Plants torn out of pot - how?

[pinotnow]

I have two of those metal plant holders that hook over a fence. Yesterday evening I saw that one had been pulled out. The compost, around half of what had been in the pot, was strewn across the patio along with bits of the plant and the main bit of the plant remained in the pot with what was left of the compost. It's annoying, obviously, and a waste - I only planted it last week. I'm not sure if the plant can be saved?

But really I wonder how on earth it has happened. It's the back garden so not a passing child/miscreant of some sort. Would a bird do that?? Don't see how a cat could. My other pots, including the one that's exactly the same, are all fine. Any thoughts? It's a bit unnerving!

Magpie?

Corvid of some kind, most likely?

Squirrels

Rooks, crows, magpies (they do stuff for shits and giggles), squirrels could all have done this.
Where I am it can get very windy, to the point where I can't have hanging baskets and once a newly planted rhododendron was blow from it's hole.

Birds or squirrels. I have to put netting on any new plants or the squirrels will have them all dug up .

Oh ok, thanks all - not as weird as it seemed then. Never seen anything like it before but perhaps have been lucky!

Any of the aforementioned but also possibly a fox. Quite a few of my plants have been damaged, dug up or left in disarray as the foxes have gone through my garden. I'd replant, lots of water and feed and hope for the best.

It's the flipping squirrels that do this to my pots. They also dig bulbs up out of my border and either eat them or bury them in other plant pots so I have random tulips popping up in my vegetable or herb growing pots 🤣🤣

I've had this a lot with seedlings and young plants, I think it's birds, complete pita, sometimes if you spot it quickly and it's not been too hot you can replant and water well and they survive, other times not so lucky.
Netting is probably the answer but I never get round to it

I’m laughing at your gardening squirrels, though I’m sure in practice it’s annoying!

I once resorted to a barricade of bamboo skewers all round the edge of large pots where I’d planted out small tomato plants. The squirrels would have dug the whole lot up otherwise. They worked! Once the plants were quite a bit bigger I removed the skewers.

Birds, squirrels,we had a lovely big fuchsia pulled out of its pot laying on the ground. We put up a wildlife camera,foxes!!

Foxes. No idea why they do it but we’ve caught it on ring camera

My money is on magpies.

I caught them last week cooperating to pluck all of my tulips out of their pots.

They can only have been doing it for mischief. They were literally pulling the whole plant out, including the bulb, and chucking them under the table on the patio.

I stick metal skewers (point up) in to the soil and those metal pigeon spikes around anything that’s freshly planted. London based and between the foxes, squirrels and cats there’s no hope of anything surviving in my garden unless I’ve taken military precautions.

Seagulls also. Wreckers

I feel your pain! In my case, it’s female blackbirds destroying my seedlings and tomato plants while digging for grubs in my homemade compost. I’m fighting a losing battle trying to protect them.