The squirrels' kindergarten

(Wikipedia photo)

... is in our back garden. We're being entertained every day by the glossy furred twin baby black squirrels who tumble over one another and chase one another round our deck. There's an equally small grey one who plays with his black friends when he's not stopping for a drink from his mother on the ledge of our kitchen window. The mother doesn't seem to mind us watching.*

We encourage them with peanuts or pieces of apples and pears. I wish I were quick enough to catch their antics on my camera.

The scurrying chipmunk family is bold enough to sit on Chris' lap stuffing their cheeks with peanuts after running up his leg while he reclines in the deckchair. One of them has had a piece of thread stuck tightly round its neck for over a year, now, surviving well in spite of that.

* Footnote: I have just witnessed the grey mother squirrel suckling one of the black baby squirrels as well, without trying to push it away! Is she colour-blind, I wonder, or simply generous?