Garden is over run by black squirrels

[chelseakelsey]

Anyone know why?

They seem to congregate constantly in my garden

I thought they were extinct!

@vera99 the squirrels and the foxes seem quite happy together round my way.
The parakeets shriek a lot, and the magpies are always fighting with the rooks.
The rooks are definitely In Charge. Massive things. Size of eagles they are 🤣
I saw a rook and a squirrel having a tug of war with a piece of cardboard.
The rook won.

@Needmorelego Our foxes have killed magpies and pigeons - the rooks have had a stand-off with them so I think both know that a fight would be mutually assured destruction so the rooks make a lot of noise and the foxes stand their ground. Parakeets stay high so they are away from danger. Was never a great fan of squirrels when they destroyed all my sunflower heads one day years ago and foxes, once you turn, are so lovely that you can't go back... particularly when the kits arrived we had 5 season 1 and 3 season 2.... better than Netflix....

@vera99 it's definitely better than Netflix.
We had a rooks vs magpies in-air fight. It was like Spitfires vs Germans 🤣

Black squirrels are prolific in Hitchin and Letchworth. I'm down the road a bit and have started spotting them locally to me. They're so pretty! I took a photo once and somebody argued with me that I was mistaken and it was a cat 🤣

Beautiful! 🥰

We only have grey ones, they run around my fences to get to the food the neighbour puts out for the birds. The squirrels are top dog and even the magpies move when they turn up.

Seen a black squirrel in Uxbridge and a black fox in Richmond upon Thames. Have also seen a huge mischief of magpies mobbing a fox who slunk away like Wil E Coyote.

Haha. That's funny. I'm in Henlow (not far from Hitchin) and they're everywhere here

Wow, I have never seen a black squirrel!

Rooks are hardcore. I love them. They're so smart. The Corvid family has been proven to be smarter than dogs or cats.

I volunteer with a fox rescue but as a 'side gig' I spent a season also helping out another wildlife charity we (the fox charity) shared a wildlife hospital with as a baby bird feeder. As part of my 'rounds' I also had to feed the fledgling Corvids and they were quite intimidating when in an aviary together. They were definitely the boss of me! Took a while to get them onside before they stopped being scary but I developed huge respect for them. Foxes are smart but always bet on a Corvid. ;-)

Would love to see one. Only little grey buggers here, alas.

We had a crow leave twigs on our back step for weeks I'm not sure what we did to deserve the gifts but it was very nice of it 😀

Is your garden in Mirkwood?

Well bugger me, I'm knocking 65 and never knew black squirrels existed!

Trouble is I want to see one in real life now...... wonder if DH is willing to take us and DDog up to those areas (from Hampshire)......... 🐕 loves chasing squirrel......

Yes it’s Melanistic grey…..i have never seen one In Dorset. lovely fence OP

@HundredMilesAnHour massive respect to you for your fox work - love them to death. This season's cub 'Apple' had 4 crows checking her out whilst one went to eat the other 3 would stand guard warning each other if she got too close. She watched them with mild interest but no aggression trying to figure them out but failing I think. The crows then cycled around the feeding - they are very communal and cooperative creatures.

They are melanistic grey squirrels - because it's caused by a genetic mutation (ie inherited) you tend to get a lot of them in the same area.