Greedy squirrel gets stuck in bird feeder

But Roger Clark hit upon one of his most remarkable animal encounters much closer to home thanks to a greedy squirrel who bit off more than he can chew.

The award-winning amateur photographer captured this amazing shot of the troublesome rodent from his back garden in Hampshire.

And at the same time he secured a victory in a long-running war with devious intruders targeting his property.

The grandfather’s snap-happy hobby has taken him to places as far-flung as Alaska, Antarctica and Africa to photograph polar bears, grizzlies, whales and crocodiles.

His eye for detail previously earned him a photography prize in a national newspaper.

Yet lately he has been under siege from much smaller mammals overrunning his garden and stealing food left out for the birds.

He initially thwarted pesky grey squirrels by surrounding a seed feeder with a large cage.

But an audacious youngster breached the pen and began regularly gorging on food.

But the lensman had the last laugh when the creature’s expanding waistline caused it to get stuck early one morning.

Roger, 69, from Randall Road, Chandler’s Ford who swooped after spotting the intruder on his property at 7am, said: “I saw this as an opportunity.

“Normally it would flee, but this time it struggled and struggled to escape and I could get within three metres of it for a close-up.”

The squirrel eventually panicked so much it squeezed through the bars and has never returned.

The retired computer marketer, who shot it with a Canon 60 camera, said: “You can see it looks guilty after being caught red-handed and is holding on to the bars.

“Normally I go all over the world to photograph animals.

“This just shows there is a lot of wildlife in Hampshire if you focus on it.”