my grey squirrel pest control

[Dexter's Shed]

I thought I would write a quick explanation on how I control greys in our woods, the control of pest species may not be everyones cup of tea, in which case, if so please click off this post now;

even though I'm a full time pest controller, and carry on doing certain pest related shooting jobs in my spare time, it's funny how owning a wood changes you, having had our wood for quite a few months and working within it, stress is always left at the gate, and I never took a gun or rifle with me on visits, the "need" to shoot just wasn't there

that was until the greys started attacking my bird feeding area



I have always been a bird lover, and take delight from sitting in the wood bird watching,photographing, had the greys simply eaten from the bits that dropped to the floor under the feeders, I would have been happy to leave them be, BUT THEY DIDN'T.... big mistake, they decided to chew through a number of bird feeders, so setting the onset of war.

I first made a couple of squirrel feeding stations, and fixed these at around 5ft height to trees close by, these can be filled with less expensive peanuts, things like corn or cheap corn flakes works well (these could be used by anyone that just wants a squirrel feeding area of course, with a slight modification to the design)
you'll see they have a 3mm steel plate fix to the front, this is a safe backstop, so if your handy with an air rifle, shots can be taken without damaging the trees



once fixed in position, the front plate is covered with peanut butter to get the squirrels feeding from these, rather than the bird feeders



we carried on topping these up on each visit, and on a few occasions saw greys feeding as we walked into the area, of course, ideally these would be fixed in a not so used area, so you could sit quietly in wait, having them in our camping area meant that squirrels would only visit when no one was there, so plan B, I had a couple of kania traps in my shed, these are specifically made for squirrels, although expensive at around £45 each, they are the best,100% effective, they work basically like a big mouse trap, but unlike mouse traps or fenn traps, the pest species can only trigger them by entering head first, and that means a quick humane dispatch, a tunnel is added to a back plate to comply with uk law, this stops non target species like birds entering the trap.
and of course, unlike shooting which can only be carried out whilst there, these work 365 days of the year

[SimonFisher]

the "need" to shoot just wasn't there

An interesting phrase! Could you elaborate on the "need"?

that was until the greys started attacking my bird feeding area
I have always been a bird lover, and take delight from sitting in the wood bird watching,photographing, had the greys simply eaten from the bits that dropped to the floor under the feeders, I would have been happy to leave them be, BUT THEY DIDN'T.... big mistake, they decided to chew through a number of bird feeders, so setting the onset of war.

The squirrels "decided" to chew through a number of feeders. Do you think they got together and had a show of hands You left food and they did what came naturally! You could use squirrel proof bird feeders. We've found Squirrel Buster (http://www.livingwithbirds.com/squirrels/squirrel-buster) to be extremely effective.

couple of kania traps in my shed ... these work 365 days of the year

You still have to check them daily between dawn and dusk though - yes?

[Dexter's Shed]

the "need" to shoot just wasn't there

An interesting phrase! Could you elaborate on the "need"?

simply that my hobbies before owning a woodland, were pest control related, either lamping rabbits for local farmers, or shooting pigeon for crop protection, now owning a wood with fully shooting rights, yet I dont feel the "need" to take a gun on every visit

that was until the greys started attacking my bird feeding area
I have always been a bird lover, and take delight from sitting in the wood bird watching,photographing, had the greys simply eaten from the bits that dropped to the floor under the feeders, I would have been happy to leave them be, BUT THEY DIDN'T.... big mistake, they decided to chew through a number of bird feeders, so setting the onset of war.

The squirrels "decided" to chew through a number of feeders. Do you think they got together and had a show of hands You left food and they did what came naturally! You could use squirrel proof bird feeders. We've found Squirrel Buster (http://www.livingwithbirds.com/squirrels/squirrel-buster) to be extremely effective.

yes, we changed over to squirrel proof feeders, but guess what, they destroyed those too

couple of kania traps in my shed ... these work 365 days of the year

You still have to check them daily between dawn and dusk though - yes?

no, you're thinking of live catch traps, they need to be checked once, but preferably twice in any 24 hour period, break back traps that are designed to kill instantly have no such laws on their use, think about it, why would you need to check if its dead
thats why I use kania traps, rather than fenn traps which I have more of, fenn traps have been known to only catch 50% correctly, ie catching rear legs etc, then suffering occurs, kanias cannot be accessed the same way

[SimonFisher]

yes, we changed over to squirrel proof feeders, but guess what, they destroyed those too

We've found the supposedly squirrel-proof bird feeders that make use of wire mesh only slow down the destruction as the squirrels eventually gnaw through the mesh wires.

The Squirrel Buster feeders on the other hand have proved effective over what must be about 3-4 years now. They are more expensive than some bird feeders on the market but are well designed. With the Squirrel Buster Plus for example, which we use for feeding sunflower hearts, the food in the top part of the feeder is very well protected from water ingress. Other feeders we've used previously would often result in spoiled feed after the rain had got in.

[Dexter's Shed]

I love this idea, but only if I rig up a trail camera to catch the action, could easily recoup the cost by sending footage to "you've been framed" for £250

http://www.livingwithbirds.com/squirrel ... rrel-stop/