IT MAY look as though this cuddly critter is reaching out to shake your hand, but this picture captures the moment it lunged at an Abingdon photographer.

The squirrel was busy stealing nuts from a supposedly squirrel-proof bird feeder, when George Reszeter, 59, approached.

Mr Reszeter said: “The feeder was getting low so I went to get some more peanuts. I took my camera, as I regularly do.

“As I approached, the squirrel froze and just stared at me.

“I got a little closer and that’s when he lunged at me.”

“He was really aggressive.”

Mr Reszeter, an Oxford Mail photographer, escaped unscathed... but the fiesty squirrel is still on the loose.