Grey Squirrel

Pretty or pest? Cute or not?

This is one of several that were feeding on seeds put out for wild birds in Rufford Park, north of Nottingham.
These squirrels haunt bird feeders and tables in parks and gardens everywhere, city and country.

The eastern gray is actually indigenous to a region of North America from New Brunswick to Manitoba, south to East Texas and Florida. There is a breeding colony in Nova Scotia, but it is not known if that population was introduced or came from natural range expansion.

It was introduced into Ireland, Britain, Italy, South Africa, and Australia (where it was extirpated by 1973).

A prolific and adaptable animal, this is generally regarded as an unwelcome invasive pest in Britain.
It has spread across the country and has largely displaced the native red squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris, rendering it extinct over much of its former range.

In Ireland also the red squirrel has been displaced in several eastern counties, though it still remains common in the south and west of the country.

There are concerns that such displacement might happen in Italy and that gray squirrels might spread from Italy to other parts of mainland Europe.