has been lost, it is very hard to sort things out. I hope they do not come up with some drastic solution. Better to adjust things gradually.
I am sure there are areas that would benefit from some beaver activity. They could be moved.