The squirrel is entirely free range and there are copious amounts available for the taking. They are not kept cooped up in small pens, are not subject to overcrowding or force feeding and there is little risk of the meat being tainted with antibiotic or hormone.

Squirrel meat is said to be very low fat, which can only be a good thing for this nation, having as it does a reputation for becoming rapidly obese.

The Guardian claims it is especially delicious in a Tandoori, or fricasseed with Cornish cream and walnuts, but really comes into its own as a Cornish squirrel pasty, for which the paper helpfully provides a recipe.

There are virtually no food miles involved in eating a squirrel, no plant processing, no excessive packaging, no need to import meat from foreign climes, and, say its fans, it's patriotic.

Grey squirrels are renowned for putting the currently protected red squirrel in its current state of verging on extinction.

"Eat a grey, save a red" comes the cry.

At two litters a year, averaging five babies each time, the source isn't going to dry up any time soon.

Squirrels like to live in attics, and why not? It's warm, comfortable and dry, just the place for a noisy, messy little creature to live. They are remarkably adept at raiding bird feeders and tables, scaring off garden birds, and cause untold damage to fruit bushes and trees.

But whilst some people can perhaps handle a little noise from the attic or buy squirrel-proof birdfeeders, there's a more worrying side to having bushy-tailed lodgers. Being rodents and having continuously growing teeth, squirrels chew, which does not make for a good tenant.

Chewing through electrical wiring, for example, puts the house at serious risk of a fire, or at the very least, electrocution to the unwitting householder. Damage to wooden joists and supports weakens the structure. None of this is good news for the homeowner, so on this note, removal or reduction of the furry lodgers is a good thing.

Because the squirrel is slaughtered by local hunters, and sold by local butchers, it supports local business. Nobody can argue that this is a bad thing; chain supermarkets have been trying to dominate the market for some time by underpricing and undercutting local, family owned stores.

Often local stores are forced to go out of business as a result, leaving people unemployed, shops empty and High St's plummeting into decline.

They may only be small and you may not think that the grey squirrel is that much of a problem however as it has already been stated they are the reason for the decline in our native red squirrel. Grey squirrels where introduced by the Romans as a food source and left unmanaged spread the width and breadth of the UK. There have been talks about a cull for these small furry animals but surly it is better to kill them for food so that they are being used as a resource than to be culled which will cost time and money. Use the grey squirrel for what it was intended a food source after all we eat ducks and people go and feed them and don’t think anything of eating them with their Chinese, maybe even pigeon could be used in the same way.