Garden is over run by black squirrels

[chelseakelsey]

Anyone know why?

They seem to congregate constantly in my garden

I thought they were extinct!

No, not extinxt. I think there are about 25,000 reported sightings, mostly around Hertfordshire and Bedforshire. The Woodlands Trust have a dedicated page for them.

😍

Oh my....I want 😍

I have two different sets of grays. One set comes from the front, the other set over the back. They don't particularly like each other but there's enough food to stop arguments. The most they do is swish their tails furiously at each other 😂

www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/homes-and-gardens/places-to-live/the-mystery-of-the-black-squirrel-in-hertfordshire-7267190

Surely you mean squirrels of colour?

Aren't they 'melanistic'?

Freak mutations, a bit like albino and leucistic squirrels

They do seem to be coming more and more common.

Adorable either way

I was amazed that squirrels in Canada are black (probably not all)

You're SO lucky!

Oh wow 😍
We have white ones where I live (South London).
I'll have to find a picture.

Bloody vermin. They dig up everything I plant. They got into my friends attic and caused a fire by chewing through wiring. We had a lot of birds nests in our trees and have seen the squirrels push the eggs out of the nests so they can eat them. Also seen them eating the baby birds.
They are basically rats who can stand on their hind legs, with fluffy tails.

Here's one of the white ones (photo from local newspaper - all my pictures are just of a white blue 🙂)

blur not blue.
Never seen a blue squirrel.

I laughed at rival squirrel gangs 😀

Op I think they are rare as pp said but definitely not extinct.

They are waiting for you to build a squirrel ninja obstacle course!!

Bloody vermin. They dig up everything I plant. They got into my friends attic and caused a fire by chewing through wiring. We had a lot of birds nests in our trees and have seen the squirrels push the eggs out of the nests so they can eat them. Also seen them eating the baby birds.

And of course humans never cause any damage or inconvenience to wildlife and usually with less excuse than a squirrel who is only trying to survive.

Lucky you, OP. I'd love to see one in the wild. Ty for sharing.

No, they are (believed to be) escapee’s from a private zoo. They are originally from N America rather than some sort of mutation.

Ahh he looks albino! Cute

@chelseakelsey I'm not sure of the history with the white ones - but there are several in the area apparently.

I used to see black squirrels in Germany... I believe that was a mutation that was making them dominant to the red ones (not grey like UK)

Albino squirrel is very cute.

So cute. There were black squirrels at RAF Brampton when we lived there many years ago. I used to love seeing them. Had a bit of a shock the first time as I had no idea there were black ones!

If the white one falls off his tree into a bucket of blue paint...

Get a fox - since we've had a family live next door for the last 2 years we've never had a problem with squirrels or rats for that matter. Poo. clothes and shoes going missing are a different matter though....