In the green Black Country

WE have more wildlife photographs from Bugle readers: at top left we have a Grey Squirrel snapped by Richard Pursehouse at Shoal Hill, Cannock; at top right, Dave Hanson saw this squirrel in West Smethwick Park; and finally, Melvin Bullas sent in this picture of a squirrel, tucking into an apple, in his Dudley garden.

Although an invasive species and considered by many to be a pest, the Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) is the wild mammal that many are most likely to encounter.

Native to the eastern portion of North America, where they are known as Eastern Gray Squirrels to differentiate them from their western cousins, they were introduced to England in the 1870s and they have spread to most of Great Britain, displacing the native Red Squirrel (Sciurus

vulgaris). They were introduced to Ireland in the years before the First World War and the species was released in Italy in the 1940s.

Being bigger than Red Squirrels, the Grey Squirrel outcompete the native species when it comes to securing food and habitat – for example, Greys are better able than Reds to digest acorns. The Greys also brought with them the squirrel parapoxvirus, which is much more deadly to the Reds than it is to the Greys; the disease may be the main factor in the calamitous decline in Red Squirrel numbers in England.

■ Please send your Black Country wildlife photographs, whether taken in your garden or out and about, to editor@ blackcountrybugle.co.uk