A DORSET landowner has blamed grey squirrels for ‘desecrating’ a plantation of oak trees.

Mick Percival planted around 300 oaks on his land near Sturminster Newton two decades ago.

Now, he has found the trees have been ‘destroyed’ by grey squirrels.

The animals strip the bark off trees and, if it is serious enough – known as ring barking – the tree will die.

Ring barking a tree means water and nutrients struggles to get from roots to the top growth, stifling and eventually killing the tree.

“I see in the media about people liking fluffy little squirrels, and how we should all be vegans and vegetarians, but this is what they can do,” Mr Percival said.

“They strip all the bark off and ring bark the tree. It kills the tree.

“If you took your finger and took the skin off, it would die. That’s what happens to the trees.

“They have stripped all the bark off, halfway up the tree. I should have noticed it before.

“But I want to put across the plight of the oak trees.

“Getting rid of the squirrels is the only way to stop it happening.

“They have desecrated the whole woodland really.

“People don’t understand what these creatures can do. It’s not just squirrels. Magpies, jays, foxes, they can cause so much damage.”

The Red Squirrel Survival Trust says grey squirrels strip bark from the trunks and branches of trees to feed on the nutritious sap beneath.

“Severe damage can kill a tree while milder cases result in bad scarring which provides an entry point for other tree pests and diseases,” they said.

“Younger trees are more vulnerable to this form of attack as the bark is easier to remove.

“Once the tree is ring-barked it will inevitably die.

“Trees between the ages of 10 and 50 years are the most at risk. There are few tree species that do not suffer damage by grey squirrels.”

The damage was a ‘devastating loss of habitat for the red squirrel’, the trust added.

A 2021 report, commissioned by The Woodland Trust, Royal Forestry Society and other organisations, estimated the cost of damage to woodlands in England and Wales by grey squirrels was anywhere between £2 million and £38 million.

The Royal Horticultural Society recommends installing tree guards or erecting other barriers around trees to prevent animals getting at the bark.