At the turn of the 20th century, the grey school was introduced into England.
The grey is a perfect coloniser, prolific and adaptable, it hasn't taken them long
to thrive in our forests at the expense of our native red squirrel.
They are often found inhabiting large areas of mature and established woodland habitat.
The grey is a superb climber, moving rapidly through the trees and leaping between them
with no trouble.
Be inactive during the day, it will spend most of its time in the trees, but often it
will come down to the ground to search out food.
Grey squirrels look to nine years in the wild, the older the animal, the more it weighs.
They do also fight, mailing the breeding season from February to July when they are trying
to fend off rivals.
As you'd expect of such an invasive species, they eat a wide range of foods and are not
fussy.
They will eat nuts, seed, tree bark, tree buds and berries.
They've even been known to predate insects, frogs and small rodents of the food source
limited.
As spring now approaches, you should see grey squirrels strip bark from the beach and
sycamore trees.
In the summer, they will take advantage of the flowers and buds which will form 60% of
their diet.
Yet in balance, they are also prey themselves, providing food for hawks, owls and a host
of mammalian predators such as foxes and weasels.
They have lost some of their popularity over the past few years as they are seen as thieves
plundering birds' nests of eggs and also vandalising the forest, their bark stripping
cause an injury to the trees.
However, with them being active during the day, it is allowed more of the public to
see wildlife in general and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Having people see wildlife in their gardener in the park is crucial to protecting it and
keeping it in the public's mind.
Love them and hate them, they are here to stay and should be seen as a natural link
in the ecosystem.
