Mugged by a Tit

[oldrover]

Tribble writes (post #20): "Indeed a grey. Don't think I've ever seen an urban red squirrel."

As I'd figured; but one does hear of red squirrels still, in some places hearteningly far south in Scotland. A relative of mine recalled seeing red squirrels at Balloch, at the southern end of Loch Lomond and pretty much in the suburbs of Glasgow -- but that was many decades ago.

I must have mentioned this to you before, but I'm sure I saw a red in Mumbles back in the 70's.

 

[amyasleigh]

I used to do voluntary work on a residential holiday for kids in rural Aberdeenshire. One day we were in a forest and saw a gorgeous red squirrel sitting on a tree stump. The magic was shattered when one of the wilder kids shouted in a rough Glaswegian accent "Hey look! A wee ginger monkey!"

This, and oldrover's little-girl-and-newt anecdote: more appreciative responses, at least, than that told of by my brother, from a spell he spent a good many years ago, working with disadvantaged kids on Merseyside. He and fellow-workers on the project took a bunch of these kids for a few days' stay in the countryside in North Wales, a little way inland from the coast -- the idea being, to show them something of the joys of the non-urban world. The whole thing was very much a frost: the kids had no use at all for the non-urban world, and were desperately bored and peed-off. On a "nature walk", the group encountered quite close-up, a grey squirrel. My brother, waxing enthusiastic for the kids' benefit, exclaimed animatedly, "Look ! A squirrel !" One particularly hard-case girl in the group took a brief look, and said -- in tones of utter disdain -- "Yeah -- so what? It's a f***ing squirrel."

I'd like to imagine that if it had been a red squirrel, she'd have found the encounter more pleasing; but have to consider that, unlikely.

 

[amyasleigh]

I must have mentioned this to you before, but I'm sure I saw a red in Mumbles back in the 70's.

Interesting and intricate how, and where and when, red squirrels lingered on; but sadly, over the decades it's been mostly a one-way process.

 

[oldrover]

Interesting and intricate how, and where and when, red squirrels lingered on; but sadly, over the decades it's been mostly a one-way process.

I'm trying to think of a knowing red squirrel/red fox/thylacine quip here but it just won't come.

As I understand it they were more widely distributed back in the 70's than people realised?

 

[amyasleigh]

As I understand it they were more widely distributed back in the 70's than people realised?

Haven't made a profound study; but kind-of get the impression that things have happened more "raggedly" than the more broad-brush learned accounts tend to suggest. In the actual "Red Squirrels" thread in "Cryptozoology - General", a poster tells of having -- to his perception -- seen as a child in the 1960s, red squirrels in north London; whilst per official accounts, last sightings of red squirrels in the London area were in the World War II era. Not "dissing" anyone or what they reckon to have witnessed; but this whole field is, as we know, full of "maybe" 's and uncertainties -- very often, pretty well impossible to say for 100% certain "it was", or "it wasn't".