Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes

“Do all squirrels have bushy tails?” Such was the question down the phone some time ago. I explained, that as far as I knew, the answer would be yes. I asked why. It seemed there was a bald tailed squirrel on the bird feeder. Bushy-tailed grey squirrels are regular visitors, of course, Bald-tailed ones were a new one on me.

“It’s probably a rat.” Given the tree-lined alleyway that backs onto the house, the old industrial sites in the vicinity and all the green spaces between, it was hardly a surprise. We are told that in urban areas we are never more than a few feet from a rat and the current rat population in the UK is somewhat higher than the human. Our urban landscape, with its sewers, forgotten cellars and plentiful food supply, provides a perfect environment for the brown rats who like to live in safe burrows…