Squirrels. Love ‘em or hate ‘em?

[DJT48]

Paint the wood with chilli extract and mix ground dried chillies with the bird seed. Bird's don't have the receptors to be affected by the capsaicin but squirrels do and they don't like it.

Although, there's always the danger that you may breed a strain of hard-core chilli-head squirrels.

 

[Dalboy]

Squirrels are not the problem bloody cats are our enemy, is there an open season on cats yet. Why people have to keep them I do not know as many seem to put out food for them and then let them roam at will and never see them from one meal to the next

 

[stuart little]

Never heard of a gopher, just had a Google….they look like a cross between a rat, a squirrel and a meerkat.

AKA Prairie dog, woodchuck. You ain't been watching western movies!

 

[Fergie 307]

Starlings are our issue. Put the feeders out and within minutes we will have 20+ fighting over them. Whole lot gone in maybe 20 minutes and nothing else can get a look in. We have had one house Martin nest in the eaves for years. This year another one has been built joined to it, a sort of House Martin semi. The squabbles between the neighbours are quite entertaining. Also have Blue Tits in a box on the side of the workshop. They have turned their nose up at it for the last two years, but now apparently it's just the job, and Chaffinches and Robins in the garden hedge.

 

[bansobaby]

A 30-06 round is a bit excessive but once in while it seems to persuade the little *******s to stay away until the bits of their relation have finished dripping from the branches…..

 

[Daniel2]

Hate with a vengeance, all day long they are after the birds peanuts, have 2 feeders, just brought a new
20kg sack of nuts, £40 ! Don't mind feeding the birds but not some rat with a furry tail.
Also the damage they do to my trees, i plant around 30 trees every year in my woodland and to watch
a nice Beech or Oak reach 6ft only to be killed by some pesky bark stripping rodent really pee's me off !
Lets not get onto Rabbits, Deer and plagues of slugs ! Out in the sticks its a battle zone if you are trying
to grow anything.

At £2;00 a kilo for the nuts, the seller must be rubbing their hands when they see you coming.

 

[accipiter]

Plenty of guidance via a Google search for grey squirrel management UK... this being one of them:
https://basc.org.uk/advice/basc-grey-squirrel-control/

 

[TRITON]

Grey squirrels have as much right to life as red, and if grey are taking over then thats just part of the natural order of the world.

 

[Suffolkboy]

Grey squirrels have as much right to life as red, and if grey are taking over then thats just part of the natural order of the world.

Not really.

Grey squirrels didn't get here naturally. They were brought here, by humans.

on an island as small and as densly populated as the UK there is no such thing as natural order. Every square inch of this island (and arguably the world) is impacted upon by human activity, if not, directly managed by human activity.

And in any case. Flip your argument around. Red squirrels have as much of a right to life as grey squirrels, the grey squirrel out competes them, and transmits squirrel pox. Without control of grey squirrels in the few remaining red squirrel strongholds, the red will go extinct in the UK.

That said. Many of the downsides of grey squirrels, thieving songbirds eggs, tree damage etc are attributable also to the red squirrel. In fact, not all that long ago in this country red squirrels were culled for those very reasons.

 

[Fergie 307]

Grey squirrels have as much right to life as red, and if grey are taking over then thats just part of the natural order of the world.

Hardly, Grey's were introduced by us, they are not a native species.

 

[Craig22]

Starlings are our issue. Put the feeders out and within minutes we will have 20+ fighting over them. Whole lot gone in maybe 20 minutes and nothing else can get a look in. We have had one house Martin nest in the eaves for years. This year another one has been built joined to it, a sort of House Martin semi. The squabbles between the neighbours are quite entertaining. Also have Blue **** in a box on the side of the workshop. They have turned their nose up at it for the last two years, but now apparently it's just the job, and Chaffinches and Robins in the garden hedge.

Starlings are on the RSPB red list, as being a species in decline https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/bocc5/bocc5-report.pdf . Yes - in the breeding season they descend in quantity, like any bird will. But when was the last time any of us have seen one of the most spectacular of sights, a murmuration ? Other than in a Youtube video.

And to the guy who doesn't like cats - well what can I say. We've lost three to the local main road, squashed flat. Our current one is kept indoors - I can't take the trauma of another one under the wheels. So what animal companions do you have good sir?

 

[Pineapple]

In recent years we are overrun by slugs, in the night time our patio is covered in them

Slugs HATE GARLIC....So, if you boil up a couple of Crushed Garlic Whole Corms and spray the resultant liquid around, that should at least discourage them.
If the liquid is strong enough, it will stop them altogether - If you don't leave any gaps in the protected area.

 

[Pineapple]

Greys Ori

Hardly, Grey's were introduced by us, they are not a native species.

Greys Originated in Russia ! - 'nuff said !

 

[Jester129]

Slugs don't like copper at all. Get a roll of copper tape (expensive!) or strip some wire and put that around the area you want to protect, job done.
You need to remove the slugs from inside the area, or they can't get out! HTH.

 

[Duncan A]

I fitted one of these to deter the tree rat Squirrel Proof | Bird Table Squirrel Baffle - RSPB Shop . 100% effective. It is loose and rocks, so there is nothing for the squirrel to get their claws into.

The RSPB also do a version for a steel pole.

Now I only need a foolproof deterrent for jackdaws!

Very much like a ratguard as fitted to ship's mooring lines

 

[MikeJhn]

Starlings are on the RSPB red list, as being a species in decline https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/bocc5/bocc5-report.pdf . Yes - in the breeding season they descend in quantity, like any bird will. But when was the last time any of us have seen one of the most spectacular of sights, a murmuration ? Other than in a Youtube video.

And to the guy who doesn't like cats - well what can I say. We've lost three to the local main road, squashed flat. Our current one is kept indoors - I can't take the trauma of another one under the wheels. So what animal companions do you have good sir?

We where lucky enough to have our own murmeration that would roost in our Bamboo grove overnight many an evening spent in chairs with a bottle of wine just watching them congregate, these also used to leave the grove on mass in the morning.

 

[TRITON]

Hardly, Grey's were introduced by us, they are not a native species.

Doesnt matter, they're still life, and in that we shouldnt be holding grudges.

I was cycling through the park a bit back and came across a squirrel clinging to a tree, about 6' off the ground, staring intently at a dog. The dogs owner was standing there, and the dog was fixated at the squirrel with the same intensity the squirrel was paying to the dog, so it didnt see me.
I approached very slowly until i was standing by the tree about 2' from the squirrel, who was too engrossed to notice me, and could have reached out and touched it. It was a fantastic sight, mother nature in its finery.It then got a sense I was there and scampered up the tree.
I remarked to the old guy with the dog how amazing it was to see a squirrel that close.
He like a total prick muttered something about killing it, and shame his dog hadn't caught it.
Although this was a lie and i like dogs, i told him forcefully that i didnt really like dogs and would he like it if i killed his dog.
He put the dog on its lead and quickly hurried away.

No need for that in my opinion. Animal is an animal. Right to life and all that.

 

[Suffolkboy]

Greys Ori

Greys Originated in Russia ! - 'nuff said !

No. They didn't.

They are an american species.


https://www.mammal.org.uk/species-h...he,essentially animals of deciduous woodland.

 

[Lons]

Our main problem apart from hoards of flying rat aka pigeons is that the crows have learned to fly and bump the bird feeders which dumps seed on the ground, I wouldn't mind the odd one or two but 15 to 20 at a time is not on. I admire their intelligence but the air rifle appears to be the only way they will learn to go elsewhere. Not looking to kill them but they know what a gun looks like and with enough exposure will hopefully stay away.

 

[gcusick]

Slugs don't like copper at all. Get a roll of copper tape (expensive!) or strip some wire and put that around the area you want to protect, job done.
You need to remove the slugs from inside the area, or they can't get out! HTH.

Works even better if you connect the wire to the mains!