Meet my new bestie....the red squirrel

At last I've spotted a little critter! And Christmas has come early for him....

Up until this point the only animals that I've seen have been pet dogs and cats.

I hadn't even seen a bird or rodent since we arrived here and I must admit I was beginning to wonder if I would see any or where they'd all gone! 

(Maybe off to Australia for a little warm for their winter holiday? 

I believe it's rather toasty there just now...)

It's not until the little things like birds go missing from our lives that we realise how much we enjoy having them around and that we take them for granted. 

Take for instance their birdsong alone....it's not until it's gone that you miss it so much. 

The silence can be quite deafening here sometimes especially at night. 

Let me tell you, you have no idea how loud snoring can sound when there's no other sound around!!!

Listen to that.....no wonder I'm awake all hours...it's not jet lag after all!

Anyway, back to my little critter. As I mentioned in a previous post I always like to feed the wildlife especially the birds, so we have hung a feeder from a nearby tree. 

Expectantly we've waited....and waited...and waited.....in fact we're still waiting for a bird, but just as I was passing the window today something caught my attention and there balanced precariously on the feeder was a squirrel. A RED squirrel.

I should just add a little note here to say that in the UK the red squirrel was virtually wiped out by the grey squirrel so I was thrilled to see this little guy. There are programmes now that are trying to reintroduce them but it'll take some time. The grey squirrels are quite a lot larger than the red and not as cute in fact they can be quite aggressive. 

I apologise that the photo is slightly out of focus but that's because he was in such a great hurry. 

Stocking up with bulging jowls, then just a flick of the tail and he was away again....puff gone!

But now I'd seen him I wanted to see more...I knew he would be hungry because there's been heavy snow on the ground for four days now. That has obvioulsy meant slim pickings and so with that in mind I produced a culinary delight for my new little furry friend. I chopped up some apple, nuts, and even sacreficed my blueberries. No expense spared for the little guy.

These were obviously too tempting and as you can see below he came running over to add to his daily five!!! By the way, the snow he's running over just happens to be well over my knees....I know this for a fact because I lost my boot whilst trying to fill the feeder!

After freezing my behooky off and finally locating my boot once more, I decided to retreat to the warmth of the fire to watch his antics...and look who wasn't camera shy after all.

Now this photo below I think is the cutest I've seen for quite some time. What do you think?

I think someone else must have been feeding him too because he certainly looks healthy don't you think?

I just need to name him now? Any idea's anyone?

I'm not sure if he's a he or a she...but I don't think either way that'll bother my new bestie, 

just so long as I keep up the peanut run! 

I've just heard that the weather forecast is for 40cms of fresh snow fall tomorrow! Whoohoo!

 

Santa's nearly on his way peeps...are you ready?

Just remember to enjoy. Catch you later...