"Emery Davis" wrote in message
"Kaz" wrote:

Thank you for the tips. I had assumed it was mice doing the damage
as the
damage never reaches more than around 6 inches from ground level
and the
teeth marks are tiny. From the forestresearch website it would
point more
towards Voles. Someone I spoke to suggested tarring the stems but
I think it
may only have been a stab in the dark.

I'm a bit confounded by your problem because, as Cliff pointed out,
both
mice and voles tend to chew where they have good approach cover.
Keeping
an area clear of weeds and grass is usually enough; so they won't
bother
trees in pots typically. (At least in my experience). I'm guessing
that
rabbits are a more likely culprit. Some sort of chicken wire around
the
edge of the pots would stop them, or wrap a bit of plastic mesh and
"sew"
it around the trunk.

We've had hares ringbark small trees.