Father-of-two spots of one of only 50 albino British squirrels outside his Edinburgh flat
- Richard Waugh, 51, spotted the albino squirrel outside his flat in Edinburgh
- The UK has around 50 albino squirrels with white hair and red or pink eyes
- The odds of a squirrel being born white are thought to be about one in 100,000
A father captured extraordinary pictures of an albino squirrel posing for pictures outside his house – where it has become a regular visitor.
Richard Waugh, 51, was thrilled when he spotted the incredibly rare squirrel scampering around outside his flat in Edinburgh.
Software developer Richard said he sees the ultra-rare critter – which he has named Lexy – a couple of times a week and sometimes scatter nuts out for her.
The condition affects around one in a million grey squirrels, with about 50 such creatures thought to live in the UK.
Their unique white colour is caused by an absence of melanin, which affects their skin and hair, and caused their eyes to go red or pink.
Richard Waugh, 51, was thrilled when he spotted the white squirrel outside his Edinburgh flat
The condition affects around one in a million grey squirrels, with about 50 such creatures thought to live in the UK
The odds of a squirrel being born white are thought to be about one in 100,000.
Father-of-two Richard snapped pictures of the squirrel rummaging around in the leaves on Saturday, and said she often poses for photos.
He said: ‘I was going to out to the shops, and she was running about, luckily I had my camera with me. She seemed to be in a good mood and posed for a few photos.
‘I reckon it’s about four years she has been hanging about here now, I’ve been lucky and seen her a lot.
‘I usually see her a couple of times a week, although she seems to disappear for a couple of weeks at a time, it’s always good to see her when she’s back.
‘I don’t really feed her but on rare occasions I sometimes see her from the flat window and take down a few nuts to scatter about in the grass and trees.
Their unique white colour is caused by an absence of melanin, which affects their skin and hair, and caused their eyes to go red or pink
The odds of a squirrel being born white are thought to be about one in 100,000
‘She is quite cheeky, sometimes she just runs off with a couple of cheeky glances back from the trees, other times it’s like she is sitting posing for photos.
‘She seems to get on well enough with the other wildlife.
‘She’s pretty fast on her feet and she gives as good as she gets when she if she is getting bullied.’
Albino squirrels are believed to have sight and hearing problems, making life in the wild very difficult for them.