Cyn's Nature Notes: The Squirrel and the Apple

Monday 15 October 2001

The Squirrel and the Apple

It was a typically English autumn morning, the air heavy with water droplets causing a solid wall of thick mist, which felt like a fine rain on your face and soaked your hair and the top layer of your outer garments.

As the morning progressed the mist faded and gradually a weak sun shone highlighting the oranges and yellows of autumn and lifting the dull browns to livelier shades.

I watched a lone squirrel tracking his way round and about leaving pathways on the lawn showing as deeper green where they were swept clear of moisture. Eventually, he came to the old apple tree and sorted through the windfall of apples. He chose a solid globe of gold larger than he was from the tips of his ears to his haunches. After many futile attempts, he managed to carry it up the apple tree, where he sat in a fork between a larger branch and the trunk and proceeded to peel it. He spent a long time using his little teeth to pare the apple, spitting the skin on the lawn below. Then without warning, halfway through his task, he suddenly threw the apple from him and spent several seconds cleaning his mouth and each side of his little face on the mossy tree trunk.

Soon, he followed the apple, but on reaching it, ignored it and went back and forth between the other fallen apples, sniffing, touching, turning and now and again picking one up. Moving across the lawn he found a corncob and came to rest beside it pulling at the individual kernels. He peeled away the outer skin and ate the juicy innards before discarding what was left.

He was soon followed by a cheeky young gentleman in evening dress – a magpie – who eagerly swooped on the corn debris and had a fine meal indeed.

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About this Blog

When we moved to our present home in December 1987, I was very ill and bedridden. My garden was a life-saver, although it was very different then. The first thing I did was to put up bird-feeders, and long hours were spent lying indoors in a recliner. This was when I discovered many things. Do you know the underside of every blue tit’s tail is differently marked? Gradually, over the years, the garden changed. We put in shrubs and plants that would not only enhance the garden, but would also be good for wildlife. The first rabbit we saw was so joyful for us. The deer eat the flowers, prune the apple trees, eat the marrow, and are wonderful to watch. Foxes have been a major part of our wildlife. We have fed them each night for more than 20 years. They are such a delight, especially in late summer and early autumn when there are youngsters. They behave like puppies and are great fun to watch.

I love all wildlife: the mason bees that nest in the brickwork of the bungalow, the hornets that last year made their home in the roof above our bedroom, the bees currently nesting in the roof above the bathroom. On a hot evening, if you stand quietly in the bathroom, you can hear this amazing sound: it is very rhythmic and reminds me of the waves at the seaside. It is made by the beating of the bees’ wings as they fan their nest to keep the temperature at the right level -- how many people have heard that sound? I feel so privileged.

Obviously, I feed the birds. When I open the window in the morning I call “Come on Bobby and Blackie”, and one followed swiftly by the other they fly immediately to the bird table. Each morning, on rising, I make my way to the kitchen and find the squirrels already sitting on the window ledge waiting to be fed. Winter brings the moorhens and spring time the mallards. Our pond is a poor effort from a human point of view, but wild creatures see it differently. On summer days, the grass snakes spend long hours in the pond: eating the fish, froglets, toadlings, newts, and any other living creature they can swallow. Although I hate to see the pond emptied this way, I do enjoy the snakes and feel they are an important part of the balance of nature in the garden. Watching a dragonfly nymph climbing out of the pond, up a plant stalk, and then over the next few hours gradually transforming into a beautiful dragonfly -- these are contented hours well spent.

It has been my pleasure to write and publish a nature column each month. I am always delighted to hear how much pleasure this brings to my readers. I have often been asked if I have written a book, so I am making more of my writings and photography available through this web site and blog.