Observations/comments on Grey Squirrels.........

A grey squirrel took a juvenile House Sparrow by the bird feeder. I have long suspected the squirrels to be responsible for raiding the Mistle and Song Thrush nests just as they fledge in my garden and I’m now more convinced.

The director of Belfast Parks and Gardens told us when we visited the Botanic Gardens this year that Grey squirrels had eaten all the young thrushes and left him with a massive snail problem. Birds never seem to be too concerned by Squirrels unlike by avian predators, cats and stoats. Could this be that they are genetically wired to treating all squirrels as the less lethal red squirrels?

A pair of Bullfinch with 3 juveniles have been checking out what fruit to raid in the garden meanwhile.

Philip Ellis