Have you heard any possums sniggering at night? Any pellets on the lawn or round the tree? Dog going crackers? Scraping noises on the roof after dark?

If you're in a drought area - could be anything that's desperate - including birds. Parakeets would have my instant suspicion - knowing what they do to the early buds as well as the fruit.

If it is possums, your local SPCA may have live capture cages and a release programme for enough kilometres away to make return unlikely.