Anybody who has known me any time at all will know that I have a particular fondness for squirrels. In our previous residence (2nd floor flat in the centre of Edinburgh) I was delighted by the antics of a family of grey squirrels who would religiously climb up the harling on the side of the flats to reach the bird seed feeder perched on our tiny window ledge. The young mums brought their offspring and at one point there were 4 squirrels on the ledge all vying for the opportunity to grab a mouthful of seed before either falling of the ledge entirely or at least being shivvied out of the way by another impatient individual.
Thus, when we moved I did consider luring them into my luggage and taking them with me.
(I didn't, unfortunately as Scottish laws consider grey squirrels an invasive non-native, once captured I would not have been permitted to release it - and as appealing the idea of having a house squirrel is, it's not fair on the animal).
Fortunately word must have got round though. Several days after we moved in we had our first squirrel sighting. Since then (helped with the purchase of a special squirrel peanut feeder) we have had a fairly constant stream of individuals, so I thought I'd introduce some of the more notable characters.
From the get go it's difficult to identify specific squirrels, so we've tended to name them based on colouration patterns, physical deformities etc. Sometimes these characteristics are only noticable through photographs initially, and this was the case for Ginger Bob and White Whisker. Unfortunately we've not seen these two since our first year here (2021).
Unlike the other two, Half-tail is extremely noticable. Initially this was only due to his half sized tail; although now it is because he is missing an ear as well. He is a surprisingly aggressive male, always getting into fights with the other squirrels. The females seem to find this attractive (or he is very persistant) and he is one of the few male squirrels that stays local. I suspect he is the father of most of the offspring round here.
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