Today we had another squirrel visit, but this little chap had a full complement of limbs, so my little one-armed friend must have something better to occupy him on this cold and miserable day.

In previous years the visiting squirrels have usually accessed the nuts by simply climbing up the central pole of the bird feeder. No mean feat, given it’s smooth finish, but it never seemed to pose a problem for them.

The one-armed squirrel is obviously at a climbing disadvantage, and Peter says he gets on to the nuts by climbing up the ivy on to the conservatory window sill, and then leaping on to the platform where the nuts are.

His dismount is simply the same, but in the opposite direction, though he wouldn’t get many style marks as he bounces off the window sill onto the ground.

Therefore I was surprised to see today’s visitor, with a full set of arms and legs, struggling to get up to the nuts.

He climbed up the window frame of the conservatory twice, almost as far as the roof, turning round at the top, a tricky manoeuvre in itself, but failed to make the expected leap on to the nuts.

Next he tried a ground assault, but only climbed half way up the central pole before he turned round and ran off. I waited a few moments, but he seemed to have gone.

When I returned about 10 minutes later, he was sat on the platform munching away. He seems to like seeds as well as peanuts.

I don’t know how he got up there in the end, but for his dismount he kind of flung himself at the conservatory window, skimmed off the glass and on to the floor.

Don’t you just love ’em?

Incidentally, I’ve noticed in this cold, snowy weather, that blackbirds occasionally stand on one leg for a few moments, presumably to allow some circulation to return to the one curled up inside their feathers. Neat eh?