Before going on holiday to North Carolina, my options were to leave incidental music playing on my blog or a time-release post about squirrels. I chose squirrels.
So here’s an exposé of the infamous squirrel mafia at Regent’s Park. Enjoy!
A generous passerby looks for a biscuit in her bag to feed a hungry squirrel.
She is too slow for the squirrel who decides that he will do a better job of looking for himself.
Mission accomplished.
Here’s my beautiful, kind friend Helen. Also foolish and unsuspecting – not realising she is being set up…
…for a squirrel ambush!
You wanna piece of me?
As naughty as they are, I was having a lot of fun taking pictures of squirrels until they called in the paparazzi police…
‘No photo!’
This cheeky squirrel even had time to stick out his tongue before making a quick getaway.
Not all wildlife in Regent’s Park is shy about being papped. Apologies to my friend, Danielle, if she is reading this post, for the pigeon…
Magpie, squirrel and… ‘Don’t forget me!’, says the pigeon.
There were a lot more squirrel photos too, but I was feeling quite unwell at the time of preparing this incidental piece. So for more squirrel shenanigans do check out this fun post at Garden Walk, Garden Talk: Shock and Awe – Squirrel Style. And happily, as you read this, I’ll be curled in a comfy armchair beside a log fire in North Carolina, still sleeping off Thanksgiving Dinner!
Mrs Apis Mellifera 
The squirrel poking its tongue out at you is brilliant! Jealous of the log fire, we are being swept by roaring winds and lashings of rain over here!
I am so lucky – everyday in North Carolina has been beautiful, bright winter sunshine and not too cold (although the locals say it is freezing!) and incredible, changeable light that makes everything look magical. I will try to bring back a pocketful of sunshine. The squirrels are much shyer here 🙂
Loved your squirrel tale and look forward to more. Are they not the most animated creatures? I like the photo police and the cheeky squirrel with its tongue out. They really write their own captions. Thanks for the link too. I hope you feel better for the rest of your trip.
North Carolina is a great place to recuperate and my friends have been looking after me very well. I feel spoiled! So beautiful, I’ll definitely be planning a longer trip to the States to see more people and places in 2013/14. (That photo police picture was taken just before the squirrel lept at me and climbed up to my waist!)
…but where do you stand on grey / red squirrels (I don’t mean, literally, “in the renowned squirrel-standing arena in Crediton”)? Just seen reds on the I o Wight and… it makes one think about greys. That’s all I’m saying. Have a great time in NC.
… I can’t remember reds, only ever seen greys in parks, but I saw a few beautiful red squirrels in North Carolina and they are very shy. They are not bold like greys so it was hard to get a photo.
My stand on non-native species is – don’t do it! But I’m not an expert on squirrels to say whether greys are still considered non native. It’s a shame that we don’t see reds any more though. Introducing non-native species causes so many problems and I think should be discouraged, definitely, and tighter controls introduced. In beekeeping this has caused many problems, ie varroa, small hive beetle, nosema ceranae, Asian hornet…
Squirrels are evil. After throwing acorns at my head, one squirrel even tried to pee on me, just missing me by inches. Other squirrels that have lived in the trees of the yards I’ve lived in over the years seem to take particular delight in terrorizing my dogs. They are smart little boogers, too. They lay in wait, twitching their tail, down where they are in the dog’s reach. The dogs see them through the sliding glass door or the window and desperately want out. So we let them out, the squirrels make a quick getaways to the tree, whereupon they launch moss and tree bark at the dog. I swear the darn things were TAUNTING them. They were doing this stuff for FUN.
The following commercial that played on TV out here for a while isn’t a commercial. It’s reality, lol! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40kPEjZpM8M
He he! Great commercial – I believe it all!
Squirrel are very cunning, you are right. The mafia in Regent’s Park are constantly plotting and scheming… 🙂 I have seen them ‘mug’ many a tourist for bananas, apples, crisps and biscuits.
Loved it, had me laughing. We have a similar but less aggressive bunch of squirrel mobsters in Castle Park, Colchester, along with the magpies and the pigeons.
They are very clever, aren’t they? Yours sound as mischievous as the Regent’s Park mob only Colchester squirrels probably have more trees and bushes from which to launch an attack! 😉