Ref. 28435-28SQUIRRELS in Sally Kennett's garden are nuts about Christmas tree lights - so much so they've stolen more than 250 of them, leaving only the wires.

The grey squirrels, which are a common sight in her garden in Church End, Purton, have ignored all the nuts left out for them and have chosen to take the festive lights instead.

Sally, 41, a sales administrator, said: "I was standing in my conservatory when I first spotted them with the bulbs in their mouths and I couldn't quite believe my eyes.

"I watched in disbelief as I saw one of the squirrels run down the tree and across the garden with a bulb."

He obviously went to rally the troops, because within two days all 250 lights had been taken out of the holly tree.

Sally's partner, Mark Cran, 40, had draped the candle-shaped bulbs over the tree earlier this month to give their garden a festive feel. "They never went anywhere near the nut feeders they only seemed interested in the lights," said Sally.

"At one point we saw four squirrels in the tree."

The couple's three-year-old son Joshua is not impressed with the squirrels. "They're very naughty," he said. "I liked looking at the lights in the garden and now they're all gone."

Dad Mark has since found some of the lights buried in the garden, but the whereabouts of the other lights remains a mystery.

"Who knows what they've done with the rest of them?" said Sally.

"I hope they haven't eaten them. We haven't seen any squirrels in the garden for a while now. Maybe they've set up their own mobile disco!"

To add insult to injury, the squirrels have left the nut feeders intact.

This isn't the first time squirrels have caused havoc at their home.

Trees surround the three-bedroomed property and when the family first moved in, they discovered squirrels had also taken up residence in the loft.

"We see squirrels in the garden all the time," said Mark, a senior manager at Motorola.

"They've never caused this much trouble before though. I want them off my land."

"It's a real shame," said Sally. "Joshua used to love it when it got dark and we switched the lights on."

Emma-Kate Lidbury