Tag Archives: grey squirrel

Recording Grey squirrels

28 Wednesday Jan 2026

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At the start of each month my local biodiversity records centre chooses one species of flora or fauna to be the species of the month, in the hope that recorders will focus some of their recording time during the coming month in looking for and recording that species so as to fill in the gaps in their maps. This month the species has been the Grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), a mammal so ubiquitous that you might think it would already have been recorded in every 1km square in south east Wales but no. As is reported on the SEWBReC website:

it is a species that can become overlooked due to being considered “too common to record”. It is important to record common species as well as rarities, to track population changes and other patterns over time.

Grey squirrels had already been recorded in most of the 1km squares in my area but I did manage to contribute a few additional records during the month.

A young squirrel

09 Thursday Oct 2025

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I’d never knowingly seen a juvenile Grey squirrel, until yesterday.

First one adult, then a second came hurtling down a tree trunk to forage on the grass beneath the tree, followed more slowly, more hesitatingly by a much smaller squirrel. It looked like a littler version of the adults so I’m fairly sure this was a young one.

A squirrel surprise

01 Monday Sep 2025

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In my new flat I have my dining table-cum-desk set up in front of the living room windows so I can enjoy views of the adjacent woodland and the Bristol Channel at the bottom of the garden while I’m writing these blogs or eating my meals. On Saturday morning, when I was eating my breakfast, I heard a Grey squirrel making the strange whining / moaning / screeching sounds they sometimes utter. It sounded very close but I couldn’t see anything when looking straight out the windows, so got up to have a more thorough look all around. This is what I saw just outside the (tilted) open window.

My flat is on the middle of three floors and the site slopes quite steeply away below, so the squirrel was probably 30 feet from the ground. I suppose that’s not a great height for a squirrel that can climb tall trees – I just never expected one would climb up the side of the building, but the stucco surface seemed to be providing good purchase for its claws. I’m a bit of a fresh air fiend so, when I go out, I often leave my windows open as I’ve no concerns about potential burglars. Now, though, I’m wondering if one day I might get home and find a squirrel has come to investigate!

Mother squirrel

16 Saturday Sep 2023

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I was a little surprised to see this female Grey squirrel showing obvious signs of recent breeding but the Woodland Trust website explains that, if food is plentiful enough, these mammals can have two litters, of 3 or 4 kittens, each year. They may not be everybody’s favourite animal but it’s not their fault they were unwisely introduced to their country.

230917 mother squirrel

Claws and nails

11 Thursday Feb 2021

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Despite the Grey squirrel being an invasive non-native pest, as a non-native myself I have some sympathy for these much-maligned beasties. Today, though, rather than get into a discussion about the presence of Grey squirrels in the environment, I’d like to focus on their claws and nails, if only because I hadn’t really noticed how long their nails can get until I took this photo.

210211 claws and nails

Of course, having long nails makes perfect sense for these furry acrobats. You only have to look at them leaping nimbly from branch to branch or running headfirst down a tree to realise that they need very strong powerful claws to help them perform these amazingly agile and gravity-defying feats. And, presumably, having strong long curved nails helps the Grey squirrel grip tree bark in the same way that a mountain climber uses crampons and an ice axe.

339/365 Hungry squirrels

05 Thursday Dec 2019

Posted by in mammal, nature, trees, winter

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191205 grey squirrel (2)

It’s not just the birds that are consuming winter berries at the moment.

When I’m out walking, I often hear scurrying noises in the tree branches above my head and look up to see Grey squirrels, their cheeks stuffed with berries, their paws reaching out for the next delicious morsels.

And it’s not just a berry dessert they crave, of course, as they’re also well known for their liking for nuts. In the photo, right, the squirrel is holding Alder cones, which it has just been munching on.

191205 grey squirrel (1)

Nut caching

06 Monday Nov 2017

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Winter is coming!

171106 Grey squirrel with acorn

The squirrels know it; the jays know it; and they and many other small critters are busy storing food away for the cold lean days to come. The nut is one such food, the acorn a particular favourite of many.

171106 acorns

Creatures create two different types of winter food supply. Some have just the one larder where they hide away all their precious finds of nuts and seeds, but the Grey squirrel is a scatter hoarder, secreting food in many different places. You’ve probably seen them dashing madly about the ground, burying nuts in seemingly random locations. Other creatures, like wood mice, coal tits, nuthatches and jays are also scatter hoarders, stashing their winter stores in a variety of different caches. But, I wonder, do they always remember where they’ve put their secret stashes? Somehow I doubt it.