David Chapman wrote:
Hi,

I'm looking for ideas on how to eliminate/reduce the number of grey
squirrels that frequent our garden. Fat chance, I hear you say!

These wretched scavengers go for any food that we put out to feed the
blue-tits and other small birds. They manage to steal complete fat-
balls, coconut halves and other delicacies despite my suspending these
items from tree branches using thin, greased, wires to make things more
difficult for them. It's been quite interesting trying to develop new
ideas to try and thwart them and see how innovative they can be in still
getting the bird's food, but it's now getting beyond a joke.

Has anyone in this NG found a satisfactory way to 'deter' grey
squirrels from a garden without actually using poison, electricity, or
other means of 'terminating them with extreme prejudice' ?

Are squirrel traps easy to make, and do they work? If I could catch a
few of the critters I'd take them a few miles away and release them,
hoping that they don't have such a good homing system as pigeons!

Ideas please!

TIA - Dave



David C.Chapman - )
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think you will have your work cut out trying to get rid of them by
catching them and moving them. Assuming you can catch them all next year
the ones a little further away will simply repopulate your local area.

I built a bird table recently and expected the local squirrel population
to be all over it. In fact they pretty much have left it alone. I think
the reason is because I gave it all a really good coat of exterior grade
varnish and their claws can't get a grip on it. I have spotted a couple
on there but they have jumped from the ground up to it (the table is
probably only 100 to 130 cm up). I think that is about the limit of what
they can jump vertically though as I have seen numerous squirrels fail
to make it - one of which brained itself on the edge of the table.

As for things hung on wires. I would get a large plant pot base (the
things that catch drips) and put a small hole in the middle. Tie a knot
in the wire and then thread it through the hole then hand the lot up. As
long as the flower pot base is wide though the squirrel won't be able to
reach round to grab the wire below. Of course the whole thing has to be
outside jumping range.