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  1. #1
    harvey_s's Avatar
    harvey_s is offline Lost love child of David Niven and Victoria Beckham
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    Squirrels... a question

    These are genuine questions....

    This month in Airgun Shooter magazine is a sizable article about back garden squirrel shooting.
    Now I'll be honest from the start - I like the little critters and beyond the danger they represent to the red squirrel - I don't understand the problem they create that requires their eradication and particularly to someones backyard.
    Can someone explain what the issue is or are people just looking to shoot anything?

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    Unframed Dave's Avatar
    Unframed Dave is offline World pork pie juggling champion three years straight
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    They do a shed load of damage to young trees, you wouldn't want one in your loft chewing your electrics, quite tasty.

    There's a start, but while they stay out my loft, they're safe in my garden.

    Dave
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    they take young birds and eggs. atb mick

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    harvey_s is offline Lost love child of David Niven and Victoria Beckham
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    Quote Originally Posted by mdunn View Post
    they take young birds and eggs. atb mick
    Presumably in a back garden cats provide a bigger risk to the birds don't they?

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    Quote Originally Posted by harvey_s View Post
    Presumably in a back garden cats provide a bigger risk to the birds don't they?
    Squirrels will often take eggs and chicks, cats are just as bad(we have one but luckily it prefers mice and a few voles), and Magpies are the other issue and threat to eggs and chicks. This year around our garden and buildings we have had Great tits nesting, Blue tits, Goldfinch, pied wagtail, a thrush, a wren, Whitethroat, Blackbird, pheasant, and a Robin, that I know of.

    Squirrels Rabbits and Magpies are the only things I shoot nowadays, but only to protect the large number of nests on our place, I am lucky enough to have a little bit of land and the trees I have planted(about400) are being targeted by rabbits sometimes, squirrels on the more established trees, although the Deer have nobbled four 2 year old 4 foot birch saplings in the last week.

    I like to see a few squirrels but they are a nuisance, and I usually wait till there are more than a couple. The foxes like them as a food supplement.
    Last edited by DEAN C.; 11-06-2020 at 10:06 PM.
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    One of the invasive species on natural England website that needs eradicating.
    ,AA , Magtech , Arnie, Sako, Ruger . plus the others .

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    harvey_s's Avatar
    harvey_s is offline Lost love child of David Niven and Victoria Beckham
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    Presumably they don't normally move into peoples houses do they?
    And I'm guessing most people don't have too many young trees in their gardens either.
    But even then they seem to populate many woods without detriment to where they live...

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    Unframed Dave's Avatar
    Unframed Dave is offline World pork pie juggling champion three years straight
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    They do massive amounts of woodland damage.

    Dave
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    Quote Originally Posted by harvey_s View Post
    Presumably they don't normally move into peoples houses do they?
    And I'm guessing most people don't have too many young trees in their gardens either.
    But even then they seem to populate many woods without detriment to where they live...
    About 20 years ago they wreaked havoc in my grandmothers bungalow roof, damaging most of the wiring, and they had started living in an old cottage roof I have just knocked down where I have just built my new house. I picked four off on the roof as they were coming in. If you look closer to the trees around you will start to notice bare branches all over, that is grey squirrel damage. My uncle is a woodland Ranger and very ecological and he advocates eliminating them too. Its a shame as they are lovely to watch.
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    Quote Originally Posted by harvey_s View Post
    Presumably they don't normally move into peoples houses do they?
    And I'm guessing most people don't have too many young trees in their gardens either.
    But even then they seem to populate many woods without detriment to where they live...
    Any potted plant is fair game for them. They also seem to love chewing on the woodwork of the house. They also love the wiring under the cars bonnet and will find any way possible to get in the attic. As long as they stay out in the trees and don't start running all over the roof, I'm ok with them. Oh yeah,they are also very fond of lead flashing on the roof. I've replaced more lead vent pipe flashings than I can remember.

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    I have just dug up my strawberry's because the greys were eating ALL of them before even letting them ripen.
    They also like the gooseberry's and are probably about to start on them any day now.
    They are little schitts.

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    Barryg is offline Registered ̶D̶i̶a̶n̶a̶ User
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    Just learn to live with them we have a nice garden and we get foxes, badgers, moles, squirrel ect. But the biggest problem is cats.

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    There is no doubt that some people suffer from grey squirrel damage and I can appreciate that these people want the squirrels gone. So be it, I have no objections with that.
    In the garden at our home we have a healthy wild bird population as well as a family (?) of greys. The greys used to live in a large tree at the side of the road but the new neighbours had the tree removed so the squirrels decamped to a large apple tree in their back garden. We enjoy watching them. There seems to be four of them, one with virtually no tail that we refer to as 'Stumpy'. There is a very large ash tree on the border between us and next door .. the squirrels play on it. They also play in our garden and can be most amusing. Yes, they are a pain at times.. planting walnuts all over the place, digging occasional holes in the lawn but generally we co-exist quite happily. They take food from the bird feeders but so do other so termed pests ... magpies, pigeons etc. We like to think that by eating the food provided for them they will not need to go egg hunting.
    Rats are another matter; they are eliminated whenever the opportunity arises.
    Cheers, Phil

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    A friend of mine purchased a small wood of about 8 acres a couple of years ago and noticed a few squirrels.
    He also noticed how quiet the woods were with hardly any birds and nests and this was June.
    An English mixed tree woodland should be alive with life so he asked me if I could reduce the squirrel population and see if this would help!
    Well after 18 months the difference is incredible .
    His wood is surrounded on 3 sides by larger woods but in 2 years I have taken nearly 300 squirrels
    The once silent wood is now alive with song and every nest box he has put up is being used.
    We have some bird feeders up at a favoured site and have ticked off over 25 species of bird from that spot alone.
    I still spot the occasional squirrel but they are now a rare species in my wood. JOB DONE.

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