Recently in wildlife/conservation Category

Squirrels. I knew they spent all their time either causing chaos at Alton Towers, getting drunk, dressing up in army gear or gorging themselves senseless - but I now see they're masquerading as astronauts. 

This fantastic picture in The Sun was taken in a back garden in Fareham, Hants. Householder Jane Roberts suspends coconuts on pieces of string from her washing line and watches her furry friends dig in.

Whatever next - an outpouring of public grief over a dead albino one?

There are some great animal pictures in the media today - cute polar bears in The Telegraph, killer chickens in The Mail and amorous kingfishers in The Times.

Some deer news.

I was surprised (OK, a little disturbed) to read about this couple in America who have a pet deer. You're probably wondering: What's so unusual about that? Well, this one lives indoors, is toilet trained and eats linguine.

Also, an albino deer has been spotted in the Italian countryside. Maybe he's related to Dorking's famous (now-deceased) albino squirrel.

Scientists at Kew have discovered almost 300 new species in the last year, according to this article in The Independent.

I went to Kew for the first time this year, incidentally. The Treetop Walkway is amazing...

Despite my best attempts to the contrary (which include tuttting at neighbours' Christmas lights and complaining about shoppers' madness on the high street) I'm beginning to feel slightly Christmasy. So I was interested to read this article in The Independent about the UK's only herd of wild reindeer.

Some nice wildlife photos on the Guardian's website, too...

Great set of pictures in the Daily Mail of a squirrel saving one of her offspring from a dog. They certainly don't mess around, squirrels...

...and while we're on the subject of animals, I was interested to hear about this new otter book.

I'm undecided about otters. I think they're cute but, as a fisherman, I also know the carnage they can cause. This albino one is quite something though...

Kangaroos, like squirrels and polar bears, are overrated.

Forget the cute 'Skippy' image, they're dirty and vicious and have obviously had the benefit of good PR over the years.

But this grisly story involving an Australian farmer in today's news shows what they're capable of...

Something very strange has just happened. I agreed with something in the Daily Mail. Richard Littlejohn was ruminating on the subject of Dorking's deceased squirrel. Here's an extract:

Albino or otherwise, squirrels are still vermin. But this one has been accorded his own grave, with a little wooden cross. Cards, flowers and bags of nuts have been left, along with messages such as: 'We can't believe you've gone, little friend' and 'Miss you. Love you.' Snowy was run over by someone described as a 'hit and run driver'. Hang on a minute. It wasn't as if this motorist ploughed through a bus queue. He squashed a squirrel. What was he supposed to do - surrender to the police and volunteer for a breath test?

It's obviously a good day for wildlife photos on the Telegraph's webiste. As well as the bears, they've got three incredible pictures of hippos killing a crocodile.

After recently covering the story of Britain's only polar bear recently, I was interested to see more polar bear pictures in this collection on the Daily Telegraph's website today.

Thank goodness for that - the "tragic final seconds" of Dorking's albino squirrel have been revealed.

The whole incident seems to have left a community in mourning..

I can't help but wonder sometimes about people's priorities...

More on the dead albino squirrel in the Daily Mail. As if the whole thing wasn't ludicrous enough to begin with, now this article is talking about a "Diana-style show of grief".