The message
from SusieThompson contains these words:


We get a couple of red squirrels on the bird table fairly regularly.
Aren't they something, and prodigious time wasters when you're supposed
to be doing something else. Mind you, they haven't been around since
we've had the snow. Are they hibernating or have they decamped over to
you?

I don't think they can be hibernating as we've seen them elsewhere on
the island during Nov and Dec.

We do get a lot of pheasants in the garden - what sort of damage can
they do to plants, etc? Do you know?

We had lots in the last garden and have a few here....the previous
owner left us a big tub of corn so that they wouldn't miss their daily
feeds! At the last place they sometimes scratched lawns, and as the
lawn had a lot of moss in it, made quite a bald patch in winter, but it
grew back in quickly in summer.They would also sometimes peck at the
first few daffodils or crocus then leave the rest alone.I've never had
them interfere with the veg beds.

To my mind the amount of "damage" pheasants do is really minimal, far
outweighed by the pleasure of watching such beautiful birds and
occasionally taming bold ones to eat from your hand.

Janet.