Mysterious happenings
gsdfandf
Posts: 103
Hi, this is a strange one. I have a shrub app 2mtrs from our fishpond, I think it's a Black Phoebe, strange name as it has white spongy puff balls. Over the past few nights a dozen or so of these puff balls have appeared right next to the pond edge & appear to have been broken up. None are actually in the pond. The first time we saw this I swept them away, but they were back the following morning? What on earth is going on. The only wildlife we have around are Squirrel, Magpie & Rooks plus the usual array of birds oh! & the odd cat taking a short cut. All the pods taken from the plant are deposited next to the pond, none are on the ground around the plant. This is weird. Any thoughts are appreciated.
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Posts
I didn't remove the pods yesterday, this morning there are more heaped on top of the others. Spooky!
Don't know any shrub called a Black Phoebe - is it a snowberry?
http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/forums/wildflowers/74325-snowberry.htm
The berries usually fall and because they are light they blow about in the wind - they are sometimes eaten by pheasants but usually only in hard weather as they are quite bitter. Perhaps yours have been tried and rejected .
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Black Phoebe is a bird (USA). Can you post a photo, or describe your shrub in more detail, please?
Could these 'puffballs' be the seedheads of japanese anemone?
a picture would help
In the sticks near Peterborough
Hi, sorry for the late reply, but the "instant notifier email" hasn't worked. Yes it's a Snowberry, dunno where I got Black Phoebe from, (senior moment) I really can't see them being blown into a neat pile & none end up in the pond. Something is definitely moving them. The 1st pic is before a pile was formed, as I didn't move them after moving them when they first appeared. The 2nd pic shows an almost bare bush. PS The culprit isn't the tortoise next to the pond!
Mice make little caches fruits, eaten and half eaten, but they're usually hidden away.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Magpies dunk bread in water, wonder if you have a silly one that thinks it's bread. Think it must be birds if higher up the plant is being stripped.
It was the over-night thing that made me think rodent rather than bird KEF.
Mice are good climbers
In the sticks near Peterborough
The berries are poisonous to most but foxes and squirrels eat them. Could either of those be the culprit?