Red Squirrels in the Garden

[Red Squirrel]

This is my first edited video, not great as I managed to knock the title off. I can only get better.

In the first scene note the squirrel take a nut, it sees me, puts the nut back, then sits deciding what to do.

The stills were taken through double glazing so not good. Won't use them again.

Halfway through, I'm taking clips through the kitchen window and beyond looking into the conservatory the dog is sitting watching the squirrel. It's not remotely concerned that the dog is there.

Further on there are 2 scenes of squirrel in the hawthorn. You can see quite clearly that it's irritated at me. It's tummy shows it's chuntering away. If it was angry it would wag it's tail.

Me nuthatches are there too.

YouTube - rienza1's Channel

[~T~]

Originally Posted by Red Squirrel

In the first scene note the squirrel take a nut, it sees me, puts the nut back, then sits deciding what to do.
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It looks like me when got caught stealing cola bottles from the local newsagents when I was a kid.

Cool, had to watch it with the sound down though I can't stand the Titanic tune

[dampflippers]

That's the cutest thing I've seen for a while- you are so lucky! Do you do B&B???

Was it all with a hand held camera?

The bit with your dog is great- I wonder what he's thinking!

Don't put yourself down - it's goo quality film and nicely edited, although I would cut down on the length of the intro and end for youtube purposes. If viewers get bored, they just press the stop button.
Are you allowed to use the music? Not sure what the regulations are with that, but it goes with the footage perfectly.

[vole-woman]

What a lovely video. It's really brightened up my day.

[vole-woman]

Oh, and I couldn't help noticing, red squirrels look fairly easy to sex.

[Red Squirrel]

Thanks for all comments. Much appreciated.

Re B&B it would be good to see any Wabbers here. A pm and I'll sort it.

I got a message from You Tube saying there might be content in the video that was licenced to Sony but they would take care of it on this occasion. Never gave copyright a thought.

Next time, you lot will have to put up with my singing http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/fo...cons/icon7.gif

The loss of title was strange. I burned the video to disc and the title was there. The colours were natural and crisp.

I only hand held the bit in the kitchen ( hence wobbly ) the rest on tripod.

[Red Squirrel]

I was sitting in the conservatory the other day with the window open, taking photos of birds etc.

A squirrels came running along the sill, stopped and sat looking at me for a few seconds then nudged my foot with it's nose.

What was really strange was that it had blue eyes. Anyone seen this before.

[Littlesparrow]

I don't know anything about squirrels eye colour I'm afraid, lovely video though, I must have missed it when you first posted.

[mbaldw]

Originally Posted by Red Squirrel

What was really strange was that it had blue eyes. Anyone seen this before.

Did you happen to get a photo, Red Squirrel? I'm no expert and I've never seen a squirrel with blue eyes, but here are my 'two cents':

Most adult squirrels have black eyes -- I think the iris is actually dark brown surrounding a large pupil giving the appearance of black in most lights -- but I suspect (I'm sure someone like wildliferescuer, ValleyForge etc. will be able to confirm or deny this) that young squirrels, like the young of most (all?) mammals, have blue eyes. Eye colour is a result of a pigment, called eumelanin, deposited in the iris and, essentially, the more you have the darker your eyes appear. At birth, irises have only a small amount of eumelanin, which allows the scattering of short wavelength (blue) light more than long wavelength light, causing them to appear blue (Tyndall Effect). Eumelanin absorbs light, so the more you have, the less light gets scattered and the darker the eyes appear. Melanin production increases during the first few weeks of life so, at birth, mammals tend to have blue eyes, which change to their adult colouration shortly afterwards. Fox cubs, for example, are born with slaty-blue eyes that change to amber at 4/5 weeks old, while human eye colour has stabilized at around 6 months old (although may subsequently deepen), although obviously among humans some never deposit any more eumelanin and thus have blue eyes all their lives.

The youngest squirrels I've seen up and around (~5 weeks old) had the usual dark eye colouration, so I'm guessing that any change occurs before they leave the drey. Given, however, that melanin production is under genetic control, it seems possible that a genetic defect could turn off the 'iris pigment' genes prematurely, preventing further deposition and causing the adult animal to have blue eyes.

Just speculation, on my part. Hopefully someone will know for sure.

Cheers,
Marc.

[STYRBJORN]

All correct; I would just add that blue eyed animals are always albino. Albinoid "Black" Africans are blue eyed.