I took a quick trip to the local woods, with my eldest son Damien, in the afternoon, I only took my air rifle.

After a steady amble through the woods in search of Grey Squirrels, we finally spotted one, and watched it travel from tree top to tree top.

We followed quietly, trying to stay hidden behind trees as we did.

After about 5 minutes of following the squirrel, he disappeared in a tree top. So we waited and watched.

We'd only been waiting a couple of minutes, when we started counting the squirrels as they climbed down the tree trunks and started rummaging about in the leaf litter.

We saw 12 squirrels, and watched them intently.

One presented itself approx 30 yards away, and sat still eating a Pine Cone.

I raised the rifle, took aim, and squeezed the trigger.

I missed, and the leaves were kicked up in the air.

The squirrel vanished, and another heard the pellet hit the leaves, and hid from it.

Lucky for me, unlucky for the squirrel, he clung to the tree trunk on my side, and poised ready to bolt straight up the trunk.

He was 25 yards away, and I quietly re-cocked my rifle, took aim, and squeezed the trigger.

He set off at top speed, climbing the tree, got approx 8 foot, and fell to the woodland floor without a flick from his tail

We waited and watched, 10 minutes went by, and the squirrels started to appear again.

4 headed to our right, and we could stay behind cover to follow them, so we crept towards them.

We watched the tree tops, and saw the odd movement, but I didn't get the chance of a shot. So Damien went to collect the dead squirrel. And then we sat at the foot of a large Sycamore waiting to see movement again.

We could see a couple of them, about 50 yards away, playing round an old tree stump, then 1 set off heading towards the wood's edge, we started to follow, and we managed to follow it for nearly 5 minutes, heading back the way we'd arrived.

He stopped in a bare tree, and started to scratch himself, I took the opportunity, but missed.

He set off again, so we followed. He paused again, again I took a shot, and again I missed.

He climbed down the tree, and ran across the floor, he ran straight towards Damien, and went between his legs as he stood there in amazement.

He then dived into a small hole on the ground, so we circled it, and tried to catch a glimpse of him.

We started moving the fallen branches, and uncovered a Land Rover door.

I told Damien to stand back, and I quickly lifted the door.

The squirrel was laid there motionless for a moment, then suddenly bolted.

Once again the chase was on.

I fired another 5 shots, all missing.

Then the squirrel went under the root system of a fallen tree.

We retreated to another fallen tree 10 yards away, and sat waiting for 25 minutes, but he didn't emerge, so we called it a day and set off home with the squirrel.