Grey Squirrel
Sciurus carolinensis
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Introduced from North America, and the main reason the red squirrel is in retreat.
Larger and heavier-built than the red squirrel, silver-grey with a brownish wash along the back and flanks in summer, a white underside and no ear tufts. Grey squirrels were introduced to Britain from eastern North America from the 1870s onwards and are now common in parks, gardens and broadleaf woodland across much of the country, including parts of Dumfries and Galloway.
Behaviour
Greys are bold, adaptable and thoroughly at home around people, raiding bird feeders and taking food from bins. They feed on nuts, seeds, buds, fungi and birds' eggs, and bury food singly across a wide area. Their impact on red squirrels is twofold: they compete for the same food and can outcompete it in broadleaf woodland, and they carry squirrelpox, which they survive and reds usually do not.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Squirrels (Sciuridae)
- Size
- Body 24–28 cm plus a 19–24 cm tail
- UK status
- Introduced and invasive; it is illegal to release one
Photo by JeffreyGammon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons