squirrel control

[oldclaypaws]

Ironically, squirrels will eat birds eggs and young chicks (including ravens) and ravens will eat young squirrels, but adult squirrels and adult ravens are pretty well matched and unlikely to have a go at each other. Ravens are of course scavengers and will eat dead squirrels such as road kill, unless the dead squirrel is 'defended' by its friend, as in this video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sOw3mCz4Oc

[boxerman]

That adds a whole new dimension to killing squirrels... I'm not sure I'd want to take on three hungry crows but for one squirrel to is bravery in the extreme...

[Dave and Verity]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/w ... -cull.html

Dave

[oldclaypaws]

Looks like a few sleepless nights for me & Smojo (apart)- we both dislike the prospect of killing anything. Seems my input in September was correct;

Apparently the government is about to reveal new grey squirrel control strategies early next year, which are rumoured to possibly legislate for landowners to have to take compulsory measures to cull them.

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How does everyone feel, will you be pulling the trigger or lacing your wood with warfarin? The latter isn't an option if you have dogs and might impact on scavengers like buzzards or foxes. Not sure how you isolate a poisoned squirrel to stop the gunk getting into the rest of the food chain, unless its used to bait sealed traps and they expire inside before careful disposal. Might just trap mine and send them next day delivery (alive) to the appropriate minister's office, asking him or her to do the deed.

[Wendelspanswick]

You could take the money and employ a very myopic marksman!

[smojo]

Looks like a few sleepless nights for me & Smojo (apart)- we both dislike the prospect of killing anything

.

Glad you qualified the statement with "apart"

Thoughts on it £100/hectare ? Well I own about 4 acres or 1.6 hectare so I would be able to claim the princely sum of £160 maybe or would they round it down to £100? Over five years that's £500+ Not exactly a big incentive but sounds tempting (if I could bring myself to killing them) because it might just pay for the equipment to eradicate them which obviously has positive benefits to my woodland and trees. But the main issue here is my being part of a woodlot scheme. No point in a few of us attempting to eradicate, you would have to get everyone else in there to agree and that will not be possible. The FC might not even consider a single plot holder's application for that reason.

Reluctant as I am to kill animals myself, I would like to see their numbers drastically reduced across the country for the welfare of other wildlife and our woodlands in general so am not opposed to others taking up the offer. In fact I hope many do. I can see owners of large woodlands and forests (estate owners, timber producers etc) will make a dash for the application forms. They probably already take measures to cull them so why not get paid for it.

As Paws states - my concern is over using poisons and them getting into the food chain. I wonder how many gamekeepers who dislike birds of prey, like buzzards and red kites, might use the poisoning of squirrels as a smokescreen for leaving poisoned bait for birds or prey.

[adam]

For me, I'd only be prepared to shoot them. Traps and poison seem cruel in comparison. They do cause a hell of a lot of damage but so far for me it has not been a priority ... some money from a grant could just change that but it would be something of a black hole for time unless my neighbours could be persuaded to join in.

Adam.

[boxerman]

Tho, as you all know, I'm a way yet from getting my woodland I do have views on this so I'll add to the pot anyway....

Like Paws and Smojo I'm not convinced I'd be able to kill them in any way, shape or form on a personal level (I'll walk around an ant rather than step on it........) BUT I suspect that, at the very least they do need some major control. What would convince me to take this sort of action would be if there were actual hope of totally eliminating them and then being able to restore the reds to their rightful place but I doubt that the reds could survive a re-introduction if just a handful of the greys escaped the cull. Looking at it realistically, the greys probably need culling on a regular basis to keep them under control and minimize damage but there wouldn't be a cat in hells chance of totally eliminating them....

[smojo]

Another thought is that even if the majority of woodland owners had a major push at culling, there are still thousands roaming about in parks, riversides, private gardens etc. There's no way they can be totally eradicated.

[oldclaypaws]

Call me a cynic, but I don't think this potential legislation has any realistic prospect of eradicating greys and clearing the way for the return of the reds. I suspect there are additional reasons for introducing it. For it to be effective you'd need a long term bounty for a generation and a thorough uniform system which covered all the country- that must be logistically impossible, there will be various bodies who for their own reasons object to a squirrel cull, there have already been voices of opposition.

Many large country estates are owned by supporters of the current government, and this is in effect a large cheque into their pocket, when many will already be exercising squirrel control. If say, you were a hereditary peer with a 2000 acre forested estate in Hampshire, this is the equivalent of a £500,000 cheque ( £100/hectare =£100,000 x 5 years). Very nice; rather makes up for the damage if the other lot get in and hit you with a mansion tax. I reckon its a backhander for 'the boys', using damage to trees as an excuse. Perfect really; save the trees to humour the huggers, and get paid by the taxpayer for just owning land. Whether having cashed the cheque anybody actually does anything remains to be seen, will any proof of action be required? They couldn't offer an open bounty 'per tail', or every yob would be plinking with their air rifle in St James's Park- that would never do. At least this way, they know it's going to 'the right chaps'. The Duchy of Cornwall owns 54,000 hectares. Lovely jubbly; that's a few cases of Chateau Petrus.