A squirrel descending

I went looking for Waxwings this morning, on the off chance they would return to a local wood to feed. I saw no sign of them, so walked  to a nearby former millpond and watched the family of swans, two parents and their five large cygnets, just about to gain their all white plumage.

When i reached home i made a cup of coffee and went to the garden with my camera. I spotted one of the local squirrels high up in the ash tree at the end of our garden. There has been a lot of interest in these holes in the trunk from crows, magpies and squirrels. I've wondered whether some animal has taken some of the holes over for a winter nest. 

The round hole at the bottom has been there for a couple of years, even before the top limbs came down and the trunk rotted internally. I watched a green woodpecker using it as its nest and rearing a chick there, which I blipped once upon a time.

I was at my desk one afternoon long ago when I heard a loud crack in the garden area and I looked out of the window to see an adjacent ash just fall over down the hillside. There was no warning and no wind. Now this tree has obvious and fast spreading rot, I'm expecting it to fall as well. It will be a loss but we have plenty of trees nearby which will grow up in the space. We will also benefit from the expanded view across the valleys, which was a great bonus following the last tree's demise.

Last year I wondered whether the squirrel colony had declined, but recently there have been three adults careering around the trees and marauding our bird feeders. I'm not very keen on the overall impact of squirrels and would rather see them rarely, rather than commonly.