Grey Squirrel Bark Stripping

During my wanderings through the gardens of Lacock Abbey last week, I saw a Beech tree that in some places had been stripped of its bark. I thought at the time that it could be an over zealous or bored squirrel. After a quick search in the Internet it seems that I was right.

It seems that the squirrel gnaws at the bark to get to the phloem layer, which is a layer of cells laid end to end throughout the tree. This phloem layer transports the sugary sap, the product of photosynthesis. As this layer is alive throughout the lifetime of the tree, it is a quick and easy food source for the squirrels. But if the squirrel gnaws through this layer of the bark and the phloem in a full ring around  the trunk, then the movement of this sugar will come to a halt and the tree will die. Stripping of bark to access this layer is more common in areas where their is a high squirrel density and happens to broadleaf trees that are old enough to support the weight of the squirrel, but not too old to have developed sufficiently thick bark.

This looks to have happened a while back and the tree looked in good condition. I guess time will tell - hopefully it won't succumb to a fungal infection and will continue its lifecycle as a healthy tree. Grey squirrels are seen as a pest in this country, which is a shame, and there are various schemes looking at controlling the population, by culling, immuno-contraception or other methods. I can see why this may need to be the case, but I do enjoy seeing squirrels running about. As it seems impossible to get rid of the critters, I will, hopefully, be able to continue to for many years to come.