A Day Of Firsts

I don't mean to rely on the red squirrels for blips so forgive me for doing another this week. I want to record a couple of first for our squirrels.

1)   There were 2 squirrels in the garden this morning and one of them was spending a long time on the bird table. I like to take the opportunity to sneak outside while they go to bury nuts and sit waiting to photograph them when they return. This one was going nowhere so out I went and crept round the end of the house. I stared at me. I waited patiently and it returned to the feast I took some shots then, everytime its head was behind the woodwork I took a step forward, reminding myself of a playground game. I eventually got to a seat (hence the low angle) only 6' away from the squirrel.  I was so close that even with the full frame sensor I didn't need to crop the image.

I don't suppose I will ever get it taking nuts from my hand like the greys of the city parks but I'm trying to get it used to me being near it  All was going well until I sneezed. It was off! It had enough to contend with worrying about squirrel pox virus, it wasn't going to hang about with airborne infections from a human, was it? I came indoors for lunch.

2)   I had just served lunch in the kitchen when The Man called me back to the living room window. One of our squirrels had recently learned to jump from the bird table to the nut feeder pole. It must be this one because we found it hanging onto the peanut feeder and eating through the bars. It's the first time this has happened.

The Man saw it first so he will have it as his blip. I've put my shot in Extras.