On one of my Herefordshire Wildlife Trust Christmas cards there is a lovely depiction of a red squirrel - something we do not have in Herefordshire. However, a wildlife watcher reported to me that they had seen a black one on their way back from Bromyard. I did a bit of research as I have seen black squirrels, a derivative of the red squirrel, in Europe but never in the UK. It turns out there are quite a few, possibly 25,000, mostly found in the central east of the country. They were first seen in Woburn in 1912. However, that wouldn’t stop them spreading this far, as the greys spread rapidly once introduced from North America. There are two trains of thought on this. One: it is a genetic mutation possibly brought about by inbreeding of grey squirrels. (I know this is common with the Mongolian gerbil) or: it is mixture of two different types of grey squirrel introduced in the 18^th/19^th centuries, one being the common grey we all know and the other being the fox squirrel. The black comes from a faulty pigment gene. These black squirrels are found to be more aggressive which is mind boggling as my encounters with greys have not been particularly friendly and therefore I would not like to meet up with the black one!

Winter is supposed to be approaching but the autumn is lingering on and the deciduous trees are losing their leaves at quite a slow rate due to the above average temperatures. Confusing for the wildlife trying to hibernate but the birds are still tucking into the feeders and so far my holly berries are intact. The red kite is now a regular visitor around here and a reporter stated that they had a grey wagtail in their garden, of which there are quite a few close to the river. The thrushes are about, as I had a close encounter with one yesterday but as so many apple orchards have disappeared recently around here, I have not spied flocks of redwing and fieldfares yet.  Let’s pray they will visit this winter as their chattering is a joy to hear. Enjoy the Christmas season and don’t forget to feed and help our wildlife too (except those grey pesky squirrels!).