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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be a bit freaked out by this....

40 replies

Putmedownforanap · 22/08/2018 22:43

We've relatively recently moved into a new property (new to us I mean). It has a very long garden with a neighbour (elderly woman) on one side and a very high fence. On the other side is a park, which opens out on to woodland. There is fencing on that side but most of it just wire (anything else would be difficult because of the very big trees). At the bottom of the garden is a very high fence, which backs onto fields. The last section of our garden is a kind of 'orchard', with a cherry tree, several apple trees, a pear tree and what I think is a plum... I went out into the garden about a week ago and the apple, pear and plum trees were FULL of fruit, not quite ready to pick. We all got this horrendous stomach bug and have barely left the house for a week. Finally got out into the garden properly today and ALL the fruit has gone! Every single piece, literally. There isn't a single core or bit of fruit on the floor, not a single little one left on a branch. What on earth could have happened??? Team of squirrels? Scrumper? We also have chickens and another apple tree closer to the house, they are as yet unharmed...

OP posts:
OwlinaTree · 22/08/2018 22:46

People have picked it I should think. Was the house empty for a while or had owners that didn't bother picking the fruit?

HolyMountain · 22/08/2018 22:47

You’ve had a fruit tree thief by the sounds of it.

WhatAnAbsolutePenis · 22/08/2018 22:48

People have picked them.

Thehop · 22/08/2018 22:49

People have picked and pinched them.

ChishandFips33 · 22/08/2018 22:49

Yep been punched

my DH was guilty of this in his early teens

ChishandFips33 · 22/08/2018 22:50

Pinched!! - he didn't punch anybody!

onemorecupofcoffeefortheroad · 22/08/2018 22:50

Scrumpers is my guess. What a shame - you must be disappointed. Hopefully next year you’ll be well enough to harvest them yourselves👍

Singingitoverandoverandover · 22/08/2018 22:51

Have you smelled any apple pie cooking smells wafting through from next door 😂

Peoplemaynoticeus · 22/08/2018 22:54

Some kids have been scrumping, I loved doing it when I was 15 a kid Grin

Putmedownforanap · 22/08/2018 22:55

I'm more freaked out that someone either walked off the street all the way down our drive, past our house to the bottom of our garden or climbed over a wire fence from the woods... In the dark?? How would they even know it was there? The property wasn't empty at all and the trees are quite young, planted by the previous owners. Who would do it? The only people I know who would want that quantity of fruit are middle aged jam/chutney makers, they don't seem the fence jumping types??

OP posts:
Singingitoverandoverandover · 22/08/2018 22:58

Your ninja neighbour i tell ya

PelvicFloorClenchReminder · 22/08/2018 22:58

Very hungry caterpillar?

Saggital · 22/08/2018 22:59

It’s the local supermarket stocking up before a no deal Brexit.

SpiritedLondon · 22/08/2018 23:01

Where in the country are you OP? We lost every plumb off our tree - our first year there we were waiting for them to fully ripen and the tree was groaning with fruit. The next time we went down there every single piece of fruit was gone.... every. single. one. And this is a full size tree - not a dwarf one. Turned out the f-Ing parakeets had wolfed the lot.... I was so annoyed. We’re in the London Surrey borders and for those who don’t know there are thousands of wild parakeets living in west and south west London. Some years they leave us alone but others they take all of them.... my DH is always pleading for an air rifle!

Putmedownforanap · 22/08/2018 23:03

pelvic Ha! Genius Grin

OP posts:
Singingitoverandoverandover · 22/08/2018 23:03

pelvicfloor you could be right

To be a bit freaked out by this....
birdladyfromhomealone · 22/08/2018 23:07

We had the same on our avocado tree in our holiday home in Spain. we blamed the gardener but this year we kept an eye out and it was parakeets

SneakyGremlins · 22/08/2018 23:09

singing CHRIST Shock

Putmedownforanap · 22/08/2018 23:09

We're in Norfolk Spirited, I don't think there's any parakeets?? Tbh I wouldn't be bothered at all if it was animals, there's only so much apple crumble I'd have made... I just don't like the idea of strangers (quite organised, thorough ones) coming into our garden. I mean that kind of picking would take a while! I know it's pathetic but it scares me a bit to be honest, just like if someone had broken into the garage and stolen the lawnmower, even though I'd have gladly given the fruit away! It's particularly a shame because we've just moved here and I love it!

OP posts:
Putmedownforanap · 22/08/2018 23:11

OK singing definitely not helping... Grin

OP posts:
Bunchofdaffodils · 22/08/2018 23:12

Parakeets 😍?! Really?
Well next year you can put nets up (and dummy security cameras!).

ChimesAtMidnight · 22/08/2018 23:15

I’m in a London suburb and we’re plagued by parakeets.

SpiritedLondon · 22/08/2018 23:22

Bloody hell id be so bloody annoyed. Cheeky fuckers. Who lived in the house before? They wouldn’t still have a key would they? Perhaps they feel entitled in some way because they planted the trees (grasping at straws). I’d be tempted to mention it to the lady next door in case she noticed something ( have a good look over her shoulder in case she’s got a cider manufacturing operation going). She might be able to advise about any local thieving animals / birds in case you’ve got your own Norfolk parakeet equivalents

SusieOwl4 · 22/08/2018 23:25

How high was some of the fruit ? Ladder job? Why don’t you ask your neighbour if she knows of any birds or animals in the area that would do that ?

Cliveybaby · 22/08/2018 23:27

If it was birds that has eaten them the stones would be all over the ground surely...