Pesky squirrels

I went yesterday and today to try and get some capture of birds (which I did get a bit of), but there was another visitor at the end of our garden which I didn't expect. A Grey Squirrel was on one of the branches of the apple tree at the end of our garden. It wasn't actually on the bird feeder, which was surprising. I filmed it while it was on the branch, but it scurried off, presumably because of my presence. I thought that would be the last I would see of it, but I heard some rustling in the tree and it came out again with an apple in its paws. Grrr...




It actually stayed there for quite a while but I didn't want to make the clips too long. It is when you get up close to animals like the Grey Squirrel and the Domestic Cat that you realise just how dominative they are. The birds just don't feed while the squirrel is there. The squirrel must be quite strong as it is able to hold the weight of the apple. It also must have had to take the apple off the branch. These creatures won't be beaten. It amused me when it nearly dropped the large apple, but managed to keep it in its grasps.

I wonder if squirrels feed at night. I must say that I have never seen them in the evenings. On the other hand they are much more secretive than the pigeons that actually manage to feed from the bird feeder by perching on the feeder pole. Before I started this blog, one of the squirrels managed to break our previous nut feeder. We have a more squirrel proof one now, so they struggle to get anything out.

It obviously prefers the apples to the sunflower hearts that I put in the feeders and hanging bird table. I have never seen them eat apples before though. I thought that they primarily ate peanuts and other various foods lying on the woodland floor. To be honest we don't harvest the apple tree anyway so it isn't a disaster that the squirrel is eating them, but they don't half make a mess! The one I was watching ate some of the apple and then just dropped it on the floor.

There was a while in our garden when there were no squirells at all, but they have returned again now. They seem to have definate good breeding years and definate bad breeding years. I would really like to get photos of birds feeding on some of the rotten apples that have fallen from the tree. Blackbirds are probably the most likely garden birds to feed on fallen fruit. I guess the videos above are a start, and are squirrels just as bad as we say they are? After all, they are just doing the same thing as the birds. Feeding to survive.