Living in a city sub division as I do, squirrels were not that commonly seen for the early years of living in this spot. However the years have moved on and the trees have grown, plus we do live close to the edge of town where large expanses of coniferous forests extend seemingly forever.  So, it is not unexpected that squirrels would find their way eventually into the garden and they did, just one at a time.

Squirrels love bird feeders much to the annoyance of bird lovers. I love birds, of which we have many and for several years I fed them but after the dogs started cleaning up all the bird seed that always ends up on the ground, mice learned to climb trees to get to the feeder even though squirrel usually got there first, I stopped.  I love all creatures but this was too much! I decided it was better they should find their food naturally. With no bird food once again we were squirrel less for a couple of years.

My husband missed his games of stringing peanuts on a string and stretching them between trees to challenge squirrel brain capacity, (which is quite high) but the risk of sick dogs was gone. Somehow, we missed the entertainment of watching the competition to see who could get to the stash of seed first but we need not have worried. In the wild world of the garden there is always something going on. My granddaughters with their Dad’s help built a squirrel box in hopes of enticing one back. My husband reinforced the bird house entrance so that it was too small, we thought for a squirrel. The squirrel had often taken the bird feed and stashed it in the bird house.

A special squirrel feeder was also built so that squirrel had his own private larder but had to learn to lift the lid to get to the peanuts. No worries there. The crows were fascinated and also learned of course.

Lo and behold two squirrels did come back and took up residence in the reinforced birdhouse! Come spring we had five squirrels and the three little ones who kept us amused for hours, spiraling up and down the post holding up their bird house, jousting and racing through the apple trees. One by one the young established territories of their own around the neighbourhood but then sadly, they all moved away.

Not long after, we will never know, maybe it was our squirrel pair’s progeny but a good looking new squirrel could be heard tut tutting in the garden. This one seemed to like the company of people and was quite accepting when we were out there doing what gardeners do. He was the most industrious squirrel and worked all hours of the day come September to build his stashes for winter – bits of apple, maple seeds, crabapples, peanuts from the neighbor – all layered up in the squirrel house my granddaughters had built.

Above: bird in the squirrel box with the pantry, squirrel was in the birdhouse.

This year we have another squirrel who makes many daily runs along the top of the fence to a neighbour’s house. Our neighbor is at home most of the day looking after his wife who is unwell and their amusement is to see how quickly squirrel can collect the peanuts put out for him. His daily runs are timed and from four homes away out and back takes him less than a minute. The trouble is we are the peanut recipients. Squirrel brings them back here and we can only surmise that somewhere in the wreck of an old car we have owned for years there is a huge stash. He has been observed again, entering our bird boxes so we know that is also one of his spots.

This little chap has not been as accepting of us in the garden. He has claimed it as his own and shouts at us a lot when we are out there. The dogs of course lead him a merry dance but have yet to be successful at even coming close. They chased him so much all summer, that finally in November they just shrug him off despite his complaints at their presence.

One of our squirrels took a liking to this blanket covering a garden seat, never succeeding unfortunately in dragging it away.

Competition in the garden can be fierce. To my amusement the other day I was watching a Flicker and after he alighted on the bird box housing one of squirrel’s stashes, he started reaching in. He does have the perfect beak for it but he did not appear to be eating instead he was chucking the contents out! Whether he knew there was better stuff at the bottom or whether he was going to retrieve the seeds later who knows.  It is a poor quality video but shows what I mean.

Squirrels in the bird houses and birds in the squirrel box and no wars have broken out. Love my garden.