could this be a hybrid?

could be , we sometimes see squirrels like that over here that makes us think the red and grey squirrels are breeding with each other

Hi Kmc may I ask do you happen to know if your squirrels suffer with poxvirus
that is prevalent in our squirrels ?

no poxvirus problems here. Our problem is west nile virus...spread by mosquitos to our bird population and humans as well. Our Blue Jay population has greatly deminished because of it.

So if you no evidence of poxvirus how is it that our grey squirrels introduced from US being blamed for spread of it into our red squirrels ?

Oh also dont suffer with it just act as carriers to affect the red ..we been fed so much BS by our politicians but happy to believe this !

When was the introduction supposed to have been done???. I know that supposably the housesparrow was brought over from Britian...I think they are worse than rabbits in multipling lol. but they are here now and not a single one of them lived in Britian before so they belong here. LOL what is really sad is these same statements are made about human races as well not just animals..."send them back where they came from" born and raised here that is where they came from.

There is quite a debate over this Kmc - the official line is that a few escaped from a private collection in the late 1890s and there was never a plan to introduce them.

Our own red squirrel was regarded as a pest at the time and with men away during the First World War numbers should have risen dramatically with no one around to control them.

In fact the population slumped alarmingly - personally I believe the Poxvirus to have been introduced to the Red squirrel by man in much the same way the Myxamatoses virus was to rabbits.

The symptoms of these viruses are very similar and designed to be spread genetically through future generations surely if the grey a carrier then there would be strong evidence in the US that your diverse rodent population would have been affected ?

Racoons chipmunks gofers etc would surely have picked this up .

I feel this more readily explains why only the red suffers - only a theory of course but then so is much of the evidence against the grey squirrel.

As for the humble sparrow our population has fallen dramatically and we are being encouraged to cherish them hope they are not a major problem
as they are charming little birds.

the story about how the grey squirrel got over to Ireland is that some man thought they would make a lovely present for his bride to be on their wedding day , released them at the wedding and the rest as they say is history

The only nuisance about the sparrow is they will build their nests anywhere...we have 3 right in a row in the rain gutter of our car port (the roof is fluted so along the gutter it makes like individual boxes). I allowed them to stay till the babies were raised. we have no decline in numbers and enjoy watching them at my feeder as much as the other birds. They do definately out number all the other birds.
In regards to the grey over there...apperently it was introduced over 100years ago...regardless of the supposed origin they are now natives of Britian...they were born and raidsed there LOL.

Your squirrel is just a normal grey, showing the reddish tint in the fur which changes with the season. We've had grey squirrel families visiting and nesting in and around our garden for the last 8 years. We've seen them produce many new generations in that time, and there have been various shades of grey. red-brown, beige and white in all of their coats at different times of the years and at different ages. We think the reddish colour is carried through from their red ancestors. We enjoy them anyway, you get to appreciate any form of wildlife, living as we do, on a city housing estate, miles from the countryside.

it is closer to the size of a red squirrel though. Greys are smaller than the reds over here.