Recently I received a call from a homeowner in Old Lyme that was having a problem with squirrels living in and storing whole walnuts inside the wall of a home. The squirrels were making quite a racket and there was concern about the wires in the wall possibly being chewed. Upon arriving I was impressed with the amount of Walnuts the red squirrels had moved to the opening at the corner of the building, where the siding was a little soft from rot and they had chewed to enlarge the entry to their liking. Note the nut stuck in the corner at the entry hole! Red squirrels are not as common in Ct as grays squirrels are and tend to enter at ground level as opposed to the grays which like to chew in high.
Walnuts gathered by red squirrels
You can see the walnuts are actually in a green shell that must be cracked open to expose the shell and the nut we are familiar with that is commonly found in the supermarket. As I gathered the nuts to make room for some cage traps, imagine by surprise and the humor of the situation when I found the following …….
tennis ball
It’s funny to see that the red squirrels moved a tennis ball into their stash of nuts. Although it was bigger than the nuts, the color was pretty close. This was one of those moments that make my day.I actually kept some of the nuts for myself as they are great eating although they will stain your hands really bad. Gloves are best.
http://www.shorelinewildlife.com/squirrel-removal-control.html
I have often seen Red Squirrels in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, but over the past year the population in my yard has grown. They now compete with the growing number of Chipmunks and ever present Gray Squirrels for the “free” peanuts, that we put out for them. Of course we place the peanuts a good distance from the house. I liove in the Flanders section of East Lyme.
Yes, I agree the Lyme areas are not only beautiful but so diverse in wild animals. http://shorelinewildlife.com/blog2/wp-admin/edit-comments.php#comments-form