Squirrel living at top of Mount Snowdon is unlikely to have caught the train up

Staff in the highest building in Wales have been trying to catch a grey squirrel inside the visitor centre on the top of Mount Snowdon. It has been photographed near the dining area, and is believed to have stolen packets of nuts. Sheep, the odd seagull, mice and even frogs are seen on the 1,085 m (3,560 ft) peak, but it is the first squirrel.



Employees think it is unlikely to have hitched a ride on the train to the summit, and probably walked up. "It was first seen a couple of months ago, then it wasn't spotted again and we thought it had gone," said Jonathan Tyler, the summit manager. Staff in the building, Hafod Eryri, are trying to humanely catch it to "take it back to where it's more at home", he added.

"One of the supervisors then saw it this week, and managed to get a picture of it, so it is living here somewhere and it's trying to help itself to food," said Mr Tyler. "We're wondering if it's the highest squirrel in the UK. We can't see how it got here either, as it can't have come on the train and the tree-line is a good 700m below us."



Hywel Roberts, the senior reserve manager for north Snowdonia with the Countryside Council for Wales, said he was not surprised the squirrel had got up there. "They are getting everywhere as their numbers increase. I think it walked up as it's unlikely to have travelled on the train."