Ron Freethy's Nature Watch letter

DAVID McDowall, of Irwell Vale, Ramsbottom, writes:

I WAS surprised to see a grey squirrel high on the remote Holcombe moorland. There is little on the moor for a squirrel so what attracted it to the area leaves me totally baffled.

It was my labrador dog that actually made me aware of the squirrel's presence as it caused the creature to squeak. At first I automatically thought that the dog had captured a rabbit.

There was a moment's silence followed by a yelp from the dog as he stood back with blood trickling from his nose. The squirrel was not amused at being nipped and had retaliated.

I took a grip of the dog and expected the creature to dash away but it remained at my feet as tame as could be.

Eventually, the squirrel lost interest and dashed away across the moor. I was wondering if any moorland walkers had seen anything quite like this.

I have also witnessed holly trees this year with a mass of berries. Is this a sign of a bad winter to come?

RON'S REPLY: I have certainly never seen a grey squirrel so high on moorland and I would be interested to hear of any other observations. As for the holly berries predicting a bad winter, I think the large number is more of a sign of a damp and fairly warm spring and summer. Nature does, I think, work on the law of averages and we are about due for another bad winter.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.