Squirrel in a bin – Clitheroe Castle
Today provided a lesson in squirrel ingenuity as it dangled by its back feet to gorge on sunflower hearts. It is, as you have to remind yourself, all part of life’s rich pageant. I don’t actually mind feeding squirrels in moderation, but I do mind that they will spend the spring trying to break into nests and take the eggs and chicks.
I’m thinking that a little strategically placed chilli might make it move on to a neighbouring garden. This will allow nature to carry on, but save me money and allow the birds unrestricted access to the feeders.
The pigeon spent some time on the floor picking up spilled seed – one of things the squirrel is good at – there’s a constant fall of seed as it eats from the feeder. It was interesting to see, as we have a floor feeding station located near the feeder, which it seemed to ignore. Eventually it realised the feeder was there and cleared it. We don’t put much out on the ground so we don’t encourage rats, so it was good to see it cleared. The other birds I think of as ground feeders (robins, dunnocks and blackbirds) are either trying their luck on the hanging feeders or picking up from the spillage. Something else to consider.
Grey Squirrel
My sister is coming round for New Year and I am thinking of ideas for snacks. The subject of cheese and pineapple came up. Then pineapple on pizza. I’ve never understood why people get so worked up about pineapple on pizza. It’s not like pizza hasn’t already been made to suffer a vast number of indignities. I like it. I also think anything that gets more fruit and more variety in the average diet is a good thing.
So I ordered pineapple on the weekly shopping. I also ordered cocktail sticks and a block of moderately priced cheese. The cocktail sticks, I was told, were unavailable. Then the cheese became unavailable. I was able to reorder slightly different ones. They became unavailable. I currently have kebab skewers coming and will use cheese I already have. What was going to the that childhood favourite – cheese and pineapple on sticks – has become cheese and pineapple kebabs. I assume that New Year is a busy time for purveyors of cocktail sticks.
Squirrel at Rufford
In fiction they have all sorts of food problems, including cannibalism, but you very rarely seem to see a plot that hinges on the availability of cocktail sticks.
Time to go now. I may be busy tomorrow, so Happy New Year to you all.
The squirrel in the bin – Clitheroe
We still have red squirrels here but grey ones are becoming more common so we may not have the reds for much longer.
I feel your pain in the matter of the cocktail stick drought. I have some surplus if you want to pop up and get them.
While we were out Julia managed to source a pack of 300 from a small TESCO branch. I used 11. It’s a very kind offer but I think this lot will probably still be in use by the time of my my wake.
Let us know if you find an effective squirrel deterrent – then we might have some tulips
Put wire mesh over them until the first shoots appear.
Grate scented soap over the area you want to protect.
Chilli powder and Vaseline (I promise you this is serious). I’m told the squirrels will lick their fur to get the grease off and will hate the chilli. Will be trying this later in the week. Easy to smear on a bird feeder but harder to protect bulbs. 🙂
I have tried the first two and they work. The third is something I just found as part of my bird feeding project. Was wondering how to apply the chilli when up cropped the vaseline idea.
Are your squirrels native or invasive. We have so many native animals and birds that have been destroyed by imported dogs, cats and foxes that make me very wary of non native animals.
Invasive – introduced from North America. They are bigger than our native red squirrels and carry squirrel pox, which is fatal to reds. We have had trouble with introduced species too – but nothing like the trouble you have had.
A few years back I was in Jersey Channel Islands and saw quite a few red squirrels – usually disappearing around the other side of the tree they were on.
I haven’t seen a red one for 50 yers – they are nearly all on islands these days, with a few in isolated woodlands.
Happy New Year to you and Julia, Simon!
I don’t see many squirrels in my immediate area on the farm, too many predators. We do have plenty of them in Oregon though, including ground squirrels.
https://myodfw.com/wildlife-viewing/species/squirrels-chipmunks-and-marmots
Many years ago, I accidentally hit one coming home from work. I went back to move him out of the road, and found he was still alive and twitching. I got a box out of the car and put him in it, and called the vet when I got in. My vet was not a licensed wildlife vet, but could euthanize the squirrel if he was in need of it. I brought the squirrel on down. By the time we got there, the squirrel was recovering and getting very squirrely. It was obvious he had something wrong with his leg though, and I was given the contact information for the Wildlife Center where there was a vet in attendance. I drove the hour over there, and turned him in for care. I was later notified he had a fractured front leg, and could be rehabilitated with care. A month later they called and asked me to pick him up (he was identified as a male California ground squirrel) and turn him loose as close as possible to where he was when I hit him. I knew the farmer there, and was given permission to let him go in a back pasture, away from the barn. I did so and he took off. I named him Barney, for the famous Barney and Betty Hill UFO abduction. The squirrel’s UFO abduction story? This little fellow was minding his own business crossing a street. A giant UFO (my car) knocks him flat, scoops him up and carries him off to another world (the clinic) where “procedures” are done (they fix his leg), and then a month later he is unceremoniously dumped off by the same UFO in a field not far from his home. He arrives back at the burrow to tell his wife the story of where he has been all this time, and of course she believes none of it. 🙂
He was, in many ways, a lucky squirrel. Not many people would have done that much for him. Grey squirrels are an invasive species in Europe and it is illegal to release them into the wild after accidents or trapping.
They are bigger than our native Red Squirrels and carry squirrel pox, which is fatal to the Reds.
I am jealous of the wide variety of squirrels you have – we only have the two.