大象传媒

Possibly controversially, Bill Oddie has placed the grey squirrel on his most loved list of alien imports. The larger, grey squirrels out-compete the UK's native red squirrels and spread a disease which the reds are susceptible to. The greys eat the seed put out for garden birds and have been known to eat birds' eggs, but it's not fair to blame this entirely on the greys. The reds do this as well. Greys don't physically attack red squirrels, they don't even chase them. The reds are simply smaller and more timid and tend to leave an area rather than stand their ground. The greys didn't ask to be here - they were brought to the UK from America by English gentlemen who thought they would look nice in their estate gardens and parks.