Had a lovely surprise today

When I was out and about in the garden today I noticed 1 of our Birman cats going hell for leather up our field . Having no idea what he had spied I followed him and discovered the wee bu..er half way up a sizeable tree. After much persuading he came down out of the tree and then I noticed what had seriously got his attention, a red squirrel. With a bit of a protest I managed to remove said cat from the vicinity of the tree and once I'd given the squirrel some space it came down out of the tree and set off for our little wood.
i did know there had been sightings of red squirrels around these parts but never seen 1 here before. I am just hoping flaming fluffy paws hasn't put it/them coming to visit. I know grey squirrels are quite aggressive having got up close and personal to 1 some years back. Are red squirrels similar? Do you think a cat would be able to catch/injure or worse a red squirrel? I do hope they set up a home here. Our little wood isn't very big but we do have some huge Beech trees = many Beech nuts which might give them a source of food. It would be lovely to think they would come and live here but maybe that's wishful thinking with Bella and Pancake (cats) in residence

 

@silu how wonderful for you just magical

See link for advice
"On Some useful tips to help keep your love of nature and your love of pets in harmony"
Reducing Predation of Red Squirrels from Cats and Dogs | The Wildlife Trusts

Hope it goes some way to aid relieve your concerns

 

Lucky you!

 

Hi silu I didn't know you've got Birmans...lucky you indeed! If it's any help, we've only got red squirrels here, (although we never see them in the garden, we know they're there because of all the baby oak trees springing up in the borders) and we've got 4 cats. There's never been a squirrel casualty Mice, rats, moles, rabbits and even a marten, yes, but the squirrels are much too quick for the feline squad.

 

dodoMany thanks @BeeHappy. Have read the useful link and will go up into the wood and see if I can find a suitable place to set up a feeder......placing a feeder 5 or 6 foot up a tree, this might be slightly challenging for an old bag like me to do but will see what I can organise. We have loads and loads of Apples which I read they like and will go and buy some suitable nuts.
Yes @noisette47 we have 2 "terrible" Birmans (brother and sister). Reassuring to read your cats haven't troubled your squirrels it will be likewise here.
They are complete thugs and in no way resemble the archetypal pedigree cat that sits on a velvet cushion with bow on head! They have decimated the local mouse and vole population but luckily we have kept bird casualties to the minimum by not letting them out before 9am to let the birds wake up and they are always indoors at night. We only had 1 swallow baby causality this season out of over 50 babies that were raised here. 1 was more than I would have liked and Pancake was advised that i was not pleased, however it is in cat's nature to hunt unfortunately.
They may look angelic but don't be fooled! Photo taken a while back so the 2 horrors are a bit bigger now.

 

@silu your most glad to have been of some help

 

I can't open the photo, @silu.....it's just a little box with a red cross

 

Oh sorry @noisette47 and @Redwing .I copied and pasted it from somewhere which can't have worked as many of the photos I have of the horrors were on an old laptop which I,,,,,,dropped on a concrete floor resulting in the machine never to show the slightest glimmer of life ever again and I lost the photos. I'll get a photo of them off my daughter's laptop and post that up instead.

 

Hope this works. Again photo of them a little while ago. They have not improved with age and if anything are even more badly behaved than when they were small!

 

Ohhh they're beautiful! You could forgive them anything

 

This summer a very small stray cat appeared on our back garden and I just love animals in general and I've been feeding him since twice daily when he shows up plus i called him Minty which he comes to, purchased a box for outside with a flap and fleece blanket and will he use it no way, especially with winter upon we.

 

My little Minty I've been feeding as not turned up for 3 days

 

Aww

Chances are you got a timeshare cat, Shiney's got one of those.

 

@Gail_68

Me too