Mr Fearless Squirrel made an appearance on our bedroom balcony this morning. (Or, as Stu likes to call him, ‘Squirrel McBastard’, the bastard cousin of Squirrel Nutkin, who never made it into the Beatrix Potter series). I have a peanut feeder hanging from the balcony door, and most mornings we are graced with the presence of a mumma and baby red robin – the baby sits on the balcony mouth wide open waiting for food from mum. He hasn’t learned the caution of an adult robin yet, and will often sit and study me while I sit on the bed and study his colouring and fluffy little feathers.

This morning however, there was an almighty banging of the feeder against the door, and upon opening the curtain Squirrel McBastard was clinging on upside down, bushy tail against the glass, trying to crack open the feeder! Even after I banged the glass the furthest away he jumped was about 30 cm from the door, at which point he turned and just stared at me! Eventually he realised I was on the other side of the glass and he was safe, as he sauntered back up to the door and proceeded to try to jump back onto the feeder. He was actually quite cute, in a rodent-like way! And certainly very brazen!