Rare 'white squirrel' becomes regular sight for residents in Gloucestershire town

Residents in a Gloucestershire town have been treated to a special sighting of a white squirrel.

Geoffrey and Gloria Comer spotted the creature on their garden wall in Winchcombe yesterday (November 16) after the intense rain had stopped.

Geoffrey said it was "unusual" to see, and posted the picture in the Winchcombe town's Facebook group, to which many responded saying they had seen the unique looking squirrel too.

Geoffrey said: "This was the second time we saw it in the garden. I put a picture on the Facebook community noticeboard and had a lot of responses - someone said they saw it up to 10 years ago.

"It gets a regular spotting around the river and town centre."

Geoffrey and his wife said they were not sure whether the squirrel was albino or not as they'd not been able to see its eyes properly.

There are two types of white squirrels: albino and leucistic. Albinos have pink or blue eyes and no dark pigments on their bodies and squirrels that have dark eyes and white coats are leucistic.

The picture was forwarded to the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, who said: "This looks like a leucistic grey squirrel rather than an albino, as it doesn’t have pink eyes."