Mice! Posted October 9, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2022 11 hours ago, sam triple said: Checked trail cam at one of my feeders yesterday for 5he first time in 6 weeks lots of photos but not one squirrel on any of them could be a long wait Couple of weeks probably, lots of acorns about but then they'll be back on the feeders properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam triple Posted October 9, 2022 Report Share Posted October 9, 2022 9 minutes ago, Mice! said: Couple of weeks probably, lots of acorns about but then they'll be back on the feeders properly. Yeah but got all the beach trees to drop their masts yet 🙈 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted October 9, 2022 Report Share Posted October 9, 2022 I sat in the IBC hide under my walnut tree this morning expecting magpies. Have hit the tree rats hard this last week or so but at 07.20 just getting light I saw a flick of movement down the hedgeline and along came a tree rat, at the gallop, straight passed me,up the orchard and vanished at the top about 50yrds away. It never paused or stopped to check anything. About twenty minutes later it appear down the opposit hedge/fence line did a tight turn into the Ash copse and carried on, same pace out of sight toward the neighbours boundary. I stayed for another hour but it never reappeared. It was definitely on a mission. I will see if it reappears tomorrow morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted October 9, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2022 6 hours ago, sam triple said: Yeah but got all the beach trees to drop their masts yet 🙈 Thought thst would already be down, the where eating it months ago up here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longbower Posted October 9, 2022 Report Share Posted October 9, 2022 (edited) Two today , one at either en of the wood , on the feeders . 20g. Single bagged both . Only one shown . Edited October 9, 2022 by Longbower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam triple Posted October 10, 2022 Report Share Posted October 10, 2022 5 hours ago, Mice! said: Thought thst would already be down, the where eating it months ago up here. Started to drop like everything else during hot spell as trees were seeming to shut down then rain came and everything took off again , horse chestnut are dropping acorns are too but everything is still heavily laden , never seen so many Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted October 10, 2022 Report Share Posted October 10, 2022 Frustrating morning. Had one tree rat collecting walnuts from my neighbours tree and then bringing them to bury in my wood and just out of range for the S200 and not a safe background with a few grands worth of brood mares in the next field. Interesting they are still harvesting and burying. Picked about 1200 walnuts from my main tree so far, so my efforts to keep them off my patch have born fruit so to speak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man Posted October 10, 2022 Report Share Posted October 10, 2022 15 hours ago, Mice! said: Thought thst would already be down, the where eating it months ago up here. Down here weeks ago too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted October 12, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2022 Well there certainly moving around, I shot another pair in the garden yesterday, digging in my lawn has severe consequences, especially if you choose to do it near the patio. That's 8 now since September after probably nothing all year. A mate popped round yesterday to pick up the squirrels and borrow the thermal, he had just left when I looked outside and there was another squirrel in the garden! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldfish Posted October 12, 2022 Report Share Posted October 12, 2022 (edited) On 10/10/2022 at 11:29, Walker570 said: Frustrating morning. Had one tree rat collecting walnuts from my neighbours tree and then bringing them to bury in my wood and just out of range for the S200 and not a safe background with a few grands worth of brood mares in the next field. Interesting they are still harvesting and burying. Picked about 1200 walnuts from my main tree so far, so my efforts to keep them off my patch have born fruit so to speak. @Walker570 1200 is a great bag and definitive proof you are controlling the vermin but have to ask, are you pickling them? Love a pickled walnut with cheese, did you pick them early enough 😁 However fresh with soft cheese and red wine works with me too 🤤 Another month and its port and blue cheese.......ooo I love seasonal eating 😁 Edited October 12, 2022 by Goldfish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldfish Posted October 12, 2022 Report Share Posted October 12, 2022 (edited) @Longbower That 20b is working well, they are good guns to carry, so light 👍 looks like its a keeper 😁 Edited October 12, 2022 by Goldfish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted October 12, 2022 Report Share Posted October 12, 2022 2 hours ago, Goldfish said: @Walker570 1200 is a great bag and definitive proof you are controlling the vermin but have to ask, are you pickling them? Love a pickled walnut with cheese, did you pick them early enough 😁 However fresh with soft cheese and red wine works with me too 🤤 Another month and its port and blue cheese.......ooo I love seasonal eating 😁 No I don't pickle anymore. The few we eat it is cheaper and easier to buy a jar from Aldi Yes, you need to pick them in July when they have not formed the hard shell inside. However we do use a lot of walnuts through the winter and following spring summer added to crumbles and cakes etc. We give some away to favoured friends and the feed back indicates that our walnuts havea much finer flavour than the Californian imports.. It is a bind having to do a pick morning and evening for about a month but well worth the effort. I try to pick late afternoon as the badgers do love to clean up any overnight nuts. I recon a rough guess that maybe a couple of hundred goes that way and a few to succesful tree rats before they die trying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted October 19, 2022 Report Share Posted October 19, 2022 (edited) We just hit 3000 for the year and Mice reminded me that same time last year we only reached 2400. To be honest I have not shot half as many as normal. They just have not been showing in numbers....can't keep killing 'em I suppose. Thought I was on top at the golf course but today had a lot of activity chasing but none coming to food. Managed one foolish enough to show itself carrying an acorn it was about to bury on one of the practise greens. We still have a few walnuts on the tree in our orchard and they keep sliding in trying to nick a few. One today made that mistake... Going to put some walnuts through the mincer and then sprinkle that on the whole maize in the flip tops. May mince a few peanuts with them as well. Just on the coarse setting, so it chops them rather than turns them into meal. I am waiting for the farm to cut the silage grass as only then can I access two of my flip tops. It's a late cut due to the hot dry weather. Those two flip tops should return double figures. Keep whacking and stacking. Edited October 19, 2022 by Walker570 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted October 19, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2022 1 hour ago, Walker570 said: To be honest I have not shot half as many as normal. They just have not been showing in number I thought the same, hopefully it means there are more people out there shooting and trapping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam triple Posted October 20, 2022 Report Share Posted October 20, 2022 New feeder knocked up from off cuts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam triple Posted October 22, 2022 Report Share Posted October 22, 2022 New feeder up , first one down in months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted October 24, 2022 Report Share Posted October 24, 2022 Just a little experiment. I have never had a problem getting tree rats to discover they could lift the lid on my flip tops but sometimes I think they are reticent to go right inside my live catch cages and hit the treadle so this morning I put some peanuts through the mincer on coarse setting and then mixed in some cooking oil making a paste. Going to put a dawb of this on the treadles and see what happens. Home made peanut butter but much more granular. Report in due course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted October 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2022 Well we went for a walk in our local big park late yesterday afternoon, say 5pm - 6pm ish, I lost count of the squirrels, some big oaks and big beech, it seemed every tree had its own pair of squirrels! I've just walked to the garage about my car and three ran straight past me!! While one continues to mock me sitting up in front of the greenhouse almost challenging me to take the shot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisheruk Posted October 25, 2022 Report Share Posted October 25, 2022 They are coming back to the peanuts, this one was on the ground beneath the feeder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted October 25, 2022 Report Share Posted October 25, 2022 I am back at the golf club in the morning. There was a lot of activity and the feeders had been used ten days ago. We will see what they are up to. The ground there was thick with acorns and the one I shot was burying an acorn. Locally here in the village they have not been at all interested in the feed tables but almost all the walnuts and cobnuts have no finished. A few very small sweet chstnuts but they are going to need food soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted October 25, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2022 59 minutes ago, Fisheruk said: They are coming back to the peanuts, this one was on the ground beneath the feeder. The Acorns look like that on the ground up here! I went and topped up in the dark tonight and was amazed at the numbers of Acorns still around, I was hoping they'd be gone 😅😅 There was also something in the feeder!! In the dark by torch light, I lift the lid and hear scratching and scrabbling 😳😳 I kept the lid open but moved back, then something flew out, bat or bird I don't know 🤣🤣 Acorn on the left from my local park, from below a really big Oak, one on the right from Cumbria, and I thought they were big. Might still be a while up here before they get back on the feeders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisheruk Posted October 25, 2022 Report Share Posted October 25, 2022 5 minutes ago, Mice! said: The Acorns look like that on the ground up here! I went and topped up in the dark tonight and was amazed at the numbers of Acorns still around, I was hoping they'd be gone 😅😅 There was also something in the feeder!! In the dark by torch light, I lift the lid and hear scratching and scrabbling 😳😳 I kept the lid open but moved back, then something flew out, bat or bird I don't know 🤣🤣 Acorn on the left from my local park, from below a really big Oak, one on the right from Cumbria, and I thought they were big. Might still be a while up here before they get back on the feeders. Would it be possible for you to bring some of those Acorns back, I’d like to try my hand at growing some this year. I could pick them up at the weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted October 25, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2022 2 minutes ago, Fisheruk said: Would it be possible for you to bring some of those Acorns back, I’d like to try my hand at growing some this year. I could pick them up at the weekend. I've already got some of the smaller Cumbrian ones at home for sending to @steve_b_wales, I only picked up a few of the bigger ones from Worden, but be warned, if you go there your trigger finger will be twitching, I lost count of the squirrels 😳 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam triple Posted October 26, 2022 Report Share Posted October 26, 2022 Checked camera in my garden last night had a few visitors since Sunday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted October 29, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2022 I msgd a land owner (strip wood) to say I was going to come check the feeder, and I got the reply saying OK, and we saw a red squirrel on Monday 😳😳 I questioned if they were sure and was told two of them saw it and were sure!! I'm not convinced it will have been a red, but I'm hopeful , it would certainly be epic news, a red has been spotted around 5 or 6 miles away so I'm not sure how this one could have popped up here? I wasn't going to shoot the strip today, I went up big wood yesterday and caught sight of two greys in two hours, despite there being sweet chestnuts everywhere, but it's been quiet for months and there's been forestry work going on. The feeder at strip wood has been quiet but with news like this I had to go out. I was out at the crack of dawn, in the wood before the rooks had left and settled down in the dark to wait. Nothing showed till the decoy pheasant, then around 8:30 they arrived, squirrel came in and straight up on the feeder, Pfft Whack drop #1 Straight away the noise started. Ten minutes later another and a magpie popped up, I'd put some bread out on the log of doom last night, movement in front of the white tiger bread catches the eye well 😉 Number #2 was up on the log Pfft Whack flip! Still the noise! Problem with the brolley and nets is you can't see well with the thermal, so I could hear it but not find it? Maybe 9am and another came in but was spooked by the bodies, stayed up in a tree looking down, Pfft Whack drop #3 And still the calling, I gave it till 9:15 then came out, I could find it in the thermal, but couldn't get a shot. So 3 down, another about, not good if there's a red about, but better than it was 😉 Two big males and a young female. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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