Squirrel breaks car with his nuts

Recently, a friend of mine told me this story about a hoard of nuts their friend found in a car engine. 

My friend’s friend works in a garage in Bradford. Earlier this year a driver brought in an Aston Martin, complaining that the car was performing sluggishly. When the mechanics opened up the hood, they found that the car's air filter was crammed full of peanuts (the kind found in garden bird feeders).

A grey squirrel had been hording its nut supply in the car over winter, no doubt raiding a nearby bird feeder or three and storing the swag in the car’s engine.

It’s the amount of nuts it managed to squirrel away that’s remarkable. I’m not surprised the car was “sluggish”. Obviously someone in Bradford mistakenly thinks their garden birds have a really healthy appetite for nuts. It makes me wonder quite where all the peanuts from our feeder end up. Better check my air filter…

A quick google suggests there are a few similar stories from around the country of squirrels hoarding nuts in cars (see here, here, and here, for examples). And interestingly, most of the stories appear to be from late winter and early spring.

Thanks to Ann and Steve for the story and pictures. And apologies for the headline.