Strange lack of Grey Squirrels

Crotal Bell

Crotal Bell

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Like many areas, Bedford has a massive population of Grey Squirrels, and usually my Winter river walks would see plenty of them. Even on cold days, there were plenty jumping around the riverside and parks. Sometimes on a quiet day, a posing Squirrel would make an amusing shot and save the day. It occurred to me the other day that I hadn't done a Squirrel shot in months, and the reason is I have hardly seen any ??

Today I saw three or four, so maybe the mild Spring weather will see them back in numbers, but that's definitely the most Squirrel-less Winter I can remember ?
 
Crotal Bell said:
Like many areas, Bedford has a massive population of Grey Squirrels, and usually my Winter river walks would see plenty of them. Even on cold days, there were plenty jumping around the riverside and parks. Sometimes on a quiet day, a posing Squirrel would make an amusing shot and save the day. It occurred to me the other day that I hadn't done a Squirrel shot in months, and the reason is I have hardly seen any ??

Today I saw three or four, so maybe the mild Spring weather will see them back in numbers, but that's definitely the most Squirrel-less Winter I can remember ?
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Very good news, need to get rid of all of them to give the Reds a fighting chance.
 
There is a group here called "Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels".
Their aim is to eradicate the Greys and bring back Reds.
Evidence shows a fall in Grey numbers to almost zero and a steady increase in Reds in Aberdeen's parks and gardens.
There are Reds downriver from us and also upriver but very rarely do I see one in our local stretch.
Hopefully that will change in the future.
 
If greys are on the decline, it's excellent news. 20 years ago, Reds were here where we live, now it's only greys.

There is a culling scheme taking place on the nearby estate, it's been running for years and they have cut the numbers back significantly but getting them all is probably impossible.

Apparently, there are plans for a scheme to sterilse the males using immunocontraceptives in feed. How advanced these plans are and if they will ever happen, I don't know.
 
I know of one chap locally who does "control" at a couple of sites. Still plenty in the nearby woods, some of which make it into our garden to clear up under the Goldfinches.
 
Nod said:
I know of one chap locally who does "control" at a couple of sites. Still plenty in the nearby woods, some of which make it into our garden to clear up under the Goldfinches.
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In my garden, the Grey squirrels take first place for bird food. The birds mainly have to have the scraps which the squirrels create. While the squirrels ignore small birds (Blue tits etc.), they drive off larger birds. On one occasion the squirrel chased a large rook to the top of our bird feeder tree but had not noticed that another 4 rooks had meanwhile arrived on a nearby roof. All five rooks then drove the squirrel off.

Dave
 
Dave Canon said:
In my garden, the Grey squirrels take first place for bird food. The birds mainly have to have the scraps which the squirrels create. While the squirrels ignore small birds (Blue tits etc.), they drive off larger birds. On one occasion the squirrel chased a large rook to the top of our bird feeder tree but had not noticed that another 4 rooks had meanwhile arrived on a nearby roof. All five rooks then drove the squirrel off.

Dave
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I've tried a number of different feeders over the years.
I've now got two in use - one of the 'feeder in a cage' style peanut feeders which seems ok for the smaller birds, but keeps the squirrels from staling the lot, the other is a standard fat ball feeder, which the squirrels don't seem interested in
 
For a number of years now I've just mixed in a little chilli powder with my bird seed. The squirrels won't touch it, and the birds are completely unaffected by it.
 
I find that RALP** is the best method of dealing with grey squirrels.

** Rapidly Administered Lead Poisoning - applied in pellet form.
 
NickD said:
For a number of years now I've just mixed in a little chilli powder with my bird seed. The squirrels won't touch it, and the birds are completely unaffected by it.
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Some squirrels actually develop a taste for hot nuts!

We use the cage type squirrel proof feeders and after a couple of little adaptations (to make it harder for the furry f****rs to get the lid open and/or drop the feeders to the ground) they seem to keep the FFs out. Being a cheapskate, I went for THESE which are a cheaper but seemingly identical version of a recommended, branded variety.
 
I did read the slow Spead/ re population of Polecats has a massive affect on Grey population ( the Reds are much more difficult for them to hunt). When I lived in the city there were loads of Greys but since moving to the countryside they are quite rare, this was despite me always seeing the local cats chasing them around when I was in the City. Polecats are seen near me but I have no idea if the lack of greys is down to them.
 
Funnily enough, I had noticed I'm not seeing many here in south Wales either this year, I normally see them more or less every day. havent seen one for weeks now.
 
We took the camper van to Rothiemurchus in the Cairngorms NP recently.
I was surprised by the lack of Reds in the area as it is usually a hotspot for them.
I got talking to a Park Ranger who told me and showed me photos, that the Wildcat population has increased dramatically and they are predating the Reds at an alarming rate.
Not sure how I feel about that :thinking:
 
I think it's all about personal circumstances and perception. There are quite a few in my garden, they cause me no harm, I like watching them and would do nothing to hurt them.
But, several years ago, we had a huge colony of them living on our land and they caused massive damage, chewing through the 1000 ltr plastic containers in which we stored our animal food, one started living in our loft, used to come down at night and eat our food and generally make a terrible mess, they were a complete nightmare. I used to sit in the lounge at night with an air rifle but it never appeared. That one eventually made the fatal mistake of jumping from the eaves to a nearby tree whilst I was walking by with a shotgun:)

I wasn't there much, but my son used to walk around with his Border Wallie, she caught quite a lot on the ground. He had a system, as soon as she started a squirrel he would close his gun, bring it up and, if it got away from her and started to run up a tree trunk the dog would be safe from the shot that followed.

Over time, we got the lot and we've now been grey-free for over 10 years.

Going back to my current situation, I have a bird feeder and it's great to watch the ingenuity and athleticism of the greys as they find ways of getting at the bird food. I also have crows, on the farm they're a menace that have to be controlled, here they're no bother at all, in fact any wasted food leftovers are simply thrown onto the grass, either the crows or the squirrels will eat whatever the other birds don't eat
 
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