Squirrel

When I moved here, I didn’t see many squirrels in the garden. In recent months, this has increased a lot. I see a squirrel in the garden really often. And I see what they leave behind; I don't grow any peanuts, walnuts or hazelnuts, but I find lots of empty shells thereof in my garden. I suspect that is just a squirrel not tidying up after their lunch. And I find lots of little holes. They are too shallow to be mouse or rat burrows, so I figured they were probably places where the squirrel had hidden a hazelnut or something, and dug it up again.

Not my food waste! 

Little holes in the lawn

Most of these holes are in the lawn. But some of them are in flower pots. One of the flowers I had bought for the front of the house is looking miserable. The soil it was in had been very disturbed. The pepper plant had also had a treatment. That is a bit more unfortunate.

Ravished plant

One day I was outside, and I heard a strange noise. I wondered what it was, and my surprise, it was a squirrel running around on the wall of Neuadd Ogwen, shouting at a cat (not mine!) in my garden. It looked like the squirrel wanted to chase it away. It even worked.

That looked very territorial, so that made me believe that it is not that I just see lots of squirrels in my garden; it is probably just one squirrel I see very often.

Notice the squirrel on the gate keep an eye on the cat

 

I have later also spotted a squirrel (the squirrel?) shouting at my cat who was just lounging in the garden. I really think the squirrel is territorial! In the end, the cat got tired of the noise, and indeed went inside, mewing plaintively. 1-0 for the squirrel. 

I think someone is feeding this squirrel somewhere. Where else would you get so many unshelled hazelnuts, walnuts and peanuts from? I struggle to imagine that people are just trying to enjoy these outside, only to have them stolen by an adventurous squirrel. And then this squirrel takes them to my garden, hides some, and eats others. Well, they are welcome! But don't expect me to accept your territorial claim over that of the cat. And I have put protection around some of my plants. Let's see if we can establish an equilibrium here…

Squirrel protection