Animal Crazy!

Wildlife in my Garden.

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Blue Tit Parus caeruleus

What do they look like?

The colourful mix of blue, yellow, white and green make the Blue Tit one of the most attractive resident garden birds. The sexes are similar, though the female is slightly paler.

The juvenile birds are duller than the adults and have greener crown, wings and tail, and yellow cheeks.

Where do they live?

Breeding season:

Mainly deciduous woodland, especially likes oak trees. Blue Tits will nest in any hole in a tree, wall or nest box.  They are well known for nesting in more unusual places, such as letter boxes, pipes, etc. The nest is a cup made by the female from moss, wool, dead leaves, spiders' webs, and lined with down.

Winter:

They often move into suburban gardens in severe weather.

We are lucky to have a returning pair to a nest box in our garden.

What do they eat?

Blue Tits feed mostly on insects, especially caterpillars, and seeds and. In springtime they feed also on pollen, nectar and sap, and in the autumn on berries.

In the garden they search among the plants and crevices for insects (e.g. aphids, beetles, and caterpillars) and spiders, but also take sunflower hearts or high energy seed from bird feeders, or peck at a suet food bar or peanuts.

They are one of the most agile birds, and they will entertain for hours by hanging upside down from feeders, branches, etc. They are also opportunists and will often peck through foil milk bottle tops for the cream.

Blue Tits, and other tits, also peck putty around windows, usually at winter time. Some may simply be hungry and attracted to the linseed oil in the putty, though it is thought more likely that they are simply searching for food.

What do they sound like?

A high pitched, trilling song - "tsee-tsee-tsu-hu-hu-hu-hu" and can be heard all year round. The alarm call is a churring alarm call and high call notes.

When can I see them?

All year round.

 

Vital Statistics

Eggs: 7-13
Incubation: 14 days
Fledging: 16-22 days
Maximum lifespan: 21 years
Length: 11.5cm
Wingspan: 17.5-20cm
Weight: 9.5-12.5g
UK breeding: 3,500,000 pairs

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Grey squirrel: Sciurus carolinensis

 

What do they look like?

Winter fur is dense and silvery grey with a brown tinge along the middle of the back. Summer fur is yellowish-brown. White under parts. Bushy, grey tail. Ears without tufts.

Where do they live?

They are native to North America and was introduced to Great Britain in the mid-19th century. After many releases it began to increase dramatically at the beginning of this century, mainly spreading from Woburn Park, Bedfordshire. It is now one of Britain's most well-known and frequently seen mammals, being much more common than the native red squirrel. They prefer mature deciduous woodland but are also common in parks and gardens in towns and cities.

Winter: The grey squirrel does not hibernate and it cannot store enough energy to survive for long periods without food. A larger, thicker winter drey (nest) is built, usually on a strong branch close to the trunk, and a squirrel will lie up in this in very cold weather, coming out now and then to search out hidden stores of food. These stores of single nuts and other items are buried in the ground in autumn, well spread out. They are found by smell, rather than memory. Often they are not found at all and later may grow, helping the dispersal of trees. Winter dreys are often shared for warmth. As it sleeps, the squirrel curls its tail around its body to act as a blanket.

We are lucky to have some that visit our garden - we hear them quite a bit too!

What do they eat?

Hazelnuts, acorns, beech mast, tree bark, fungi, buds, leaves, shoots, flowers; will also raid birds' nests for eggs and young.

What do they sound like?

Although grey squirrels have a wide range of calls, they communicate mainly through their tails, using them as a signalling device; they twitch their tails if they are uneasy or suspicious.

When can I see them?

All year round.

 

Vital Statistics

Maximum lifespan: 10 years, most only 3-4 years in the wild.
Size: Head and body about 25cm (10in); tail about 70cm (8in).
Weight: 350-800g.

 

Daily Life

The grey squirrel is diurnal and most active at dawn and dusk, searching for available food. It is very agile in the trees and can run along slender twigs, leaping from tree to tree. The long, muscular hind legs and short front legs help it to leap. The hind feet, longer than the front, are double-jointed to help the squirrel scramble head first up and down the tree trunk. Sharp claws are useful for gripping bark and the tail helps the squirrel to balance. If a squirrel falls, it can land safely from heights of about 9m (30ft). The grey squirrel can leap more than 6 metres!

Squirrels have good eyesight and often sit upright on a vantage point to look around them. They have a keen sense of smell too!

The grey squirrel builds itself a nest, or drey, about the size of a football, made of twigs, often with the leaves still attached. It is built fairly high in a tree and lined with dry grass, shredded bark, moss and feathers. A summer drey is usually quite flimsy and lodged among small branches. Sometimes the squirrel may make its nest in a hollow trunk or take over a rook's nest, constructing a roof for it. A squirrel may build several dreys.

Regular routes are scent-marked with urine and glandular secretions. Squirrels identify each other, and food, by smell.

Breeding

In late winter, squirrels may be seen courting. Chattering males can be seen chasing a female through the trees or across the ground. Females can mate only twice a year, but males may mate at any time. After mating, the male plays no part in the rearing of his young.

The female uses a winter drey as a maternity nest, or builds a new one. She lines it with soft material and gives birth after a six week gestation period (time between mating and birth), in March/April and perhaps again in June/July.

An average litter is 3 babies but as many as 9 may be born. The mother suckles the naked, blind young every three or four hours for several weeks. They gradually grow fur, their eyes open and at about seven weeks old they follow their mother out on to the branches. Gradually they start to eat solid food and when their teeth are fully grown, at 10 weeks, they give up suckling. A month or so later they move away from the nest to build dreys of their own. If there are not too many squirrels in the area, the young stay nearby. If it is crowded they will be chased away to look for less crowded feeding areas.

Grey squirrels breed for the first time at a year old.

Grey Squirrels and Man

Man is the main predator of grey squirrels in Britain. Foresters, gamekeepers, park keepers and many conservationists regard grey squirrels as pests, mainly because they damage trees. Young saplings are destroyed and they gnaw the bark of hardwood trees, such as beech and sycamore, to get at the nutritious sapwood below. The raw scar left on the trunk encourages fungal attack and may lead to distorted growth.

In many forest areas, the grey squirrel population is controlled by trapping and shooting. Gamekeepers shoot the squirrels on private estates. The Forestry Commission and National Trust also trap and shoot grey squirrels. It is illegal to keep, import and release grey squirrels in Britain, unless you have a special licence from the Ministry of Agriculture or Secretary of State for Scotland.

Although the grey squirrel is a pretty, appealing and entertaining little animal, it can be a great nuisance in a garden, especially to a bird lover. It is very bold and soon learns to take food from bird tables and chew through baskets of peanuts. It will also destroy birds' nests to eat eggs and nestlings.

In our garden I have witnessed a very bold squirrel bury nuts in our lawn, backwards and forwards for ages! This is the main reason our lawn is so patchy!