squirrel control

[Mice!]

Well I wasn't going shooting this morning,  I was just going to check the feeder and get to sleep, but it was such a lovely morning 🤗🤗

After last week's freezing feet today must have been 10° warmer,  I got in the wood set up and ready for about 645, feed wasn't down much and at 7am lots of noise started, no idea what was going on, I didn't have high Hope's, I couldn't even hear the bird song!!

Noticeable by there absence today were the Nuthatch's,  just the one showed up which seemed strange.

Loads more noise, sounded like chainsaws or lots of bushes being strimmed,  when out walks a squirrel, up onto the feeder and has a look around before selecting a conveniently placed nut from the ledge. 

It sits up and starts to eat, and all the noise stops, just before I squeeze the trigger, typical,  Pfft whack flop good sized female which I was surprised wasn't lactating. 

Noise starts again and after 20 minutes I decided that's enough,  it went quiet again and right as it did, a pause of 2, and a pheasant must have been right behind me,  it decided to shout out like they do, didn't half make me jump.

Packed up,  went to another spot to check that feeder and put the camera up, the food is going down slowly but I haven't shot this feeder yet this year, there has been very little seen nearby but I started filling the feeder last month in anticipation,  lots of digging under the feeder and I'm curious about that if nothing else, so hopefully I'll go get the camera Thursday and see what's going on.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Mice!
Fat thumbs

[Sciurus]

@Mice!, I was also out at 7am at the woods at the start of the Red zone, which we try to maintain a grey free zone.

the Hall and campsite open up next week, so this was our last chance to do the Hall gardens and avoid the crowds.

It was a pleasant day and the thermal generally worked well- even blackbirds glowed Red.  

I knew it would be fairly quiet as only one grey had been reported in the last few weeks but a few red kits had been seen . Cutting a non story short, we saw two young reds and only one grey (at a distance).

There were small birds tweeting everywhere, but oddly we didn’t see any nuthatches, woodpeckers or buzzards. A few pregnant roes were seen, there was a roe barking very loudly, like dog. My pal who stalks, tried to call him in without success.

The old part of the wood was in full leaf but the younger oaks at the top of the hill were only just beginning to leaf. The blue bells were coming out but unfortunately the photo doesn’t do them justice.

Spot the nosey red.

Y

We did both sides of the valley, taking our time and just enjoying the day. The guns were not raised once, but it didn’t matter, it hopefully showed that grey control was working there.

When we returned down to the Hall, the cafe and new posh toilets were thankfully open and we finished the day with a very enjoyable cup of tea in the courtyard.

[Mice!]

1 hour ago, Sciurus said:

When we returned down to the Hall, the cafe and new posh toilets were thankfully open and we finished the day with a very enjoyable cup of tea in the courtyard.

Sounds odd saying it's good when there's nothing to shoot, but it's a good result and great seeing the reds.

Especially good when you can finish the morning with a brew 👍

I'll be out again tomorrow if the weather is good, I don't expect to see much but there might be the odd one about.

[Mice!]

So this morning the plan was an hour at the bottom of the hill then go to the top and bring the big feeder back down, I had an hour, a few squirrels were spotted but nothing came to the feeder so I headed up.

On my way up I may have seen a red on the edge of the wood, I caught a glimpse of dark brownish maybe red fly along a dry stone wall and up into an oak, I could see it with the thermal but the rifle was away and I didn't have any binoculars on me, I went back down and across searching the area but didn't see it again, going back up the hill again I saw another heat source so went in again, but this time it was a bird, that's how sure I was it wasn't a grey, I've been on this ground now for close to 12 months and it's the first time I've had a possible sighting 

On up the hill, get myself in position and wait, not many birds around ? No suet left or fat balls, a couple of young squirrels appeared playing, never even came close to the feeder, just ran by playing.
I went over and you guessed it the feeder that nothing has been using except for the birds is empty!! Looks like it's been licked clean 

So what to do?? I've left it up, been back up this evening before work and filled it up, suet, fat balls and 7/8kg of poultry feed, I've carried feed up there a few times now, got to the top only to find it's still full, there messing with me I know it.

I'll give it a few more weeks see how things go, plus I'll want to go up the hill looking for the red again.

[Morkin]

I will have to get on these tree rats again soon I had someone chuck my trap the place I was last so let it cool of a bit,been busy on the veg garden getting that sorted but also feeding other areas for the furry tails so hopefully start adding to the numbers again . Every. Little helps so the old girl said when she peed in the sea.Take care boys .

[Sciurus]

16 hours ago, Mice! said:

On my way up I may have seen a red on the edge of the wood, I caught a glimpse of dark brownish maybe red fly along a dry stone wall and up into an oak, I could see it with the thermal but the rifle was away and I didn't have any binoculars on me, I went back down and across searching the area but didn't see it again, going back up the hill again I saw another heat source so went in again, but this time it was a bird, that's how sure I was it wasn't a grey, I've been on this ground now for close to 12 months and it's the first time I've had a possible sighting 

Kev, It’s entirely possible you have seen a red (they love running along stone walls).

I have looked at the sightings map for the last 3 years. This year there has only been 1 sighting less than a mile away from you at the hill, but 2020 and 2019 there have been 5 or 6 sightings each year within 1 mile on either side of you .

Time to put the camera back up. Exciting times!

[Mice!]

8 hours ago, Sciurus said:

Kev, It’s entirely possible you have seen a red (they love running along stone walls).

I have looked at the sightings map for the last 3 years. This year there has only been 1 sighting less than a mile away from you at the hill, but 2020 and 2019 there have been 5 or 6 sightings each year within 1 mile on either side of you .

Time to put the camera back up. Exciting times!

Its coming up for a year now since I started up there mate and so far I'm on 41 greys so hopefully there will be less pressure on any reds that do come into the area, I know there are still others about but they are far less frequent now 🙂 

I'll put the camera up there next week and cross my fingers 🤞🤞

[Walker570]

I envy you guys just being able to believe you will see a rad squirrel never mind seeing one.  I rented an A Frame holiday cottage up pn the South Esk and every morning there would be two or three reds on the feed tray outside the window.

Keep up the good work.

[old man]

11 hours ago, Walker570 said:

I envy you guys just being able to believe you will see a rad squirrel never mind seeing one.  I rented an A Frame holiday cottage up pn the South Esk and every morning there would be two or three reds on the feed tray outside the window.

Keep up the good work.

Too right! All we can do here is whack and stack with fingers crossed?

[Mice!]

26 minutes ago, old man said:

Too right! All we can do here is whack and stack with fingers crossed?

It still benefits the songbirds though, stops tree damage 👍

[Mice!]

Not mine but interesting...

I'm wondering of squirrels can get high on fancy elm seeds...
In the absence of rabbits in recent years I tend to shoot only from September to March. But because of lockdown and endless bad weather, I went out from three o'clock today. I visited a couple of belts and a wood and moved to a bigger wood, where I've never been at this time of year. Moving through, scanning for squirrels, I saw what appeared to be a huge patch of yellowy green litter like hops beneath a tree I'd never noticed before.
I settled down to wait and saw a squirrel sitting up motionless in the tree. I shot it and three other squirrels scarpered from the same tree. I stayed where I was and two returned within minutes. Both started ripping into the foliage before sitting upright, dead still. I shot a second, the other did a bunk. A short time later, another squizzer, this time a juvenile, arrived. I watched it for a while, aggressively tearing at the bunches of 'hops.' It ate manically for several minutes, then sat up as if in a trance. I've shot and watched greys eating buds many a time, but their behaviour on this stuff seemed odd. Anyway, I shot it, then went to pick up.
All their mouths were crammed with this foliage. It took a few minutes to realise these hops were oval-ish, papery things, each with a seed embedded at centre--like elm seeds.
Only when I got home with some samples and my wife got out her reference books did I learn there were 50-odd types of elm, not just those destroyed by Dutch beetles forty-odd years ago.
I know the wood was partly a garden 100 years ago and there's a few other trees that aren't native, but I'd be interested if anyone's seen squirrels on anything like this elm. I had the distinct impression these seeds were an equivalent of cat-nip for squizzers...

I've asked for pictures. 

[old man]

18 minutes ago, Mice! said:

Not mine but interesting...

I'm wondering of squirrels can get high on fancy elm seeds...
In the absence of rabbits in recent years I tend to shoot only from September to March. But because of lockdown and endless bad weather, I went out from three o'clock today. I visited a couple of belts and a wood and moved to a bigger wood, where I've never been at this time of year. Moving through, scanning for squirrels, I saw what appeared to be a huge patch of yellowy green litter like hops beneath a tree I'd never noticed before.
I settled down to wait and saw a squirrel sitting up motionless in the tree. I shot it and three other squirrels scarpered from the same tree. I stayed where I was and two returned within minutes. Both started ripping into the foliage before sitting upright, dead still. I shot a second, the other did a bunk. A short time later, another squizzer, this time a juvenile, arrived. I watched it for a while, aggressively tearing at the bunches of 'hops.' It ate manically for several minutes, then sat up as if in a trance. I've shot and watched greys eating buds many a time, but their behaviour on this stuff seemed odd. Anyway, I shot it, then went to pick up.
All their mouths were crammed with this foliage. It took a few minutes to realise these hops were oval-ish, papery things, each with a seed embedded at centre--like elm seeds.
Only when I got home with some samples and my wife got out her reference books did I learn there were 50-odd types of elm, not just those destroyed by Dutch beetles forty-odd years ago.
I know the wood was partly a garden 100 years ago and there's a few other trees that aren't native, but I'd be interested if anyone's seen squirrels on anything like this elm. I had the distinct impression these seeds were an equivalent of cat-nip for squizzers...

I've asked for pictures. 

Interesting bud, I have noticed a particular tree close to my feeder that they seem drawn to in preference to others. Have not investigated as trying to keep a low profile but will on next visit when quiet. 

[powler]

 

1 hour ago, Mice! said:

Not mine but interesting...

I'm wondering of squirrels can get high on fancy elm seeds...
In the absence of rabbits in recent years I tend to shoot only from September to March. But because of lockdown and endless bad weather, I went out from three o'clock today. I visited a couple of belts and a wood and moved to a bigger wood, where I've never been at this time of year. Moving through, scanning for squirrels, I saw what appeared to be a huge patch of yellowy green litter like hops beneath a tree I'd never noticed before.
I settled down to wait and saw a squirrel sitting up motionless in the tree. I shot it and three other squirrels scarpered from the same tree. I stayed where I was and two returned within minutes. Both started ripping into the foliage before sitting upright, dead still. I shot a second, the other did a bunk. A short time later, another squizzer, this time a juvenile, arrived. I watched it for a while, aggressively tearing at the bunches of 'hops.' It ate manically for several minutes, then sat up as if in a trance. I've shot and watched greys eating buds many a time, but their behaviour on this stuff seemed odd. Anyway, I shot it, then went to pick up.
All their mouths were crammed with this foliage. It took a few minutes to realise these hops were oval-ish, papery things, each with a seed embedded at centre--like elm seeds.
Only when I got home with some samples and my wife got out her reference books did I learn there were 50-odd types of elm, not just those destroyed by Dutch beetles forty-odd years ago.
I know the wood was partly a garden 100 years ago and there's a few other trees that aren't native, but I'd be interested if anyone's seen squirrels on anything like this elm. I had the distinct impression these seeds were an equivalent of cat-nip for squizzers...

I've asked for pictures. 

Two years ago I noticed the same thing, last year didn't as in lockdown and this year have not so far, the greys were going mad for the Wychelm they were eating the seeds and dropping all the hop like casings under the trees. Most of the Wychelm has gone over from the seeds/fruits.

Yesterday they seemed to be more interested in the big beech trees about the land.

Edited May 15, 2021 by powler

[old man]

7 hours ago, powler said:

 

Two years ago I noticed the same thing, last year didn't as in lockdown and this year have not so far, the greys were going mad for the Wychelm they were eating the seeds and dropping all the hop like casings under the trees. Most of the Wychelm has gone over from the seeds/fruits.

Yesterday they seemed to be more interested in the big beech trees about the land.

Lots of very old Beech on the land I shoot over , will watch for that but no evidence yet>

[Walker570]

11 hours ago, Mice! said:

Not mine but interesting...

I'm wondering of squirrels can get high on fancy elm seeds...
In the absence of rabbits in recent years I tend to shoot only from September to March. But because of lockdown and endless bad weather, I went out from three o'clock today. I visited a couple of belts and a wood and moved to a bigger wood, where I've never been at this time of year. Moving through, scanning for squirrels, I saw what appeared to be a huge patch of yellowy green litter like hops beneath a tree I'd never noticed before.
I settled down to wait and saw a squirrel sitting up motionless in the tree. I shot it and three other squirrels scarpered from the same tree. I stayed where I was and two returned within minutes. Both started ripping into the foliage before sitting upright, dead still. I shot a second, the other did a bunk. A short time later, another squizzer, this time a juvenile, arrived. I watched it for a while, aggressively tearing at the bunches of 'hops.' It ate manically for several minutes, then sat up as if in a trance. I've shot and watched greys eating buds many a time, but their behaviour on this stuff seemed odd. Anyway, I shot it, then went to pick up.
All their mouths were crammed with this foliage. It took a few minutes to realise these hops were oval-ish, papery things, each with a seed embedded at centre--like elm seeds.
Only when I got home with some samples and my wife got out her reference books did I learn there were 50-odd types of elm, not just those destroyed by Dutch beetles forty-odd years ago.
I know the wood was partly a garden 100 years ago and there's a few other trees that aren't native, but I'd be interested if anyone's seen squirrels on anything like this elm. I had the distinct impression these seeds were an equivalent of cat-nip for squizzers...

I've asked for pictures. 

Interesting.  I only have one elm on my own ground these days and it thankfully remains healthy. It produces lots of those seds but never seen any signs of what tree rats do make it for an hour or two would do with them.  Yours appeared to be doing what those South American natives do chewing on drug inducing leaves ..   Pity we can't bottle it and mix it with the feed in the flip tops.

[Fisheruk]

After persistently targeting the greys in this private wood only Red squirrels present now. Not a good picture as taken by phone in poor light and about 30 metres. But there were two different reds there this morning
 

 

[Mice!]

3 hours ago, Fisheruk said:

After persistently targeting the greys in this private wood only Red squirrels present now. Not a good picture as taken by phone in poor light and about 30 metres. But there were two different reds there this morning
 

 

Great news

[Walker570]

That is good news. Keep up the pressure.

[Mice!]

I had a busy afternoon yesterday but never touched the gun!!
First stop was collecting the camera, had a check through and around 150 videos showing 2 &1 squirrels at all times of the day, I haven't shot this feeder this year because there just hasn't been anything around but they have obviously moved back in from the bigger wood.

The hide is set up ready to go in the morning, I just have to walk in and sit down, the squirrels will hopefully have a little lie in but they have been showing from first light.

The surprising thing is a pair of pheasant feeding in the dark, they show up quite a few times on the videos but 4:55 seemed really early.

Then off to the big wood, I've had two small feeders at the bottom of the hill but moved one up to where I hope i saw the red last week and put the camera up, might be wishful thinking getting it on camera but it's worth a shot.

Carried on up the hill to the bigger feeder and it's been battered again, only about a third left in it, quite a bit of the wheat dumped on the ground but its obviously been busy, i probably won't have time to shoot it this week but I'll have to pop up there again tomorrow and top it right up then i plan on putting the camera up there next week to see if i can get a pattern as to what's going on.

I should have taken some pictures, its easy to take the wood for granted when you see it every week, the wild garlic looks and smells great, most of the trees are in leaf now except the oaks, seems strange them still being bare at this time.

But I'm definitely seeing a lot of activity on the feed levels, hopefully i can mop up a few tomorrow morning.

 

Well I had a good morning today,  I was walking into the strip of wood at 6:30 and there is a squirrel sat on the feeder! 

I was split between getting a shot from where I was and just getting out of sight, I opted to get out of sight.

Under the brolley and hope a squirrel comes back.

 

The cock pheasant was strutting his stuff and he looked magnificent in the early morning sun, he could well have been the poster boy he looked that good, backwards and forwards he went very much distracting me before having waited nearly ten minutes a squirrel reappeared 

 

Under the feeder sat up nice eating something,  Pfft whack flip about.

 

Five minutes later number two came along, this one went straight up onto the feeder,  messed around a bit before sitting up nice, Pfft whack flip about.

 

Mr and mrs pheasant then reappeared but they weren't happy at all about the two dead squirrels on the ground, they kept coming in then moving away again. 

 

Around twenty minutes later there's movement from the right, think I saw a tail flick, then between two trees I can just make out a head looking at number two,  number three is just frozen looking, Pfft whack flip about. 

 

I've had three now in 45 minutes and I'm happy with that, but decided to give it a little while longer, the cock pheasant makes a bit of a racket and suddenly another squirrel is heading towards the feeder,  but it bypasses it and goes to squirrel number two,  it then started sniffing at it before seeming to simply sit by it?

 

Pfft whack flip about? Every squirrel did that this morning,  flipped around for 2-3 seconds then stopped,  very odd.

Two pairs in a hour 😃

 

A fella on the Agf wrote about obscuring your hide a while back and I've done that here, normally I sit in front of a screen of dead branches but I made a hole in it and sat behind it today,  less chance of my movements being seen, and it worked a treat.

View from the feeder.

Zoomed in. 

 

Strangely I went and checked the golf course feeder and it looks untouched,  it's like they don't like it where it is? I'm giving it a few more weeks then it'll have to be shifted.

 

 

[Sciurus]

Mice, sounds like the perfect end to a night shift (& no frozen body parts either!) 

The greys round here won’t eat wheat, but it doesn’t matter if they chuck it out, as that attracts other birds which in turn  attracts more tree rats....

I wonder why your golfing greys are off your feeder, as you say, give them a few days then try another spot.

[ratchers]

Was working this morning so couldn't get out till this afternoon, don't usually like shooting then as I think its quieter.

Off to the sydicates wood where I have two feeders, a flip top and in another part of the wood a hopper type,both were empty although it was 10 days since I was last there, topped them both up and decided to shoot the hopper feeder which has wheat in. Quite sunny with a strong wind at times but was good to be out listening to the song birds, nothing happed for 45 minutes and then it started, I saw a big fat Jay fly to the tree and then I saw a cock pheasant feeding on wheat I had spread on the ground beneath the feeder, the Jay joined him and then the pheasant flew and sat on the feeder! now then is that why the levels going down so much, should I try and scare it off with a shot the the metal front, as I was cogitating the pheasnt hopped down and away to be replaced with a grey, thank goodness I didn't shoot and scare him away,took the shot and he won't be eating anymore.

Was quite a wait for the next bit of non action, I saw a squirrel coming across the woodland floor going towards the box, but he was in a bad mood when he saw his mate, the tail was going and he went round and round the tree and evenually disapeared, so just the one this time.

[Mice!]

5 hours ago, Sciurus said:

Mice, sounds like the perfect end to a night shift (& no frozen body parts either!) 

The greys round here won’t eat wheat, but it doesn’t matter if they chuck it out, as that attracts other birds which in turn  attracts more tree rats....

I wonder why your golfing greys are off your feeder, as you say, give them a few days then try another spot.

You can tell from what's on the ground that the squirrels are chucking the wheat out, they always do with the chicken feed or cheap bird seed, but then do eat it once they empty the feeder,  both the big wood feeders are clear on the floor normally but it could be other critters cleaning up,  I'll fill the hill top with nuts next week and move the camera up there,  hopefully get a good result that way.

12 minutes ago, ratchers said:

Was working this morning so couldn't get out till this afternoon, don't usually like shooting then as I think its quieter.

Still always nice to get out at a different time,  see what goes on 👍

[Walker570]

That hide looks like something from Goonhilly Downs, no wonder they are a bit nervous.

Fortunately all of my hides are permanent and so just become part of the furniture. Having said that over in Lincolnshire I just drive the Landie within shooting distance climb into the passenger seat wind down the window and the tree rats just accept the vehicle is there within minutes sometimes.

I have been tied down with garden and wood this last two weeks getting both in tidy condition for the summer, so have not been out.  Hopefully by the end of next week the weather will change and I can get back at them.   Info from land owners suggest they are about.

[Mice!]

56 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

That hide looks like something from Goonhilly Downs, no wonder they are a bit nervous.

Fortunately all of my hides are permanent and so just become part of the furniture. Having said that over in Lincolnshire I just drive the Landie within shooting distance climb into the passenger seat wind down the window and the tree rats just accept the vehicle is there within minutes sometimes.

I have been tied down with garden and wood this last two weeks getting both in tidy condition for the summer, so have not been out.  Hopefully by the end of next week the weather will change and I can get back at them.   Info from land owners suggest they are about.

The whole wood is a mess, it's not much more than a wind break really,  but it leads to a much bigger wood 😁 it was nice having the hide set up ready and I did immediately think of all the folk with permanent hides set up.

You've picked a good time to be busy things have been very inconsistent over the last few weeks, I'd been hoping for rain so I had an excuse not to go out, but a few of my feeders are definitely getting hit hard now, so lock and load Nev 👍

[ratchers]

Out again on a sunny but cold morning with a heavy dew,I could see my breath. Off to the squirrel/rabbit permission and was expecting to see lots about due to the nice weather only to be disapointed, only one rabbit which had better eyesight than me. Got snuggled in to the hedge line waiting to ambush, and after decent wait of a hour along came a squirrel from behind the flip top but instead of going up the tree it veers off along a wall top and goes out of sight,as I was jammed in a hedge there was no chance of swinging the gun round. I watched the perimeter of the garden and after five minutes it ran through the opposite hedge up in to some trees, bother! I sat tight hoping it would come back and after half an hour it hadn't but a rabbit had about 20 yards away so that got taken. I thought I might as well go and look in the trees as a shed blocked my approach from sight, poked my head around the shed corner and I could see not one but two squirrels now and again in the branches. They moved away to the next tree and lo and behold one sat at the end of a branch in clear sight,no foliage or branches in the way,I leant against the shed and took a lovely head shot, went to retreive to find a juvenile female. And on that shot I went home as I knew it couldn't be bettered.