squirrel control

[Mice!]

30 minutes ago, Fisheruk said:

Is that 1.26kg?

just realised I read the scales upside down. Even so 921grms is the biggest I’ve ever seen 

When I got the msg I said are you sure?? Then he sent the pictures through, simply huge.

13 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

I've seen a few that had large..fat bodies but still the feet and legs where normal size but that was is big all over.  I always say I'm glad they don't grow as big as labradors but could this be a genetic move in that direction????

I want to know what she's been eating,  there obviously hasn't been many acorns around,  there were pine cones around which they completely stripped and I haven't put out much feed there this year, I've only shot 15 there now, 25 last year.

[Fisheruk]

1 minute ago, Mice! said:

When I got the msg I said are you sure?? Then he sent the pictures through, simply huge.

I want to know what she's been eating,  there obviously hasn't been many acorns around,  there were pine cones around which they completely stripped and I haven't put out much feed there this year, I've only shot 15 there now, 25 last year.

If you keep on force feeding them like that you’ll have the animal rights groups after you for animal cruelty 🤣

[Mice!]

34 minutes ago, Fisheruk said:

If you keep on force feeding them like that you’ll have the animal rights groups after you for animal cruelty 🤣

If I was going to eat a squirrel that would have been the one to try.

[sam triple]

8 hours ago, Mice! said:

I'm gobsmacked mate.

This squirrel has just tipped the scales at over 2lb, smaller one was 480 😳😳 I think she's been eating battered Mars bars. 

What a fat Ar@e , good shot , not that you could really miss that one 😂

[old man]

19 hours ago, Walker570 said:

Had a seriously cheeky one today.  I slipped into an IBC hide I have covering a flip top on THE pear tree, I have shot a lot of tree rats off this tree.  I had only just settled in the chair when one appeared and without stopping lifted the lid and jumped inside only the tip of it's tail sticking out.  A minute or more the lid lifted and out stepped Mr Tree Rat and I expected him to sit up and nibble what he had collected. No suc thing, , quick swerve round the side and up the tree it went with cheeks bulging.  The cheeky ###### was nicking the feed and tacking up to a stash..  I do believe that one was the second I shot out of the five this afternoon as it's attitude was the same, but as oon as it turned to lift the lid it had a very sharp pain in the mid chest region and fell fell off the shelf.  the other four that came got the same because I didn't want the,m sneaking off with the spoils.   That's eight in two days which now puts me on 6.9 or thereabouts perweek close to the one a day I was aiming for this year.  Need two or three weeks like this so it is still possible.

Excellent sir. 👍

[Walker570]

Well got into another hide just 200 yrds from yesterday same woodside and shot four more this morning. Then took the dead ones down to a spot I leave them for the night crew and another ran up off the flip top I shot five on yesterday. More work to be done there then.  Thats 12 in three days...well two and a half days as I still have the afternoon in our wood.

That almost puts me on my one a day pledge for the year so far.

These where also VERY fat and heavy. Only three there the fourth bounced into a wet nettle strewn ditch which will be a brave retrieve even for the night crew.  The good old AA S200 still whacking and stacking

[sam triple]

2 hours ago, Walker570 said:

Well got into another hide just 200 yrds from yesterday same woodside and shot four more this morning. Then took the dead ones down to a spot I leave them for the night crew and another ran up off the flip top I shot five on yesterday. More work to be done there then.  Thats 12 in three days...well two and a half days as I still have the afternoon in our wood.

That almost puts me on my one a day pledge for the year so far.

These where also VERY fat and heavy. Only three there the fourth bounced into a wet nettle strewn ditch which will be a brave retrieve even for the night crew.  The good old AA S200 still whacking and stacking

👍👍

Mate just text me again , he’s putting a bucket a day into the feeders and fed up with it so come Sunday when my isolation is over he’s coming out shooting them with Me , could be having a little wager on this 

[Mice!]

8 hours ago, Walker570 said:

Thats 12 in three days...well two and a half days as I still have the afternoon in our wood

Few busy days there, I'm definitely not seeing those sort of numbers, i tried really hard to blank today but managed a single!

It fell out of the Yew tree and landed down there!

Landed there 

With food still in her mouth.

But then I had to get back up!! It doesn't seem too steep looking at this 😳😳

I would have left it, and will next time but it was pretty exposed where it landed and I didn't want a dog walker finding it. There was a second in the Yew tree but it made a sharp exit, otherwise not many about this morning. 

Semi tame pheasants that don't move very far when your fiddling and filling the feeders!! i could do with sending someone a food bill, or a Sunday roast.

6 hours ago, sam triple said:

👍👍

Mate just text me again , he’s putting a bucket a day into the feeders and fed up with it so come Sunday when my isolation is over he’s coming out shooting them with Me , could be having a little wager on this 

The first, the most, the biggest 😁

[Mice!]

Different day same wood Different result. 

Lovely frosty morning,  two off the feeder, one that happened to turn up while I was leaning against an oak bird watching, just saw the flick of a tail as I was about to move away. 

and a forth that was seemingly watching me watch its mates, I'd found a cracking spot for a feeder and was doing a 360° when I noticed a squirrel shaped lump on a bough, that just sat there , two young males and two big females. 

Also got that, something is watching me feeling,  looked left and a big dog fox was just stood 40mtr away,  he just turned and slowly wandered off.

That's 80 now from this wood, 15 this month and I've hardly been rained on, I'm amazed at that 😁

[sam triple]

8 hours ago, Mice! said:

Different day same wood Different result. 

Lovely frosty morning,  two off the feeder, one that happened to turn up while I was leaning against an oak bird watching, just saw the flick of a tail as I was about to move away. 

and a forth that was seemingly watching me watch its mates, I'd found a cracking spot for a feeder and was doing a 360° when I noticed a squirrel shaped lump on a bough, that just sat there , two young males and two big females. 

Also got that, something is watching me feeling,  looked left and a big dog fox was just stood 40mtr away,  he just turned and slowly wandered off.

That's 80 now from this wood, 15 this month and I've hardly been rained on, I'm amazed at that 😁

That’s some going , I’ve got a way to go yet on that tally , mrs said yesterday “ I haven’t seen any squirrels in the garden for a while” 🤔

[Sciurus]

Some very interesting and great reading here -well done!

I am still having a few blank days, unfortunately (a lot to do with higher than average holidaymakers for the time of year- they should stay in bed!) but like everyone else, those that are shot or trapped are big beggars! 

There is very little sweet chestnut around me and a poor acorn and Beech harvest. There is a lot of yew however and I think they are busy on the berries. On Wednesday, I watched a grey digging up buried hazelnuts, so perhaps fresh food is running out?

Another pal, shot a grey eating hawthorn berries in his hedge.

Tuesday, I shot 3, one in a spindly oak, one in a leylandii and the third in a yew. The one in the yew probably took half an hour until I could see it, well enough to get a shot. I finished the day with one in a trap. 3 large males (no plums) and one large female.

The highlight of the week was to see a grey swimming, I knew they could but had never seen it. I was out on Windermere in my rib when I saw what looked like a thin stick, 2 ft long move across the surface of the water, with absolutely no wake. Getting closer, I could see it was a grey, with half its head above water and it’s body and tail floating behind. Getting closer still, I could see it’s paws doggy paddling beneath. 

It landed on the nearest tip of Belle Isle and just ran off into the undergrowth, it was hardly wet at all. I think it had come from a campsite on the shore and swam about 150 yards or so to Belle Isle. 

Belle Isle is privately owned with a large house and a large mixed wood with some exotic trees. I wonder if it was attracted by the trees or perhaps a mating call?

 

[Mice!]

1 hour ago, Sciurus said:

The highlight of the week was to see a grey swimming, I knew they could but had never seen it. I was out on Windermere in my rib when I saw what looked like a thin stick, 2 ft long move across the surface of the water, with absolutely no wake. Getting closer, I could see it was a grey, with half its head above water and it’s body and tail floating behind. Getting closer still, I could see it’s paws doggy paddling beneath. 

It landed on the nearest tip of Belle Isle and just ran off into the undergrowth, it was hardly wet at all. I think it had come from a campsite on the shore and swam about 150 yards or so to Belle Isle. 

Belle Isle is privately owned with a large house and a large mixed wood with some exotic trees. I wonder if it was attracted by the trees or perhaps a mating call?

There was a video of this on the Menai Strait, there must have been a good reason for a squirrel to be heading across the water.

6 hours ago, sam triple said:

That’s some going , I’ve got a way to go yet on that tally , mrs said yesterday “ I haven’t seen any squirrels in the garden for a while” 🤔

Cheers mate, it's just adding up being out a lot and getting into different areas of the wood.

I've had a report of a squirrel in the garden this week, it's in for a rough weekend,  although it's forecast 70mph winds up here!

[Walker570]

Video on youtube of squirrels being propelled into a lake with a large catapult. They can swim no problem.

Pouring with rain here but still had one in a live catch on a new table position. Amazing I moved the position of this table/catch cage across the ride only about 10yrds at most. Very rarely attracted anyhting in the old spot but already had three tree rats in this new position and three jays. Littel song birds love it as well as the pheasants.  Bit of sunlight I suppose but does show how just moving a feeder a few yards can make such a difference.

[Longbower]

1 today in the woods on the peanut feeder tree. 

Extremely windy , but the JSB 14.3 found its mark.

[sam triple]

Turned up this pm with my mate who works the farm slow start he’d had one and I’d had 2 when , his boss rang “ hare corsers on the field” , so any further progress was cut short by having to deal with these low life scumbags , 55 for me now 

[harrycatcat1]

I went into the wood today to retrieve a trail cam that I had looking at "feeder station 1" (posh name) . The reason I wanted to see what was using the feeders.

I have looked at the images and video recordings over three days and there were 1067. At the feeders were blue tits, Robins, sparrows, Jay's and squirrels. At one stage there was a Robin on one feeder and a squirrel on the other. I have taken some pictures off my phone from my laptop,  which are not the best but you should get the gist. I will add them shortly as I've got to reduce them.

 

[Rimfireboy]

Nuthatches will take loads of peanuts. They take them and hide them for winter. A nuthatch was taking on average, three peanuts per minute from one of my feeders. That’s 180 per hour! It was doing that all day.

[Mice!]

3 hours ago, Rimfireboy said:

Nuthatches will take loads of peanuts. They take them and hide them for winter. A nuthatch was taking on average, three peanuts per minute from one of my feeders. That’s 180 per hour! It was doing that all day.

And it won't be just one nuthatch,  I often have 3 or 4 on the tree waiting to zip in, fun to watch but that's why peanuts need to go in a flip top, I don't mind feeding the birds but it can get expensive. 

[Walker570]

Yes, I watched a nuthatch one morning collect a peanut flip acros the the old oak tree 10ft away and steadily work its way up the bark finind suitable slots to push the nut into before returning for another. Clever litle bird and a joy to watch.  Yes I spend around £50 a month on feed but it is the best entertainment on this earth.  Whats that these days about three pints of beer a week or five or six packs of fags.

[Martlandhw100]

I went to check a feeder I put on on Friday at a new permission today and more than half to feeder had gone. So will be shooting this some point soon hoping for good results 👍

[ratchers]

After a week laid up with a bad cold, I went out to the sydicate wood today to check and top up the feeders.

Well what a sight, I heard on the news there was a few trees down due to the storm we had and this wood had not escaped, plenty down and big un's, all laying the opposite way to the prevailing wind, its something I noticed when the wind was blowing that it was coming from 180 degrees from normal, wonder its thats why there was so much damage.

The wheat feeder was empty and the dregs in the bottom were soaked so cleaned it out and topped it up, the flip top peanut feeder further on in the wood was also empty.

Whilst doing this I disturbed a squirrel from a pheasant feeder so watched it run off, sadly no gun today, decided to follow it which led to another pheasant feeder where there was another grey helping its self, back soon I think.

[Mice!]

3 hours ago, ratchers said:

something I noticed when the wind was blowing that it was coming from 180 degrees from normal, wonder its thats why there was so much damage

That's an interesting observation 🤔 

I went out this afternoon,  vandalised one feeder to let the feed flow a bit more, but taking the metal strip off seems to have got the squirrels using it now?

Then put up another small feeder in the spot I found last week, 1.6kg of black sunflower seeds should get the squirrels attention. 

I didn't notice much damage in the wood, but there could be further up or around the hill.

[ratchers]

Just got a text from an old permission with the news they have two greys digging their lawn up,please come and get rid....on my way.

[Mice!]

25 minutes ago, ratchers said:

Just got a text from an old permission with the news they have two greys digging their lawn up,please come and get rid....on my way.

Crack on, wet and wild here, not a day for the air rifle. 

[Fisheruk]

3 hours ago, Mice! said:

Crack on, wet and wild here, not a day for the air rifle. 

Yes,,it was wild this morning but thee females ventured out, never to return. 42gr of Winchester subs wasn’t bothered by the wind. They always hit hard. I didn’t weigh or photograph them this morning because it was pelting down with rain.