UKC

A squirrel on the summit of Carnedd Llewellyn this morning! It came out of the summit wind shelter as I approached, what the hell is a squirrel doing there?

(please, no Squirrel Edge puns)

In reply to Glyno:

I fed the mice on tryfan summit, maybe the squirrels Re trying to get in on some sandwich action?

In reply to Glyno:

i was up there one day about 25 years ago and was amazed one came up to the cairn with snow on the ground. doubt its the same one! but glad i'm not the only person to see this, was doubting myself. after food scraps?

In reply to Glyno:

2 years ago I met one on the summit of Foel-fras when finishing my Cambrian way, I was somewhat surprised and wrote about it. You have confirmed that my sighting was not a totally isolated case.
Grey squirrel ability and willingness to travel long distances overground, without any trees for miles, has helped them quickly dominate the British landscape and poses such a threat to all Europe.

In reply to Moley:

Squirrel threat > Isis threat

In reply to Glyno:

It was having a rest during its mountain Marathon?

In reply to Glyno:

I also saw a squirrel high on the top of the Nantlle ridge 2ish years ago, in high winds and rain - it looked totally lost!

In reply to SenzuBean:

A good few years back I encountered a weasel, or stoat, sitting next to the summit cairn of one of the Fannaichs. Springtime.
I'd thought at the time it may have been a marten or some such but too small.

It sat about staring at me for a bit before scurrying off.

In reply to bouldery bits:

Grey squirrels are colonising Italy fast and there is a big fear they will soon cross the Alps into France and Switzerland.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/11348769/French-and-...

In reply to Glyno:

Today I saw...... the rain

In reply to SenzuBean:


bet it didn't have a map or compass?

In reply to Dave the Rave:


...are we on the same Topic?

In reply to Glyno:


What's got a hazelnut in every bite?

In reply to Glyno:

I once saw one (grey) crossing the shallow dip between Coniston Old Man and Brim Fell, at about 780m. It was moving quite purposefully, crossing from the Duddon flank to the Coppermines side. Also, last year I met a stoat quite high on the western flank of Great End, above the level of the Corridor Route.

A few years ago I seem to recall someone on here reporting a dead badger found in Parsley Fern Gully (there was a link to a picture of it).

In reply to Moley:

do they have any elephants though?

In reply to andrew breckill:

In reply to Glyno:

A squirrel on the summit of Carnedd Llewellyn this morning?

Nuts.

In reply to Glyno:

A few years ago a friend and I came very close to an Otter high up on Fairfield. It was high up (i.e. nearly at summit ridge when we encountered it) and heading down the Rydal face of Fairfield. I guess Fairfield must be in the Otters territory in that area why they would be going close to or even over the summit plateau I have no idea.

In reply to Alan M:

Linking your post , and that of Glyno, I seem to recall that there is at least one recorded instance of otter tracks having been seen in the snow near the summit of Carnedd Llewelyn.

There is often an abundance of frogspawn lying quite high up on the slopes of the Carneddau in wet ground. Analysing an otter spraint (found on a riverside rock at the bottom of my garden on the side of the Carneddau), the skeletal remnants showed that frogs formed the majority of their diet .
I'd speculate that otters crossing watersheds is probably a lot more frequent than we realise.

Over the years, I've also seen grey squirrels near the summits of several of the Welsh 3000' ers.

In reply to llechwedd:

Your summary could be close to the mark. If you follow Rydal Beck from its start, high up on Fairfield it then flows down the valley towards the River Rothay which connects to Rydal Water ( I have seen otter on Rydal Water several times). On the other side of the plateau Deepdale and Dovedale Becks also have their source high up. Dovedale Beck as an example flows into Brothers Water and I have see an otter in that area.

The otter we seen was heading down Rydal Head so it had either come up from the River Rothay and then followed Rydal Beck up the Fell side maybe to forage for frogs as you do get them up there in the boggy ground at the base of the head wall and just carried on going up before turning around. Or, it was an otter that had been in either the Ullswater/Deepdale Beck or Brothers Water/Dovedale Beck water shed heading up and over the plateau to reach the River Rothay/Rydal Water/Grasmere/Windermere etc.

I was reading somewhere that Male Otters can travel 30km a day. What ever it was doing that day it was a great experience to view it from such close quarters.