Squirrels In The Garden

~ beetleypete

Despite having large Oak trees front and back, we never had any squirrels visiting our garden. For nine years there were only birds seen on the grass, or on the shrubs. I used to think it was because of Ollie, and that he might have chased them away. Then next door got Alfie Cat, and he was often seen prowling under our large hedges.

There were many squirrels to be seen nearby on Beetley Meadows, so I wondered if they were reluctant to cross the road to our house, though it is hardly a ‘busy’ road.

Then one day recently, Julie spotted one sitting in the garden, eating a chunk of bread I had thrown out for the birds. He/she started to visit on a daily basis, so Julie bought some peanuts in shells for him/her.

When the squirrel started to sit on the fence separating our garden from our neighbour’s, the lady who lives next door went out and bought squirrel food. She placed it in small pots on top of the fence posts, and watched as the squirrel enjoyed a feast.

Recently, I began to leave a dish of bird seed out on a small garden table. That proved to be a big hit with the birds, and increased the numbers visiting our garden. Then I saw another squirrel picking up seeds that had fallen onto the grass and eating them, at the same time as the original (larger) squirrel was eating more bread six feet away.

Yesterday, a third squirrel appeared, and we had three feeding at the same time.

I have no way of knowing if the first two are a pair, and the new arrival a youngster they have reared. They could be unrelated, just taking advantage of the easy pickings.

But it is nice to finally have squirrels in the garden.

89 thoughts on “Squirrels In The Garden”

  1. Pingback: Squirrels In The Garden — beetleypete – digit-aveneu.inc

  6. Our squirrels eat seeds from the ‘squirrel-proof’ bird feeder but they didn’t get the meal worms I put out yesterday for the robin. The magpie got there first but the redbreast did find some later. The squirels make holes in the lawn but it is only for recreation so we don’t mind.

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  9. We’ve always had squirrels here but this ear they seem to be here in hordes. Maybe because we have so much bird feed out? They – and the deer (!!) – seem to like that.
    Have a great weekend,
    Pit

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  11. I imagine they are very adorable but this almost reads like the beginning of a horror story. The week there were 15 of them. Two in the garage grabbing the car keys. The next day they started up the car and demanded at gunpoint we take them to the nearest pet food store. By months end they had taken over the house while we made weapons in the attic preparing for a final showdown with the 200 squirrels that had taken up our residence. 🙂

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  13. Squirrel’s are great entertainment. A few years back, we lived along a creek and had an abundance of oak trees in our back yard. It was a pure squirrel heaven. Winter came, and it was a hard one, so I fed the gang peanuts and fruit. One little female became friendly and would come to the patio door and peek in, begging for treats. I eventually was able to hand feed her, and at times, she would crawl into my lap and continue the mooching at close range. We now live in the country, in the rocky hills, and the surroundings are not as squirrel friendly. But, we have Roadrunners, Bobcats, possums, armadillos, coyotes, numerous venomous snakes, feral cats, feral hogs, feral dogs, feral people in pickups, a ton of birds including Hawks and Eagles, so I am quite happy to enjoy nature. I do miss my squirrels at times.

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    1. You have the makings of a complete zoo on your doorstep, Phil. I do like Armadillos, and have never seen a real live one. As for the feral people in pickups, I am happy we don’t have any of those here. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  15. Congratulations. One of the squirrels entered our house yesterday and we had a hard time driving her out because squirrels can cause more destruction than rats. It was a cute one and my daughter jumped up and down all the time, later bragging about her bravado in the face of “danger”

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  18. We are more or less squirrel free as most of the trees here aren’t tall enough to be tempting. However, when I was in college, one of the favorite between-class recreations was feeding the squirrels on the Old Main Mall. They were so accustomed to human contact that they’d eat right out of your hand. Right now, I wouldn’t want a squirrel around to disturb the beautiful collection of birds at our feeders. But I’m glad you folks are enjoying them!

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  19. We had squirrels in our previous garden. They would come down from the trees, take a bite from the apples, pears and sweet cherries and then leave them to rot on the trees. They were unwelcome as they decimated the crop. Also as I am a dog, I had the duty to chase them out of the garden along with sitting at the door whining when I could see them but wasnt allowed to run around like a crazed fur after them.

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  20. We put out birdseed in our garden every day. The squirrels love it. A couple of our feeders are off the ground—advertised as “squirrel proof.” I love watching their acrobatics as they try to scale the feeders and get to the goodies.

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  23. We. have a lot of Squirrels around our house in the hills – and a ton of birds as well…we have small geckos roaming around, and once in a while some deer will come down as well…last week, we saw for the first time a small field mouse scampering around…we decided to let it be!

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      1. Beverly Hills has had rat problems in the past due to all of the swimming pools providing a nice source of water in hot, dry times…we’ve been pretty lucky in that regard, but did have to fish a few out of our pool over the years..luckily, this little guy isn’t one of those!

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  24. I feed a lot of birds and squirrels devour everything in sight….at one point there were seven of them everyday and then MoMo started weeding out the herd…..now only one sometimes two visit but do not stay long. chuq

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  28. We have lots and two kinds. The regular greys and the stroppy little Adirondack Red’s which are real characters. They sit in the bird feeder and they chase off the bigger greys. Peanuts are a favourite but then everyone wanted them, groundhogs, possums, skunks….so this year no peanuts till just before Winter when they need to boost energy!

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    1. In this part of Britain, we only get grey ones now. But other places still have the rarer red ones. Sadly, the grey squirrels drove out most of our our original reds decades ago.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. My dogs try to climb the trees if they even think there is a squirrel in them. No squirrel is safe in a 100-meter radius!! Today Lia chased a plastic bag out of our yard. They are so funny.

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  32. Such a beautiful story…🥰🥰
    I always wanted to start friendship with squirrel. I like their look. It looks so cute when they eat a seed or biscuit, holding in their two hands. Their eyes and ears stay open, to be attentive.

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    1. Yes, the way they eat is cute. In London parks, they are very tame, and will eat from your hand. But here in the countryside, they are more nervous.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  33. The squirrels can be a nuisance here as we live on the edge of the woods and they descend on our bird feeders in large numbers. They also love to eat all my camellia flowers in the spring.

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    1. I don’t mind them eating the bird seed, I have enough for everyone. I don’t have any ‘decent’ flowers of plants for them to eat either. I just like the variety in our small garden, an addition to the birds we are used to.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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