Squirrel or pigeon or...

[planetearth]

All of my runner and dwarf beans failed in June this year because some creature cut them down about 3 inches above the ground.  The runners were nipped off on the single stem and each branch of the dwarf beans was cut off and left like a skeleton.

I wasn't slugs or mice because the (diagonal) cut was too high up the stem and too consistent and they are definitely cut.  The only culprits I can think of are pigeons or squirrels.  It has never happened before and I can't think why it has happened this year.

I have also noticed the ends of new growth on a fir tree and whitebeam have also recently been cut and dropped in just the same way and they are 20-30 feet off the ground, so the culprit isn't human either.

So what is it, why, will it continue or is it another freak of 2012?

[planetearth]

[Robert_Brenchley]

I hope the latter, since I had the same problem, and I've never seen it before either. It didn't affect all my beans, but I lost 90% of the Kew Blue, which is the only one which produced early enough to have given me a decent crop.