Thinking the squirrels would like a bit of variation to their diet of peanuts, I bought a bag of maize kernels for them last week. These are supposed to be the 'most popular squirrel food' in the USA and they weren't cheap either.
When I got home I went out to fill up the feeder box but decided that maize kernels on their own might be too much of a change all in one go, so I mixed them half and half with peanuts. It wasn't until a couple of days later that I noticed that there seemed to be more maize than peanuts in the box. This is quite easy to see from the kitchen window because there is a perspex front on the box. I hadn't really taken much notice when the squirrels were feeding to see what they preferred so I decided to watch the next time they came to feed.
It seems they prefer the peanuts because I watched while two of them took it in turns to dive into the box and both of them actually threw out maize kernels onto the ground. This explains why the wretched wood pigeon, who is already the size of a small turkey, has been seen trampling on my white hellebore under the bird table.
My squirrels obviously have delicate palates because apart from the peanuts, the only other things I have watched them eat are shoots from the honeysuckle, the occasional rose flower and a couple of yellow crocuses (they don't eat the purple ones!).
So now I want to know how to dispose of a kilo of maize kernels!
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