Caught in the act.

Hope this tree rat is eating an acorn and not a Tulip bulb.

 

He's not a tree rat, he is a squirrel that humans brought to this country.

It's not his fault.

 

Vermin with good P.R. Brought in or not they are still pests.

 

I tend to think a pest is just when one speices gets out of control and the numbers rise to large proportions.

I'm thinking any animal that has no real enemies and over populates a specific area could be classed as a pest.

Where that leaves the human race is something I tend to ponder about sometimes.

 

They're a big pest here, last year i got 43 and had a big sq pie

 

I see them in the trees in the hedgerow at the back of my garden but they never come into the garden itself. It was the same in the previous house, they stayed in the trees at the back.
So I don't call them pests, although I understand they fight with the red native ones.
I think they're pretty

 

I've only ever had one visit my garden, so I'm probably speaking from different perspective to others who live near woodland.

 

I once lived opposite a wood and they never bothered me. They did cross the road but stayed up in the trees at the top of the garden.
There are also lots of woods around here.

 

There are hundreds of them round here.They rob bird's nests. They dig up and eat Crocus and Tulip bulbs. The one in the image was fishing in one of the Nest boxes we put up for the Blue tits before eating whatever that was eating. Horrible creatures. Another Victorian disastrous introduction along with Knotweed and the Balsam and Bindweed things.

 

You forgot Rhododendron!

 

I have grey squirrels living in my conifers, the only major problem I've had is their liking for my fruit. For some reason they seem to leave my bulbs alone although they may be responsible for things coming up where they were not planted and I often find buried peanuts and acorns in the veg bed, but that could be birds. They have regular routes across to the scrub at the back of me and also along the fences on the other side.

 

We"ve only got the native red squirrels here, and they're very discreet. You'd never know if it wasn't for the baby oak, chestnut and walnut trees springing up in the borders, and a suspicious 30% show rate of crocus and tulips