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squirrel control


Mice!
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4 hours ago, Martlandhw100 said:

Nice shooting mate hopefully more too come from this feeder then

Cheers, I had a walk around the other woods last week and saw a few others about, it was cold, windy and miserable this morning but these two new where their breakfast was,  properly wet tomorrow. 

My rifle got rained on!!

Hopefully more will come to the feeder on a better day.

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4 hours ago, Mice! said:

Cheers, I had a walk around the other woods last week and saw a few others about, it was cold, windy and miserable this morning but these two new where their breakfast was,  properly wet tomorrow. 

My rifle got rained on!!

Hopefully more will come to the feeder on a better day.

I was working in Workington last night and driving back this morning just thinking to myself that wood looks good o so dose that one haha 

I hope you gave your gun a good clean after being rained on. 😂 

Ye I think by the sounds of it a better day will produce more than just two. 

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I walked our dogs at 'Eastham Park' on the Wirral , while the car was being serviced. Dear lord , there were Greys everywhere. I mean tens of the things , literally running around the dogs.

You would think the Wirral , being a 'peninsular ' with water on three sides, maybe ideal to 'clear' for Red conservation.  The council needs a wake up call.!

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Another pair this morning,  I nearly didn't bother, the weather was right it was coming up sunny, but very misty in places,  I decided to try and wasn't disappointed. 

I've noticed that the squirrels come as the sun comes up over or around the hill, so for an hour it was bird and vole watching again,  no woodpecker today but plenty of others,  I put some fat balls out when I arrived and a handful of seed on the ledge and it was non stop.

Around 8am ish I'm watching a squirrel up in an oak, with no intention of coming my way it seemed I look back right and there is a squirrel behind the feeder!! Not quite full on, just sat there. Bit of a slow twist to get on target,  pause he's not looking like moving and pffft whack, flip flop dead. I gave it a couple of minutes then went to move him, happy to stand up and stretch,  just as I'm picking him up I spooked another!

Pic later. A good sized healthy male, well was.

I put out some more sunflowers as I walked back and watched the birds come flocking in again, probably half an hour and another squirrel comes in from the left through the deer fence, it wasn't moving right, not bounding but on tip toes, like a lass trying to keep her dress out of the mud? It moved through the bracken up towards the feeder and started feeding off the floor facing me, jab heavy between the eyes and he just slumped down, no twitching just still.

Pic later,

another mature Male, but looked very under weight, a good amount of fleas and ticks.

No other signs so packed up about half 9, they just keep trickling in.

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53 minutes ago, Martlandhw100 said:

Good work mate well worth the visit this morning then 👍 and by the sounds of it plenty more too come. 

I forgot the rod rest I put my camera on, so no camera up this week!! The feed is still going down slowly but there bound to turn to natural food at some point.

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Mice, I was out for a walk today with Mrs Sciurus and noticed quite a bit of acorns and hazelnut about but obviously your greys have got used to fast food so are still happy to visit your feeder as a change from natural food. I bet they will do this more in poor weather.

You have mentioned a few times that you see them hanging about but not going to the feeder, I wonder whether they are not that hungry but because you have put food out for the  birds, they have been attracted by bird activity.

I have noticed when shooting a feeder during the day, that the whole wood could be quiet for an hour or so, then suddenly a small flock of tits will arrive and be very active and then a minute or two a grey will arrive. I really do think their feeding cycles are regulated time, weather and bird activity. Have you noticed this?

Keep feeding them the lead diet!

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1 hour ago, Mice! said:

I forgot the rod rest I put my camera on, so no camera up this week!! The feed is still going down slowly but there bound to turn to natural food at some point.

I went and checked my camera today and there seems to be a lot less pictures but yet the feed had gone down quite a lot there are a lot of birds that use the feeder through, was watching a woodpecker on it last time I was in the hide great to watch 

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2 hours ago, Sciurus said:

You have mentioned a few times that you see them hanging about but not going to the feeder, I wonder whether they are not that hungry but because you have put food out for the  birds, they have been attracted by bird activity.

I definitely think the birds help bring them in, when I arrived there was no suet or fat ball left, the ground was cleared of bits, within minutes of me putting out the seed on the ledge and the 5 fat balls there were birds coming from everywhere and calling, so movement and noise,  this was constant for an hour, it makes spotting movement tricky but otherwise I'd likely be watching nothing, once the ledge was cleared it quieted down,  but as soon as I moved the first squirrel, put out more seed the birds were on it again, I'm amazed at how quickly they arrive.

I'm going to split my next feeder so the squirrels have to lift the lid for nuts/sunflowers and make it so the birds can get bird seed from the other side, I'm happy feeding the birds but I don't want them eating all the good stuff.

I hope your walk was like mine are, a recce to see what's going on where 😁

1 hour ago, Martlandhw100 said:

I went and checked my camera today and there seems to be a lot less pictures but yet the feed had gone down quite a lot there are a lot of birds that use the feeder through, was watching a woodpecker on it last time I was in the hide great to watch 

Certainly need the camera soon to see what times if any the squirrels are coming, when the sweet nuts and fruits ripen they'll head for the trees.

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Went to the wood this evening for an hour with in 5 minutes I spot my first squirrel charging towards the feeder through the trees, not sure what happened but there was a big scuffle between two in the tree tops and they both disappeared. Waited about 15 minutes and another appeared headed straight in across the branch that I have put leading to the feeder had a sniff around then settled. Down she goes nice clean head shot. Waited around for about half an hour more and spotted 5 more one I thought was going to come and sit in the tree above my head but went out of sight. 

Definitely more active in the afternoon in that wood. 

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29 minutes ago, Martlandhw100 said:

Went to the wood this evening for an hour with in 5 minutes I spot my first squirrel charging towards the feeder through the trees, not sure what happened but there was a big scuffle between two in the tree tops and they both disappeared. Waited about 15 minutes and another appeared headed straight in across the branch that I have put leading to the feeder had a sniff around then settled. Down she goes nice clean head shot. Waited around for about half an hour more and spotted 5 more one I thought was going to come and sit in the tree above my head but went out of sight. 

Definitely more active in the afternoon in that wood. 

Probably breeding or territorial battles,  won't be long and they'll be back on your feeder, on the bright side you dont need to get up early 👍

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Since Mrs Sciurus retired, She is not keen on me getting  up early to go shooting, but this morning I made an effort and was at my nearest permission by 7am. This bit of woodland hasn’t been reopened to the public since lockdown so I knew I would have it to myself. The feeder was being emptied every 3 days, so I was hopeful.  Walking to the wood, using the thermal,  I spotted a grey in an apple tree in the walled garden, but it cleared off before I got within 50 yds.

The Beck was in full spate after the recent rain but had been pretty dry all year, it was a good day to be out.

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After setting up the camo net, I settled into my camping chair, put radio 4 on the ear phones and waited.     And waited       And Waited. The wood was dead. No birds, no voles, nothing. Now and again, I noticed movement but it was flies walking along the top of the net, imitating greys in the canopy.

With the sound of the running stream, I felt myself nodding off and shook myself awake. Some woman was on the radio wittering on about Scotland needing another referendum and I dropped off completely only to be awaken by the clattering of the feeder lid. A large grey was crouched on the feeder lid looking directly at me. I squeezed the trigger on the Daystate 177 on the top of its head into the neck and the grey just fell forward . It was dead before it hit the ground. No twitching, nothing.

I settled down for the next one and was annoyed to see and hear a man jumping around the wood. Turns out he was a photographer taking photos of the Beck. It was now 9.15, he made such a racket that it was pointless staying, so I packed up and went home!

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It was an adult female. This feeder is simply made from a plastic soil pipe with a lid made from laminate flooring. Hinges are made from builders plastic protected by steel strips so food stays dry and the greys can’t chew them, everything was recycled from a skip.

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19 minutes ago, Mice! said:

Probably breeding or territorial battles,  won't be long and they'll be back on your feeder, on the bright side you dont need to get up early 👍

There definitely still using the feeder I think the food is going down faster now than ever before. And yes gives me chance to have a sleep after a night shift haha 👍

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27 minutes ago, Sciurus said:

This bit of woodland hasn’t been reopened to the public since lockdown so I knew I would have it to myself.

 

27 minutes ago, Sciurus said:

settled down for the next one and was annoyed to see and hear a man jumping around the wood. Turns out he was a photographer taking photos of the Beck. It was now 9.15, he made such a racket that it was pointless staying, so I packed up and went home!

Nothing more annoying than someone turning up where they shouldn't be!!

29 minutes ago, Sciurus said:

The wood was dead. No birds, no voles, nothing

I'd be fast asleep with nothing making me twitch and look around, the way the Nuthatch's move around the trunk gets me every time!!

Nice shooting mate, you wouldn't have got that one staying in bed 😉

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2 hours ago, Mice! said:

 

Nothing more annoying than someone turning up where they shouldn't be!! - Agreed, normally they are just walking through, but this chap was all over the place taking photos!

I'd be fast asleep with nothing making me twitch and look around, the way the Nuthatch's move around the trunk gets me every time!! - it was really strange, there was literally nothing anywhere except the noisy grey, if it hadn’t dropped the lid, it would probably still be alive!

@Martlandhw100 hi, if you are working at Workington, whereabouts are you shooting?, if you are attracting them in August, you should do well in the winter and spring when there is less food about. Keep on thinning them out. 👍

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That is great news.  It has gone very quiet down here in Leicestershire, so given them a week to re group. The feed is going but only slowly. Mind I suppose you can't keep on killing them .

Last year in these two weeks in August I killed seven interlopers in my own small wood. So far this year only one.

Love that make do feeder.  Had a laugh on being wakened by the lid, been there quite a few times:lol:

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On 25/07/2020 at 09:06, Fisheruk said:

Good news, Heritage Lottery Funding has been approved for a project entitled “Reclaiming the Reds”.

It is based around Knowsley within the areas of West Lancashire, Merseyside and west Greater Manchester.
A much larger area than anything which has been previously funded by the HLF in this area, The previous schemes were run by the Lancs Wildlife Trust and largely restricted to the Sefton coastline.  LWT missed out on HL Funding this year and their HLF funded scheme is coming to an end.

This new scheme has a much wider vision and I am looking forward to be helping with Grey Control.

Looking forward to Reclaiming the Reds in this area.

Superb news!

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So I've had two trips out this week, I nipped Wednesday for a look and to put my camera back up, fat balls all gone but feed hadn't gone down much, I only saw one squirrel in the distance.

I stayed longer than I should because the wood was lovely and cool, the heat hit me like a shovel when I left and it wasn't a good kip that day.

So this morning,  into the wood for around 650, no rush,  sabotage!! Looks like the birds had been perching on the camera and its pointing down.

I had added a jar of Aldi hazelnut spread to the feeder Wednesday,  hoping to bring them in, I left the lid up half an inch and the birds were taking full advantage,  but here is the first behavioural change, I noticed Wednesday that while the birds were all over the feed I put out they weren't singing! Also the number of species has changed,  it looks like the Nuthatch's have taken over, they definitely bully the other birds, so lots of movement but no noise.

It was the same this morning,  Nuthatch,  robin, blue tit and great tit, then the greater spotted woodpecker again, but no bird song?

I spotted the first squirrel around 8am, it didn't crash onto the scene it slid in quietly,  high up in the top of an oak, then it started circling the trunk up and down, obviously sniffing, up down around the tree, slowly it came down the trunk and carried on this behaviour,  along the ground up the feeder tree , up down around, SIT STILL, EAT SOMETHING,  it sniffed the feeder, picked at bits that have been chewed at?

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The top two are new, the lid had been nibbled a bit already,  do squirrels chew to scent mark? This squirrel went very deliberately to these spots,  the tree looks polished in places where the squirrels have been, it went back up the tree, I was expecting it to do a runner, not once did it show an interest in the food. 

It paused above me, just long enough, PFFT smack down, and relax.

The waiting for a chance was exhausting,  nothing worse than pretty much having one come along but wander off without a care in the world. 

I gladly got up and moved him, had a stretch then settled down again. 

Twenty minutes later and we go again,  same high up oak, same round and round the trunk, slowly it made it's way down but went behind the bank, reappeared off to my right and looked like it was coming back to the feeder when another squirrel ambushed it, or saved it? They shot off along the ground never to return.

My thinking is males looking for females?

850am boom bird song!! It was quite startling the way it started, just for a few minutes then stopped. 

The camera pointing down caught Billy badger once but not much else and I saw a Goldcrest in the Yew trees, so another couple of species spotted.

 

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