When Maggie Cook told her husband there was a white squirrel in their back garden he thought she was winding him up.

But after narrowly missing it a number of times, Ted Cook, of Caversham Avenue in North Cheam, finally caught sight of the creature disappearing up the next door neighbours' Ash Tree.

The rare albino squirrel, who Mr Cook has named Chalky, now feeds regularly on their bird table, where Mr and Mrs Cook leave nuts out for him.

Mr Cook, 68, said: “At first I thought he was just a light grey but he is brilliant white with red eyes.

“He's been around for about two weeks and comes into the garden a couple of times a day.”

Although albino squirrels are incredibly rare – only one squirrel in 100,000 is albino - a number were spotted in Wallington last year.

Sarah Romain spotted one on her washing line last October and later that month Josie Atkins made a surprise sighting of two of the rare creatures together.

In November, what appeared to be a mother and offspring were spotted by Chris Wilkinson, suggesting the squirrels had been breeding.

South London Guardian's nature expert, Tony Drakeford, believes Chalky is probably from the same family and has moved from Wallington to North Cheam.

He said: “Albino squirrels are quite an unusual sight and when you do see one it is quite striking.

“They are so rare it is not likely you would get two families in the same area.”

Albino squirrels tend to have a short life span because their brilliant white colour makes it easy for predators to spot them and it is believed they are bullied by their grey counterparts.

But Mr Cook said there is no evidence of that in his back garden.

He said: “Chalky often feeds on the bird table with the grey squirrels.

“I can get to within a foot of him and am trying to get him to take food from my hand, but he is still a bit too nervous.”

Another albino squirrel was reported in Wallington this week.

Teresa King, 46, managed to snap a squirrel in her back garden on Harcourt Road.

She said: “I was very surprised when I first saw it running along the fence a few months ago.

“Now we have moved the bird feeder to the back of the garden it has started going there to feed which has allowed me to get close enough to take it picture.

“He visits about two or three times a day.

“The other day, the white squirrel was hanging off one of the bird feeders and a grey squirrel was hanging off the other one.”