![]() ![]() Red squirrels have inhabited the British Isles for at least 10,000 years, from the end of the last Ice Age. The only squirrels which were actually to be found in Britain during the Regency were the indigenous red squirrels. But there was not a single grey squirrel to be found anywhere in the British Isles during the Regency. Grey squirrels are larger and hardier than indigenous British squirrels, and they spend as much as 80% of their time foraging for food on the floor of the woodlands they inhabit. They quickly escaped the confines of the estates upon which they had been released, for novelty and decorative purposes, and spread across both Britain and Ireland, displacing the native squirrels. The grey squirrel is one of the most opportunistic, adaptable and prolific of all the squirrel species. Grey squirrels were later introduced into Ireland at Castle Forbes in County Longford in 1911. It is generally believed that the first grey squirrels were introduced at Henbury Park in Cheshire, in 1876. Natives of North America, grey squirrels were actually brought into England by some novelty-seeking Victorians. Although the grey squirrel can be found throughout the British Isles today, they are not indigenous to Britain. The first important fact about English squirrels during the Regency is that none of them were grey, except in the winter. The facts about squirrels in Regency England … The sounds come from the ground, in the dark of night, and in each case this disturbance is ascribed to squirrels. This past weekend, I read the fourth or fifth Regency novel in the last few years in which a scratching or rustling noise intrudes upon a clandestine meeting or stealthy activity in which the hero and heroine are engaged. ![]()
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