Obituary for a Squirrel

After the running over and killing of a squirrel on a slip road to the A63 I have had time to put together an Obituary for the poor rodent.

I did not know the victim of my driving but from the sound it made under my Continentals I am sure that he was of good, stout stock.

I will refer to the squirrel as male only because wikipedia say that the females look after the young and if he was out foraging for sustenance for his family then he would be at a higher risk of meeting an unfortunate accident.

I do not know why he was in the middle of the slip road. I suspect that whilst herbivorous he was supplementing his diet with a small vertebrate which was an earlier victim  of a concussive blow by a vehicle.

I did give him a chance to throw himself clear and if I had been on a motorbike then he would now be sitting in a tree at a safe elevation from the highway. He had no chance with a four wheeled estate car in spite of an evasive zig zag manouvre.

What of his achievements? I speculate that he was born, as all members of the sciuridae species, naked and blind and unsure of his sexuality until the end of his first year. Undoubtedly part of a large family he will have survived on his instinct and awareness to his surroundings. In his younger years he will have met and fallen in love to breed twice a year (thanks again wiki-pee).

His offspring will mourn his passing and remember fondly typical character traits of dependability, an ability to crack nuts between his thighs and his impersonation every winter before hibernation of a squirrel feeling a bit sleepy and going into hibernation.

He will have had a dark side including relishing the prospect of chewing through electrical wiring in agricultural buildings and teasing Jack Russell dogs by seemingly pretending not to have seen them yet with a well rehearsed scamper and flourish of the magnificent bushy tail disappearing up a tree trunk leaving the poor dog barking at nothing but bark. 

He did live in fear of a resurgence of Red Squirrels and the soundless swoop of a sparrowhawk but in all had a splendid and rewarding life. He will be missed which is a bit ironic bearing in mind his demise under my wheels.

(yet another re-issue. Another busy day........)