Squirrel mythology

Yesterday, after while writing about squirrels in my garden, I decided to find out more about the folklore surrounding them.

In Norse mythology, the red squirrel Ratatosk is said to live in Yggdrasill, the World Tree. He was a messenger who carried news and gossip between the denizens of the tree. In particular, he ferried insults between Veðrfölnir, the wise eagle who lives at the top of Yggdrasill, and the dragon Níðhöggr, who inhabits its roots in the underworld.

In England from the end of the Ice Age up until medieval times, it was said that a squirrel could travel across the entire country through the ancient Wildwood without touching the ground once. These would, of course, have been red squirrels.

Grey squirrels were introduced in England from North America in 1876 and became very popular with the Victorians, particularly the Duke of Bedford who imported a large number for his park at Woburn Abbey. Sadly, they drove back our native reds, which now can only be found in protected areas where the forest conditions are ideal, such as the Isle of Wight and parts of the north west of England.

Squirrels have been used to symbolise a number of things in the past. In traditional needlework samplers, squirrels denote mischief and were particularly shown in embroidered scenes of the Garden of Eden. In native American traditions a squirrel represents trust and thrift. As a spirit guide, it can also mean that a person is caring, nurturing and always on the go.

One website I looked at said:

"SQUIRREL - teaches us to gather and prepare for the future. Squirrel, in preparing for winter, gathers only what it needs. This medicine teaches us to discard not only unnecessary physical objects but those negative beliefs which limit our trust in love and abundance."

This surprised me. I've seen squirrels take huge numbers of nuts from my bird feeder and I very much doubt they only gather what they need. I've watched them bury caches all over my garden and not only am I quite sure they forget many of these hiding places, I've also seen crows follow squirrels about digging up things they've just buried.

For more information about squirrels in folklore:
www.theearthangelconnection.com/Power%20%20Animals.htm
www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/animals2.htm
www.south-coast-central.co.uk/wildwood.htm
www.needleworksamplers.com/Simply_Samplers/sampler_motifs.shtml
www.brilliant-bliss.com/Totem%20Animals.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratatosk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrel

Trouble with squirrels

Earlier this spring I hung a bird feeder from the apple tree in my garden and since then I have had to refill it every few days.

Although I have seen blue tits and other small birds visit it from time to time I was surprised at how quickly it was being emptied.

The other morning I found out why. A family of squirrels have been removing the seeds from the feeder and probably planting them all over my lawn.

Although I realise squirrels can be a bit if a nuisance - such as when they are stealing from bird feeders - I like watching them in my garden, even though they are grey squirrels and not the red variety. So, when I was doing some research about them for A Bad Witch's Blog I was shocked to discover just how much they are hated.

I browsed through hundreds of websites detailing squirrels' villainous deeds and recommending their extermination but only found a handful with any positive information.

The main reason grey squirrels are considered a threat is that they are partly responsible for driving out the red squirrels that are native to this country. I say partly responsible, because other factors including disease, hunting and changes of land use are also factors. Humans have to shoulder at least some of the blame because we are the ones who imported the greys from America, back in 1876.

While I am very much in favour of schemes to protect red squirrels where they still exist in the UK, such as the Isle of Wight, I don't approve of plans to poison or shoot grey squirrels in our capital. Even if we managed to kill every grey squirrel in London, it is extremely unlikely to bring red squirrels back to our parks and gardens. We would just live in a city without squirrels.

For my own garden I briefly considered buying a squirrel-resistant bird feeder, but decided against it. I enjoy watching the playful and inquisitive creatures in my apple tree, running about on my lawn and burying nuts and seeds.

What I am wondering, however, is whether my lawn will be a forest of sunflowers come the summer. I suppose I shouldn't be too concerned - only last week I was extolling the virtues of letting my garden grow wild.

For more information about squirrels visit: www.squirrels.info/uk/in_uk.htm