Grey squirrels

On the front of these there will often be an animal or bird portraying a Christmas or winter scene, robins seem to be a particular favourite in a snowy scene.

This formula has also been used with many of our larger and more distinct wildlife creatures such as badgers, foxes and various animals from the polar regions, such as polar bears and penguins.

The wild animal that I have the fondest memories of watching at this time of year though, is the humble grey squirrel. Unfortunately, this animal hardly ever makes it to the front of our cards. This may be due to the bad reputation it has built up over the years.

Firstly, it is not a native species, being introduced into England from North America at the beginning of the 20th century. It then expanded its range to cover most of the British Isles and is blamed for out-competing and, hence, causing the demise of our native red squirrels in many areas.

In addition to this, grey squirrels are viewed as pests by the forestry industry, due to their habit of gnawing a complete ring of bark from around young trees which can kill them. However, the much-disliked grey squirrel does harbour a warm spot in my heart.

December is usually quite a drab time of year, with very little wildlife to be found.

On milder days though, the bare trees and mat-like carpet of leaves across the woodland floor allows us to have an almost unobstructed view of the antics of the squirrel.

December is also the squirrels' mating season, so the male squirrels are even more keen than usual to impress the females with their acrobatics. They will also have their mind on other things, which means with a little care we'll be able to get closer to them.

In some parks, squirrels have learnt to scrounge for food and will happily approach people. Out on the nature reserves though they are far more timid.

If you do get the chance to watch a group at play in the wild, it is an uplifting and quite a comical exhibition of gymnastics that you will be treated to. The games seem to revolve around grand chases. Often starting on the ground with twig throwing and somersaults, the play rapidly develops into breath-taking chases up trees with death-defying leaps from flimsy branch to flimsy branch.

Despite their apparent mastery of these skills, they do on occasion get things wrong and miss their landing, plunging through the air with limbs thrashing, before hitting the woodland floor with a thud.

Then they dust themselves off, patch up their self-respect and scamper up a tree to rejoin the frantic chasing game.

Paul Allen, Countryside Officer, Wyre Forest District Council