Sciurus

Today was a bit different, I was asked to survey a small wood owned by a local charity in order to advise them on the best course of action to take in the long and short term, in order to improve their chances of attracting red squirrels to their woodland. In return, we get a donation to the Red squirrel group I belong to. The wood was small, perhaps an acre, with a good mix of mature beech and scots pine and younger saplings so promising habitat, but infested with greys (I spotted six without a thermal). So the report will have the normal stuff regarding existing habitat, trees to plant and distance from nearby red colonies etc. However, the number one recommendation- Get RID of the existing grey infestation and most importantly continue to regularly control the greys! It is likely we will be asked to do the grey control. Large charities and Local Authorities don’t want to invite criticism! The wood is close to the town centre, next to a college, so shotguns are out of the question but it is ideal for airgun shooting at a feeder. Parking is a nightmare and expensive and at £1.80 twice a day, I won’t be recommending trapping!

Three for me Total 3337

I thought you might recognise the permission. The hills were all lit up this morning. Glorious and gloomy at the same time. I bet you were cold this morning!

Some days, it is better to stay in bed, yesterday was one of them! I was hoping to go to a local private wood and wanted to be in place by 7.30 to intercept a few greys as they usually travelled in from a nearby wood around that time. I was just finishing a cup of tea at 7am when my nose started bleeding. No big deal, except I have started taking blood thinners and the bleeding wouldn’t stop. 7.45 it had slowed to a drip, so off I went. I got into position and every time I looked down, it started gushing. Gloves off, search for new tissue, lift camo mask and mop up. Repeat every few minutes. The greys wisely disappeared elsewhere. I then had a brainwave and decided to plug my nostril and go for a wander instead. Unfortunately, this would work for a few minutes and then the dripping started. Not such a clever idea after all! I did manage to shoot one running along a dry stone wall but after 2 hours of looking and acting like an extra from a zombie film, I gave up a went home. (It finally stopped bleeding at 11am). A single male The Zombie, just before the gushing! This morning, no nasal problems, so I set off to a local hotel and campsite with a large wood, housing a few reds. It was the first day of hard frost, exactly zero degrees. The mist from the lake slowed the journey down to 20mph and I arrived later than I wanted, no problem I could hardly see the trees! Eventually, the mist cleared a bit, and I spotted two greys running round the base of a tree, in a ravine in front of the hotel, I had to do a wide circle to get close and by then one grey was sat at the top of a tree and the other had disappeared. Because I was in the Hotel grounds, I loaded with Cheddite Silenzia in my .410 hushpower- very quiet but not very powerful. Pop- down came a young female. Moving onto an unused section of the campsite, a grey appeared from nowhere and stopped directly above me. I had to pull the gun from my gunslip (as I was on a public footpath) cycle a cartridge in the pumper and it unsurprisingly disappeared. I did however spot a grey tail sticking out of a forked branch. Pop - down came an adult female. Even though I was wearing lined gloves, my fingers were frozen (blood thinners again😡) and I couldn’t load the cartriges into the magazine, so I decided to climb up a few hundred feet into the wood, where the sun was shining. Up in the wood above, you can see the mist below. The wood and the climb was lovely and warm, but useless for the thermal. I did however spot a lone red, which was a bonus. All in all, a nice morning to be out, but i need to return and get the remaining grey (& any others)

Sounds like my day yesterday, nothing, then a stationary grey on the left hand tree and two running about in a right hand tree. With a 3 shot pumper- which shot should I take! Thanks for the good wishes 👍

Eight for me this morning. Total 3258

@Mice! a great report as always and yes, the mice are a pain! One day, you’ll get your red, they are not far away. Anyway, better make another brew…. I haven’t posted for a couple of months due to an unexpected heart attack which was quickly sorted, but I came out of hospital with another dose of covid, which flattened me for another month. Feeling better, I had 3 forays in the last week and got 2 greys each trip. Each trip, I took a different gun- 12 bore, 410 and .177 and each trip, I wished I had brought a different gun! On a side note, I am on blood thinners and the bruising to my shoulder from the 12 bore is unbelievable. Anyway, this morning, I was off to my favourite permission, a period property open to the public, with 3 small woods running down to the lake. The largest wood is still closed after Storm Arwen (a year ago), as damaged trees are still falling, so I was limboing over and under massive oaks whilst scanning with the thermal. I soon spotted a grey, then two, then three playing kiss chase, I crept closer and spotted a fourth clinging to a separate tree, bang- one down, then a hidden fifth grey ran straight across a branch in front of me - bang- a miss. For those, who don’t use a shotgun, a squirrel zigzagging along a branch is a challenging shot - especially with a drainpipe at the end of your gun! (I have a .410 Hushpower). The original 3 headed off towards the lake and one mounted sentry duty at the top of an ash at the cliff edge, bang, down it dropped onto the shore, where it would be seen by the public, so I had to climb and slide down the cliff to retrieve it and return via a different route. The other two wisely disappeared. Following, the footpath along the shore, another grey ran from the grass up another ash. I waited only a minute and a face appeared round the trunk and bang that came down. Rounding the beautiful old stone boathouse, I got an unusual signal in the bushes on the thermal, too hot to be a pigeon but I couldn’t spot anything through the binos. I crept forward, trying to get a better view and a grey ran up a near by oak. I waited to see if it would reappear, whilst scanning around at the same time- blow me there was a different grey sitting nicely in the forks of an oak in front of me. Bang, number 4 down. Into the small second wood, there was nothing but sheep and unwanted canada geese making a racket. On returning, I got another vague signal up a scots pine, out with the binos, another grey. Bang, another one down, but its head was up and very much alive. As went to pick it up, the B thing ran up my leg!!! I screamed like a girl and shook it off and gave it the last rights with my priest. Phew! Back along the steep path to the car park, I got another signal, quickly checking there was no member of the public yet in the car park, bang - sixth down, this grey was having a kick about and disappeared down a rabbit hole. I am not brave and decided not to stick my hand in- I would be hopeless in “I am a celebrity….!!!!” Dropping off the greys into my boot, I picked up a few more cartridges and went into the third wood. This used to be an arboretum in Victorian times and was usually popular with the greys but had been been devastated and flattened by Arwen and I only spotted a single large grey disappearing up a large beech with cracked and broken limbs everywhere. I thought I would have no chance but again within a few minutes a small face appeared, bang, seven down. The public had started to arrive, so I didn’t have time to do the Chapel and walled garden, so off I went to a nearby campsite. It was there that my exciting morning came to an end. I had just shot the eighth (which I couldn’t pick), when the battery on my thermal went.- time to go home! I couldn’t believe it, last year there were very few greys about and I thought we had pretty well shot them all. A colleague had shot the place twice whilst I was incapacitated and had six and yet I must have seen at least 16 today. Where have they all come from? Needless to say I will be back soon. On a different note, it has been interesting to read other peoples experience with baits and feeders. Where I shoot, it is nearly all mature oak and beech, with lots of sweet chestnut, hazel and yew. There is no way a self respecting grey would consider eating maize or wheat- ever! I do have success in the summer shooting and trapping with a mixture of nuts and aniseed but it is the sunflowers and peanuts they are after, but will rarely eat this after June as there is just so much natural food about (& still is!). The other thing that is different here, is it rains alot- no drought. Wooden feeders become sodden, I can’t use them except in summer. I make my feeders from pvc soil pipes or aluminium flue pipes, with waterproof lids, but the atmosphere and woods are so damp, that bait just decays. I put four feeders out in September, they have not been touched but last week I have shot 4 greys within 5 yds of them. Its just a waste of bait, at the moment. The ground is still covered with acorns and beechmast. However In poor years, the feeders wouldn’t go damp as they would be emptied quickly.

Two more this morning. 410. Perfect thermalling weather for a change Total 3220

Five for me in the last week, 12 bore and .410 3217

Yes, I am still having trouble getting the bed off my back as well but at least it’s getting darker in the morning. Its still raining acorns here- the ground is inches thick in places. Hopefully meet up soon when the leaves drop.

In early August, I got laid low by the Chinese plague and haven’t picked up a gun in over 2 months. Today, was a lovely day and I felt fit enough to tackle my only permission that isn’t too steep. As it is privately owned, I decided to take my grandfathers favourite 12b rather than my moderated .410 As soon as I parked up and got out of the car, a grey came down a large Beech tree straight towards me. Of course as soon as I fetched the gun out of the car, it had disappeared. I waited 20 minutes then moved on. It was too sunny for the thermal. Further on, I came to a clearing where the owner stacks his woodpiles and I could hear a distinct clucking, the same sort of noise an angry trapped grey makes, when you approach. I looked up and saw a grey sat on a branch 20 ft in front of me, bang went the 12bore and I was propelled backwards! - I have lost weight and forgotten how powerful a 12b compared to a .410 firing subs! As my hearing cleared, the grey was dead on the floor but the clucking increased in intensity, walking round the stack, to my amazement, a grey came out of the stack at waist height 2 ft in front of me and ran the length of the stack, I didn’t have time to raise the gun and fired from the waist, boom and down it came. The Stack Two of the smallest greys I have ever shot! The day wasn’t over, a bit further on , there was a flash of red running across a fallen tree, unfortunately it wasn’t a red squirrel (they are close by) but a beautiful stoat, it turned and ran towards me into some brash just 5 ft away, unfortunately too quick to get the camera. A great start to Autumn shooting.

Kev, unfortunately I think the banning of lead shot and pellets will just be another legal condition to be included in our leases. You can also bet your bottom dollar that the major landowner that you hopefully will be doing field trials for, will insist on a lead ban. (They probably haven’t heard about it yet- so don’t tell them!)

Another two trapped at the new permission. Nothing doing at my other traps. Total 2412

A couple trapped this morning at new site using a tree trunk trap rather than the usual mink trap. Avoids badgers playing football. Total 2407

Another two trapped today Total 2400

My Mum used to put Lux flakes into a running bath to make it frothy. Luxury indeed. At school it was carbolic soap- very unpleasant and yes, you had to wash your mouth out with it for swearing- it didn’t stop me though!

David - a quick search of the internet on the effectiveness of deet on ticks would suggest otherwise. Ticks are everywhere in the Lakes even in the gardens. Walking through bracken won’t stop ticks dropping into your wellies!

Just a single male trapped today Total 2393

Do you think a dab of Deet around the trouser bottoms will do away with the need for over trousers and wellies? Even baler twine or bike clips has to be better protection than sweating to death wearing wellies in hot weather! Squirrels are very patchy round here. Some houses are very successful at catching whole families and then the odd interlopers. Yet My other regular houses just can’t get them. For example, I have four traps in 4 gardens in a 50 yard radius just to get a pair of troublesome greys - All linked by a dry stone wall, but I can’t catch them, yet in the next road, linked by the same wall, a pair of houses have had about 15 in the last 6 weeks. All using the same bait. Can’t explain it, but You can’t win them all! Nearly all catches are male. Not many are being shot at the moment- too many tourists.

Carlos Santana for me

Four more in the last couple of days. 3 trapped and 1 shot. Total 2389

Japanese Knotweed

Four trapped this week. The hot weather seems to have slowed them down a bit. Total 2376

IMG_1528.MOV They are hitting the Noble fir up here. A 12g job, me thinks

A couple of adult males trapped at different sites today. Total 2348