Hawthorn Berries Squirrels – My dog and I, walking in the Sleepers, saw a squirrel balanced high in the top of a hawthorn tree, obviously some distance from its home tree. The squirrel saw us and froze.
“What are you doing up there?” I asked, but as we got closer I saw that the only possible reason the squirrel was where it was, perched so precariously among the highest branches of the hawthorn, was the bright red hawthorn berries. I asked Google if gray squirrels eat hawthorn berries and Google said red squirrels do, but gray squirrels don’t. I was not convinced.
Hawthorn Berries Squirrels
The next day, I took my binoculars with me and saw the gray squirrel eating the berries in the top of the tree. The thin fruit-bearing branches bent under her weight, but the reward was clearly worth the risk.
American Red Squirrels Mating Stock Photo 475137940
The squirrel saw us while we were still some distance away and made a bolt for his home tree, scurrying across the grass with his tail raised and my dog in hot pursuit. The dog, unsuccessful but happy, panted back along a plainly visible path between the oak of the squirrel’s house and the hawthorn: the squirrel had been a regular visitor for a long time.
The next time I walked through the Sleepers with my dog, there were no squirrels on the hawthorn, but there were far fewer berries on its upper branches.