EAST SURREY is an albino squirrel white-spot, according to reports from readers.
We have discovered the rare eye-catching rodents are nuts about this part of the world.
The colouring is the result of a "genetic aberration", according to experts from the Natural History Museum, and the lack of camouflage should lead to the squirrels being weeded out through natural selection.
But our photo printed last week of one spotted in Dorking, has sparked reports of a string of sightings across the area, and the Surrey Wildlife Trust has confirmed East Surrey is, for some reason, a particular hotspot.
A white surprise scampered into Gill Bracken's Merstham garden for the first time last May, 56 years after she moved there.
"It is so white, it hits you," said the great-grandmother of six.
Her albino visitor is unusually bold, and will force the pigeons off her bird-feeders, unlike their Eastern grey colleagues, of which they are a mutation.
"I think we are very fortunate. He does provide some curiosity in the garden," said Mrs Bracken.
An albino squirrel – possibly the same one – has recently arrived in Mill Lane, Merstham, to the delight of Marion Groves.
"I couldn't believe it," said the 73-year-old resident.
Rex and Penelope Poland, also of Mill Lane, saw the animal for six successive days a fortnight ago, but said visits ceased when the squirrel had consumed all the fat balls left on their bird table.
The rodents, which generally cover an area of between 2 and 10 hectares – or between 3 and 14 Wembley football pitches – are a regular sight in nearby Redhill.
Colman Way resident Alisdair Semple said he often sees one in his garden.
"There is normally only one, but two years ago there were three running around," he said.
Another reader reported an albino squirrel scampering around in Kings Cross Lane, South Nutfield, and Neil McCormack, of Tandridge, has recently spotted one in Southlands Lane, two years after he saw one off Dorking High Street.
They seem to have disappeared from Chaldon.
Chaldon Common Road resident Lesley Carter had a family of them in her garden for 20 years, but hasn't seen any for more than a decade. Between 2005 and 2010, Lisa Fishbourne had one in her garden in Park Avenue, Salfords.
Reader Derek Leamon also called in to report encounters in Hurst Green.
"The first time I saw them I was driving back from work and there were five white things by the road," he said. "I looked down and they were squirrels – I couldn't believe it. I told my colleagues and they said I was nuts."
