The garden becomes a feeding ground for the Grey Squirrel population as they discover the young shoots of emerging Crocus. The appetite is however for the brown corm rather than the tender vegetative growth which is left strewn over the soil. This corm is packed full of nutrients, making a tasty food source with little effort for the squirrel. How to dissuade them from this damaging forage habit, as once the squirrels are aware of the food source they will not stop until all is consumed. Placing a slightly raised cover of chicken wire carefully tucked down at the edges across the planting is the usual remedy. When the stomach is full the squirrel then resorts to removing the Crocus corm intact with growth and burying a distance away. This is how a garden grows random isolated colonies of spring bulbs as not all of the food store is remembered and retrieved by the squirrel.

Crocus relocated by grey squirrel