Two-and-a-Half Squirrels

This morning we walked up to visit the most northerly population of Scottish red squirrels in their forest fastness above Dunrobin Castle - if, that is, the single individual we've seen each time we've visited in the past counts as a 'population'.

Happily, he or she was at home but stayed high in its favourite Douglas fir. Even when it deigned to descend it still....

....kept itself hidden, peering at us as if, even from thirty metres up, it didn't trust us. However....

....it slowly, tantalisingly, came lower in the tree until it was suddenly joined....

....by a second. According to Mrs MW there may even have been a third but, since I didn't see it, we'll count it as a half.

Happily, the two are easily distinguished, the second squirrel having a brown tail while the first has an unusually pale one.

Brown Tail stayed high but Pale Tail made a tentative approach to one of the feeding boxes low down in the tree, finally deciding we were innocuous enough to....

....open the lid and select something to eat.

We then had the pleasure of watching it for some time. As long as we moved around slowly it didn't seem bothered by us, which suggests it has a regular supply of visitors, which isn't surprising as these are very attractive animals to watch.

This is Pale Tail on the alert, prompted by a woodpecker drumming on a nearby tree.

There is a second population above the local cottage hospital at the southern end of the village but we have yet to see any of its members. Both groups were introduced at the end of last year. At least the Dunrobin pair have managed to survive what has been a long, cold and damp winter.