Overview

The grey squirrel is the bold, agile mammal of temperate parks and woodlands — equally at home spiralling up an oak trunk or raiding a bird feeder in a suburban garden. Native to North America but now widespread in the UK and parts of Europe, it has become one of the most familiar wild mammals people encounter on an ordinary walk.

Watch a grey squirrel long enough and you'll see the full repertoire: head-down nut burial, tail-flick alarm signals, and those improbable leaps between branches. They are common, but genuinely entertaining — a solid discovery that rewards patience with a good photograph.

Habitat

Grey squirrels thrive in deciduous and mixed woodland, parkland, and leafy suburbs wherever oak, beech, and hazel provide mast. They nest in tree cavities or dreys — compact balls of twigs and leaves high in the canopy — and patrol the ground in autumn when acorns and nuts fall.

Countries found

Interesting facts

01
Grey squirrels bury thousands of nuts each autumn — and forget where many of them are.
02
Forgotten caches help oak and hazel forests regenerate — squirrels are accidental foresters.
03
They can rotate their ankles 180 degrees to climb head-first down tree trunks.
04
A squirrel's tail acts as balance, shade, umbrella, and blanket in cold weather.
05
In the UK, grey squirrels largely replaced native red squirrels after their introduction in the 1870s.
06
They communicate with tail flicks and a range of chirps, clucks, and alarm barks.

Conservation status

LC — Least Concern

Grey squirrels are Least Concern globally and abundant across much of their range. In the UK and parts of Europe they are considered an invasive competitor to the native red squirrel, prompting local control programmes in red squirrel strongholds.