Friend or Foe?

[Alan_b]

This hole has appeared in the soil in one of my buried lattice pots during the last week.  Is the hole the result of a 'friend' like a green woodpecker digging for grubs or a 'foe' like a small rodent digging for bulbs/corms?  It's in a raised bed inaccessible to medium-sized mammals (like a hedgehog) and, for scale, the sides of the lattice pot are 11cm long.

[fermi de Sousa]

There's a simple way to find out.
How are you at archeology? 
cheers
fermi

[Alan_b]

I didn't immediately grasp your meaning but I think the answer is that I have not looked in that pot for two years since I planted it.  Since I would have expected the contents to have increased I don't think I could tell if something was missing.  Now if everything was missing that would tell me 'foe' but the hole doesn't look big enough for that.  Looks more like something took a snack rather than a meal. 

[mark smyth]

no evidence of anything making the hole ie moved soil

[Alan_b]

No, Mark, I can't see the moved soil.  Perhaps it was a woodpecker and the soil has just been compacted?  I hope so. 

[Olive Mason]

 I sometimes find these holes in my pots Alan.  I think the culprits are squirrels looking for bulbs or planting nuts.  It is amazing how neat a hole they can make.
Olive

[Alan_b]

I have squirrels a-plenty and they do like to bury the chestnuts in plant pots.  That happens a bit earlier in the year when there is a big surplus; I suppose by now they are digging them up again to eat.  Fortunately they don't seem much interested in bulbs - perhaps the chestnuts taste better?  This hole was very neat and not very big.  If it was a buried chestnut it cannot have been a very large one.