WILDLIFE
Helping A Hoarder Add To The Hoard
The hoarder leaves me with no choice but to hoard, too
BEING new to a well-established garden aside from being ultra-green in gardening itself, I was not aware of how naughty a wildlife creature could be.
The usual visitors in our previous garden were the common birds, bees, butterflies, beetles, and perhaps a hedgehog or two.
No bad behaviour from them was observed, except for them leaving their droppings which, come to think of it, is a normal “movement”.
With a bigger garden with more types of birds dropping by (to eat, drink, bathe), a few more feeders were added. Two hanging on the wall, a ground feeder, and another hanging bird feeder on an old squirrel feeding table.
This squirrel feeding table puzzled me in the beginning.
I thought — no, I believed — that the feeding table was meant for wood pigeons and collared doves. They are regulars in our garden. At all hours, they always hang about on the squirrel feeding table.
Not having seen a squirrel in the vicinity, I imagined there were none in the area.
The pleasure of feeding wildlife
It was a pleasure to know that I am providing sustenance for the birds. I thought I was making a difference in the environment.
That is until I discovered that many flower bulbs were dug, eaten if not peeled.
My suspicion fell on the birds digging the ground, looking for worms. I was annoyed. I thought I was providing enough food, so why dig the ground and eat the bulbs?
I ignored the suggestion that it may be a squirrel, just because I haven’t seen one in the garden.
Catching a blackbird in the act, digging the soil, confirmed my suspicion.
But how wrong I was to blame the birds (sorry, blackbird).
Soon after, a squirrel was seen in the garden. It was eating the bird food on the feeding table. At the time, we were having a family gathering and some kin spotted, from the garden, the perp in the feeder.
What cheek, indeed, this squirrel has!
It was a relief for me to know that the birds were not the culprits in digging and eating the bulbs.
So pleased I was that I looked for more nutritious feed for the birds. With winter coming, the birds would need more energy and nutrients to survive the cold.
But the squirrel who, by now, has made itself “at home” in my garden showed its nasty side. It not only ate the bird food on the feeding tables, it also stole the suet and the fat balls.
As it is autumn, the squirrel is on hyper mode in hoarding food for the winter!
Again, it annoyed me. The pigeons and the little birds, when they visit at sundown, find empty feeding tables.
The squirrel had already squirreled away the feed that I’ve put first thing in the morning.
I wanted to leave a note for the birds on the feeding tables, that they should fly to the hanging birdfeeders (inaccessible to the squirrel) on the garden walls for food.
For a day, I did not top up the feeding tables.
I thought of giving the squirrel a lesson.
The contrary happened.
It is this wildlife creature that gave me a lesson, as if telling me: no food on the tables, then suffer the annoyance of a number of dug spots in the garden, the bulbs eaten or ruined.
Hoarders
Squirrels love nuts which they hoard for winter.
This is why I dragged my husband to the parks where we knew there would be nuts on the ground and on trees.
I shall help the hoarder add to its hoard — if only to stop this brazen creature from blackmailing me.
Digging my garden to eat the flowering bulbs when I did not top up the feeding tables, bah!
What insolent creatures!
Being, as mentioned earlier, a dilettante in gardens and anything associated to creatures in the garden, I read about ways to deter squirrels from eating bird food.
The Royal Society for the Protection of the Birds (RSPB-UK) recommends mixing strong chilli flakes, cayenne powder or pepper sauce, like Tabasco, to bird food.
Squirrels would be unable to put up with the burning sensation of hot peppers, and would leave the bird food alone.
And, no, the birds are not affected by peppers. There are some evidence that birds are attracted to the taste of hot peppers.
But is it all right to pamper a hoarder to protect the birds from a bird-food thief?
As my cupboard is full of these spicy powders and flakes, the feathered visitors in my garden will have this regular treat: hot spice mixed in their food.
Bye-bye (from the bird feeders), naughty wildlife creature.
Meanwhile, food would be provided to my resident squirrel.
I will also help this hoarder add to its hoard. Whatever nuts I can forage (with help from my willing husband) from parks and nature reserves, all these would go to this hoarder’s hoard for the winter.
But do you think I am right to support this hoarder’s activity?
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