The squirrels are going to be in trouble this winter; there are practically no nutty fruits. No acorns, no beech mast, very few conkers – nothing for them to put in their larders. They are eating, rather than burying, the few nuts they can find, and living meanwhile
mainly (at least in this garden) on apples, which are also in short supply.
I’m not sure whether it was the constant rain or the occasional frost that put paid to this spring’s flowering of fruit-bearing trees. What worries me is that the squirrels will need something else hard to gnaw, because their teeth are constantly growing, and apples won’t wear them down. I have a nasty feeling that the something will be the bark of our trees.