Red pellets found under tree - produced by bird??

Found under our tree in garden (London) - has only been happening in past 4 months or so and has never happened before. I clean them off our table under the tree and then they reappear the next day! They look a bit like droppings but are very dry and... pellet-y! We wondered if they were produced by a bird/animal as they only fall in one patch under the tree so would assume not produced by tree. Anyone seen anything like this?

  • I have had a few times, pellets like this under a tree & they were a result of the tree being eaten on the inside by a larva (often caterpillar) & these "pellets" like big sawdust are presumably cleared out of the hole. I would check the branch above where the table is & look for a small hole, maybe with a bit of pellet around it. I managed to save one tree by putting a wire in the hole & killing the bug, otherwise it may need more drastic action. We lost an old established Cherry tree & ended up with a stump on the recently planted Apple tree.
  • Hi Hazel,
    Thank you for the advice, that's such a shame that you lost the tree! We will have to do some investigating...
    Thanks again :)
    Izzy