Winter Creatures & Birds

[pendel]

Derek & I went for a winters stroll to Colchester park today. We went armed with peanuts for the squirrels who will eat out of your hand if they know you. The cheeky little things just wouldnt come near us so we dumped a load of peanuts under a tree and began to walk away. As soon as our backs were turned there were about 6 squirrels scampering towards the nuts. I managed to get 1 picture of a squirrel, with a peanut in the shell, stuck between his teeth. My other 3 pictures are of the beautifull swans who live on the river colne which runs through the park.

[jayjay]

Lovely pics Derek!

[pendel]

Thanks Jayjay but its Penny. . I cant remember the last time Derek came on the forum. I have another bird visitor to the birdtable but I dont know what it is! I am sure one of you birdwatchers will be able to tell me.

[glenw]

its a fieldfare Penny. Another winter visitor like the redwing I posted a few weeks ago.

There has been a noticably large amount in the UK this year and unusually a lot are visiting gardens, looking for fruit.

Great photo and you should feel very lucky to have 1 call on you, we had a brief visit from one a week or 2 ago but nowhere near as close as yours seems to be!!

[pendel]

Thanks for that Glen. I told Derek that you or Graham would know. It has been on our bird table for most of the day scoffing the apples we put out, so ur right about the fruit. The bird table is about 12 ft from our window but I can still see the wary look in his little beady eye. I did look in our bird books and thought it may be a fieldfare but never dreamed I could be right. What I know about birds & back of a stamp,lol.

[Graham]

Nice picture Penny you are very lucky to have a fieldfare in the garden I hope you kept Barney out of the way, we don't want him to get a taste for them.

[pendel]

Hahahahaha, Barney is all meeow, he would run away if it looked at him. Just taken another one of the Fieldfare. He seems to like our garden or maybe is the pears we put out today. Have added a couple of the squirrels I took on Sunday. Funny little critters.

[barry5]

Am I the only one here who does NOT think that grey squirrels are cute, funny, fluffy little cheeky chappies?

Is it only me that regards them as vermin. disease ridden pests, destructive and evil non-native introductions into our environment?

In the same way that introduced mink have wreaked havoc on our native water vole (Ratty in "Wind in the Willows") so the grey squirrel has driven out the native red. The only difference being that mink eat voles to survive, whereas the grey squirrel passes on a disease to the red causing it to die a slow, lingering and painful death whilst itself, being immune to the virus, is not affected.

Grey squirrels eat eggs of our songbirds whilst having no known predators (apart from the odd one taken by foxes on the ground)

They have multiplied to plague proportions in the South of England and are constantly pushing northwards taking over more and more of the red squirrel's territory.

Just as the coypu was eradicated after its escape into the wild, should not grey squirrels have a similar fate?

I say that they should be exterminated.

Here endeth the rant.

Barry

[Graham]

I bet you feel better after getting that off your chest Barry.

My brother in law describes them as "rats with fluffy tails". I think the fluffy tail endears them to a lot of people.

[pendel]

I am sorry that you dont like the cute fluffy squirrels Barry but all creatures are Gods creatures and all have to survive in whatever way they can. We may not always agree but thats the way it is. I can remember walking to work one morning, through the park and watched a crow attacking a nest with baby birds in, taking a baby bird away for his breakfast and the noise that all the other birds made was heartbreaking. I had a bad start to my day, but thats the way it is. Next time we go to Haltwhiste I will get some pictures of the red squirrels.....just for you.

[jayjay]

Lovely photo's Penny! We've had a few fieldfares around here lately too.

I will sit on the fence on the squirrel debate!

I don't like them much myself, I call them rats with PR

[Annie van]

Hi there. I tried to post some photos last night of a red squirrel on our bird feeder, also long tailed tits and a pair of blackcaps who have been regular visitors to our garden over the last month. Its only the second time we've seen the squirrel in our garden, so we were really excited hoping it returns again.Any way, I must have done something wrong because I lost both the message and the photos. I'll try later today and hopefully I'll succeed, otherwise I'll have to shout for help!

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Annie van

I'll try later today and hopefully I'll succeed, otherwise I'll have to shout for help!

I've replied to your PM, hope you manage to do it, the pics sound lovely.

[Annie van]

Many thanks for your help Graham, (and husband Paul!) Hopefully you can now see the photos.

[Graham]

You did it

Lovely pictures and well worth the wait, thanks for posting them.

[barry5]

Originally Posted by pendel

I am sorry that you dont like the cute fluffy squirrels Barry but all creatures are Gods creatures and all have to survive in whatever way they can.

I quite agree with you that all creatures are God's creatures, I just wish that man had left the grey squirrel where God had intended them to be - in North America.

Thanks to a few members of the nobility wanting to see exotic species from the colonies inhabiting their new parklands, we now have these interlopers taking over the red's environment. Red squirrels are God's creatures as well, and it seems that He intended them to be here, not the greys.

But there we are, God creates, man interferes, that's progress

Barry