I took this picture on the Greenway by the ViewTube yesterday.
You're Never Far From a Rat in London
As I was standing on top of the Northern Outfall Sewer, which lies under the Greenway, I suppose this is to be expected.
January 7, 2012 - Posted by AnonW | World | Animals, Joseph Bazalgette, Olympics
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
What this blog will eventually be about I do not know.
But it will be about how I’m coping with the loss of my wife and son to cancer in recent years and how I manage with being a coeliac and recovering from a stroke. It will be about travel, sport, engineering, food, art, computers, large projects and London, that are some of the passions that fill my life.
And hopefully, it will get rid of the lonely times, from which I still suffer.
Why Anonymous? That’s how you feel at times.
The Anonymous Widower
That’s the difference a fluffy tail makes. Squirrels are fed by people in parks and rats, being very similar to them, are treated as pests.
Comment by Yuriy | January 8, 2012 |
Squirrels are only tree-rats and are treated as such, by those trying to grow trees.
Comment by AnonW | January 8, 2012 |
Yes, friends had squirrels nesting on their attic, so they used traps to get rid of them. But generally there is a different attitude, i.e. on a random encounter with a rat most people would cringe. Squirrels, on the other hand, are fine.
I’m not telling though that rats should be left alone or squirrels should be wiped out, just an interesting thing to note. I used to have pet rats, by the way – they’re smart enough, but their lifespan is too short to make a good pet.
Comment by Yuriy | January 8, 2012 |
Is there a different attitude to rats in Russia? Do you have squirrels? The ones you see in London were introduced from America. they should be wiped out, so that our native red ones can come back in. They aren’t a pest at all.
Comment by AnonW | January 8, 2012
There are much fewer urban squirrels in Russia, but those that could be found are similar to ones that used inhabit this island – the red ones, with fluffy ears. I read a bit about how the North American fauna started to replace the native British species, with geese and squirrels as the most obvious examples.
As far as I remember, the problem with American grey squirrels is that they spend more time foraging on the ground while smaller red ones spend most time on the trees. In urban environment, that results in grey squirrels being able to find more food – combined with the fact that they’re bigger that leaves no chances to competitors.
Comment by Yuriy | January 8, 2012
According to Wikipedia, Russian squirrels are like our red, but they may be a different sub-species, as there are umpteen of them.
When I lived in rural Suffolk, my housekeeper always thought that grey squirrel was a very tasty meal.
But then we are more squeamish about what we eat these days. I used to live next door to a lady, who had spent most of World War 2 under German occupation in Algiers. When they were liberated, there wasn’t a cat, dog or rat left in the city. Having been over the Museum to the Great Patriotic War in Minsk, I suspect many parts of the Soviet Union were the same.
Comment by AnonW | January 8, 2012 |