A few weeks ago we started having a visitor in the backyard. It was a squirrel. HWMBO is one of the kindest people I know (thank goodness) so he began feeding peanuts to the squirrel. He’d put a few out on the pavingstones in front of our back door, and the squirrel would come and pick each one up and carry it away. Sometimes s/he would run along our back wall; other times s/he’d jump from the wall to the roof of the church, then run to the roofpeak, down the other side, and then probably to the Rector’s garden to bury or eat the peanut.
We ran out of peanuts, bought another bag, and then the squirrel disappeared. HWMBO would get up each morning when breakfast was ready, come down, and look for his “little squirrel”. Privately I thought it might have been picked off by a cat, or by the very large wood pigeons that have discovered that if they’re quick they can pick up a peanut or two. HWMBO was very sad indeed.
So I was really happy this evening when we looked out the window and saw the squirrel coming around looking for a peanut. So, we’re joyfully feeding him/her again. I sit on the back stoop and put one peanut down on the paving. The squirrel sees it and kind of crawls over to me and picks up the peanut. Then he runs away, avoiding any marauding woodpigeons, and either hides it or eats it. I’ve discovered that cracking the peanut a bit tends to get the squirrel to eat the peanut directly, rather than taking it away.
I’m certain that some people aren’t in favour of feeding squirrels. However, watching HWMBO’s face light up when we see the squirrel drop into the back garden for his meal is worth whatever it takes.