Many mammals love apples. Roe Deer and Wild Boar will actually break into gardens to eat fallen fruit, whereas Red Deer and Elk pluck the fruit directly from trees. Normally they don’t leave a morsel behind, but they do leave tracks.
Some small animals, like Bank Voles and dormice, can gnaw apples hanging on the tree, but most rodents only eat and gnaw at fallen or ripe fruit. It can be difficult to determine which species has fed on the fruit. The size of the tooth marks gives only a hint as to whether it was an animal the size of a mouse or rather an animal with teeth that are twice the size, like squirrels, rats, or Northern Water Vole.
Field Vole. LG.
Birds, especially Blackbirds and other thrushes, love apples. They sometimes peck at apples while they still hang on the trees; however, most birds peck and feed on them once they have fallen to the ground. They hollow the apples into a bowl shape, but do not consume the core.
Parrot Crossbills dig into the apples to reach the core; they prefer smaller cultivated apple varieties and other wild apples, since these have a lot of core and relatively little flesh.
Wasps also relish sweet fruit in autumn. They can also hollow out apples and leave only a small hole in the peel. Naturnettet.dk.
Worms in apples. Small holes in apples and other fruit are the work of the larvae of the small (apple) codling moth.
Redwing on an apple. HS.
