Red Squirrels love the male flowers of fir trees; they also eat pineapple galls. The young shoots of pines may lie in heaps at the foot of trees after a squirrel has fed. PB.
Red Squirrels hold food with their front paws. AK.
Brown Hares and Rabbits have sharp teeth in both their upper and lower jaws; this is why these branches are sheared off (cf. also photo on p. 55). PB.
Deer have no front teeth in their upper jaw and must twist off branches; this is the reason deer-grazed branches have frayed tips. AK.
Northern Water Voles and Field Mice use special feeding sites where they feel safe. You usually come across these when the snow melts in spring. The feeding sites can also be in places the animals wouldn’t use without adequate snow cover. Gnaw marks and scat reveal which animals have used a particular site. PB.
Striped Field Mice like to eat common rushes. The remains may lie like little white sticks alongside the grazed stalks, since only the green part of the plant is eaten. Deer also feed on common rushes, but they tend to chew off the tips (below). PB.
