These are forest rodents
Arboreal omnivorus,
Broad leaved woodland
They love Scots Pine
And NOrway Spruce
And before us
They would sit in common woodland
All over the land
Until the grey descended
Which apparently wasn’t planned
But the grey was a bit bigger
Ate acorns which the red
They Never could digest them
And are susceptible it is said
To the parapoxvirus carried by the greys
Who it doesnt seem to really harm
So the ensuing malaise
Helped to wipe out reds
And then the other problem for
The reds is when they get stressed out
They fail to mate and whats more
They have a lot to get stressed about
And so the greys appear
To have now taken over
That much we know is clear
Reds still live in certain places
But their enemies abound
Pine martens wild cats even stoats
Plenty of them around
Owls Too that are partial
To reds i have heard say
And the fox will take them given the chance
And Buzzards any day
They pay a high price for their timidity
Eating as they do all sorts of seeds and fungi
And nuts and shoots its true
Sometimes they take birds eggs
Foraging is their thing
They just cannot compete with the greys
Who too the forest bring
An attractiveness i have to say
With theur undulating tail
Mating twice a year like reds
But always on the trail
Nearly always eating
Keeping busy all the day
Really strong and vibrant
And aggressive I must say
No love loss between them
They are opposites it seems
One will fight the others
And propably there are reams
Of stories about theSe animals
But infact for me
The reds are disadvantaged
And that is probably
The cause for their rarity
Inspired to write by my dear twitter friend
LIsa.