4 days later....

Unlike the seminal Zombie movie my poorly little red squirrel does not have 28 days. Having used some of my & Mrs IttH's contacts to discuss this with the most relevant experts we could we now know that if it is the Squirrel Pox virus then it hits very hard and very fast. Transmission and mortality rates are 90% - decline is quick and they die within 14 days of symptoms appearing.
All of which sounds a bit grim - but today there are some glimmers of hope. I've definitely photographed at least two different squirrels (seen and tracked) and both looked and acted amazingly healthy. I can't really believe that either I saw today were the chap I saw last Thursday, as its hard to imagine his damaged looking eye could heal and regrow fur so quickly - but we were told one of the earliest signs is lethargy and slow movement - this guy ran around all day ferrying the nuts I just couldn't resist putting out for him to his winter hidey-holes - and there was lots of acrobatic displays whenever the two got too close to each other.

Fingers crossed, but expect lots of squirrel shots until we know.