The 21 January each year is Squirrel Appreciation Day - as we were reminded throughoout the day by numerous emails and FB posts from the various conservation organizations that we support. A couple of days later this rather scruffy black-form gray squirrel visited the garden in order to do some appreciating of [...]
Eastern Chipmunk - Tamias striatus Although every other creature in Quebec other than Coyotes has visited our garden in the 21 years we have been here we have never seen a Chipmunk before, so we were really happy to see this young fellow scurry across the deck after a major wind and rain [...]
Quite the week for snow as winter finally starts to show signs, albeit very slight signs, of heading towards the end of its run. Days are notably longer and the sun is higher in the sky each morning. All that and it's been a good week for birds ... there are photographs below: Along [...]
We have lodgers … or maybe, I should say, squatters. As you know, for years we have been aware of the presence of red squirrels in our loft and have tried to block off their entry holes when we have found them … always with care as we do not want to lock anyone in, [...]
Squirrels are regulars in the garden of the Squirrelworks/Sparroworks HQ and at this time of the year they know there is food to be had if pnly they could get past the squirrel-baffles we have on the feeders. usually they cannot but right now we have one clever and athletic guy who has worked out that [...]
In the early years of our Canadian gardening adventure we purchased a Katsura tree from the arboretum and planted it next to the pond. We were advised that this was a small tree, maybe 15ft tall when mature ... that was wrong, it is a good bit past that height now and going strong. Should [...]
Needed to go up on the roof this afternoon to block up a very, very small gap under the overhang that red squirrels have used to get in the loft and raise their young this summer. ( ... and, yes, we made sure they were all outside before anyone asks.) While up there I took [...]
Our garden bird feeders are almost always knee-deep in gray squirrels that scarf down the reject seeds thrown out by the birds above but occasionally a cute and high-speed red decides to join them. In the sour-cherry tree In the katsura tree Baffled by the squirrel-baffle
It's the beginning of february and the air is going to be cold and crisp for some weeks to come - but the sun is getting a little higher in the sky each day and you can actually start to feel some heat in its rays when there is no wind. The garden squirrels really [...]
After many days/weeks of arctic weather we are enjoying a weekend of just above freezing point conditions with freezing rain turned to regular rain and ice-fog rising from the snow banks. It is truly depressing outside and the cold weather, when it returns, will just turn the roads and footpaths into skating rinks. The gang [...]