Sheffield home worker strikes up unlikely friendship with a SQUIRREL during lockdown

But one Sheffield man is being helped through lockdown by a regular visitor-turned-companion.

Paul Wilkinson, 47, from Woodhouse Mill, explains: “I’ve been working from home since March, I base myself in the kitchen which overlooks the fields. Since lockdown there’s been one squirrel that’s just got more and more inquisitive.

"It’s started coming over to the window and it sits and taps on the window until it gets fed.”

Paul, who has worked in early help for Rotherham Council since 1999, has nicknamed his new friend ‘Lopez’.

He says: "It makes me feel guilty in a weird way. I can be sitting in the living room and I can hear a tap on the window and it’s the squirrel, it’s the most bizarre thing ever.

"I put the light on in the morning and it sees it and comes running to the window. My mates just laugh their head off about it.”

A few weeks ago Lopez broke the rules on household mixing in Sheffield to get fed.

Paul, who has a postgraduate degree in nutrition, says: “I had the window open and I looked round and it was sat on the table looking at me.

"I think I’m fattening it up, I’m the worst nutritionist ever. It just eats and eats.”

Lopez’s favourite foods include nuts and Paul’s granola.

Paul adds: “It’s been an awful year but it cheers you up, it’s funny. It’s quite heart-warming really.

"It’s just something light-hearted, there’s enough doom and gloom going about.”

You can follow the pair’s budding friendship on Paul’s nutrition page on Instagram: @itsslimupnorth.

In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a digital subscription or buying a paper. We stand together. Nancy Fielder, editor.