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The White Squirrels of Sussex By Claire Brimacombe Background
©paul wheelers
One crisp, but sunny morning in November 2018, my husband and I set out on one of our favourite walks, which starts at the beautifully quaint village of Alfriston, down the Cuckmere Valley. Walking along the winding River Cuckmere, we were stopped in our tracks by what I now know to be an albino squirrel. It ran swiftly across our path, and scurried up a tree. I had no idea that there was such a thing! I felt really fortunate to have seen one and from that day forward, I developed a keen interest in this beautiful creature and set out to understand more about them. Research I discovered there are just 50 thought to be in the country, with a 1 in 100,000 chance of an albino squirrel being born. But over the past few years, there had been several sightings of white or albino squirrels within Sussex in particular. Even though there were a number of newspaper articles, nobody seemed to be recording them. I wanted to understand why there appeared to be such a high concentration in Sussex.
To assist, I set up the ‘White Squirrels of Sussex’ website and social media accounts to share sightings and photos. People started sharing evidence with interest, fascination and adoration. Albino squirrels are a spirit animal and are thought to bring you good luck! What is a White Squirrel? Almost all are an albino version of the grey squirrel, although there have been recently been sightings of white ‘red’ squirrels in Scotland. There is another ‘Leucism’ type - a condition which causes grey squirrels to have a partial loss of pigmentation affecting the skin and hair, but not the eyes. White squirrels are highly selected against, as predators like it when their prey is highlighted. I now have approximately 150 separate sightings recorded, the majority are grey albino squirrels and mainly within Sussex, Kent and Surrey.
Ashdown House
There have been several sightings in this area over the past few years, including in the grounds of Forest Row school Ashdown House, as well as sightings in parks and cemeteries of East Grinstead at the end of October 2019.