Never mind mice, what do you do about squirrels?

In the garden of our last house, we had a large and prolific hazelnut tree. The local squirrels would strip it before any of the nuts were ripe. I spent several years raging at them and trying various deterrents, in the end I was glad to move away. I love animals but grey squirrels are rats with fluffy tails who destroy trees, other produce and damage property. I'm on the side of the exterminators! Humane of course.

After living with them for 51 years, loads run around my garden as we have a number of trees, been trying to fill the holes in the lawn when they bury their nuts. Never tried to get rid of them though, be a different matter if they got in the house that would be a nightmare.

Don’t talk to me about squirrels!It cost us £0000
to get rid of a family of 7 from our roof space. Dratted things were chewing through everything .
Yes they are beautifully comical at a distance, but not so cute when they are thundering around your attic!
We tried everything, but it took two builders two days to clear them out then repair the roof.

Yesterday DH saw a squirrel in our poly tunnel and when I went to pick some strawberries there wasn't a single one left ( there were masses ripening the day before). I suspect that squirrel! We have to leave the door open as it gets so hot. On the subject of badgers, my friend had to pull out of the village open gardens as they had dug up her lawn so badly.

Sorry kitty.
I’m sitting here at the moment watching a squirrel in one of our trees.
Only a little tree. Maybe I should cut it down. There are lots of trees for them to climb only 100yards away so maybe that’s the solution.
Elothan, of course it was a generalisation. There are lots of people in the country that object to killing animals, even horrible vermin.
I suppose what I was should have said is that everyone I speak to about this problem seems to have the same opinion and we all live in the country.
That doesn’t mean to say that they support cruel sports like fox hunting. As Jalima said- so many species have been introduced to our country that wreck havoc with our own wildlife. My husband shoots deer in a nearby forest,under very strict guidelines to control the deer population.
Around here you can hardly move without seeing a muntjac, a few years ago they were difficult to spot. Not any more.

Badgers in Norfolk were very rare and I have still never seen a live one outside the local wildlife park, but often see them dead on the side of the road nowadays. Along with muntjac deer (occasionally a roe), they’re outnumbering the usual slaughter of newly released pheasant.

There’s a move afoot to introduce lynx to Thetford forest (not popular with the local free range pig farmers) to control the deer. I wonder if they can catch badger and squirrel.

Unfortunately, I ran over a squirrel yesterday, tried to avoid it, but it dithered and then chose to go in the wrong direction

BTW, some particular posts on this thread have been, IMO very rude, but at least they seem to have followed their own "orders".

Yes, we have noticed a lot more badgers dead on the roadside; it's very strange because I don't think they have all been killed on the roads all of a sudden.
I would have thought that hedgehogs would make a rather prickly meal even for a badger.

Grey squirrels carry a virus to which they are immune but kills red squirrels

With the other animals, it rather depends on where they are and what they are doing. Badgers were once rare and elusive animals but their numbers have increased by 90% since the 1980s. This rapid increase has led to them changing their foraging habits and interacting with farmed animals far more, where it is believed they are passing TB onto dairy cattle, not everyone thinks this is so and with a burgeoning population culling simply creates a temporary empty space that is soon recolonised. Part of the decline in hedgehog numbers has been attributed to badgers, who predate them when other preferred food sources are scarce, an obvious possibility at the rate the badger population is growing.

I had never seen a badger until very recently, but now see them dead on the verges almost each time I go out, but this road cull doesn't seem to reduce the population, at best it stops it growing too much.

The population of the UK has increased from 46 million in 1940 to 61 million now and, like the badgers, this growth is causing damage. perhaps we should find a humane way to cull the human population.

Stansgran... that's just nasty

If DH shoots the squirrels a friend skins and cooks them. No waste.

Grey squirrels were regarded as vermin because they are not a native species and have been the cause of the near extinction of our native red squirrel. They have also caused much damage to woodland.

Often when man interferes with nature and introduces a species which is not native to a country for whatever reason, it causes an imbalance of nature eg grey squirrels, the cane toad and also rabbits to Australia and also species of plant introduced to this country such as Himalayan Balsam, Giant Hogweed and Japanese Knotweed.

It's 'be kind to a mouse week' kittylester

Every time I read the heading of this thread I get offended. I'll have you know my mouse (still on the loose!) was very traumatic.

There are so many animals to hate now aren't there. Squirrels, pigeons, foxes, rabbits, badgers, seagulls, etc., etc. All have been described at some time and by some people as "a nuisance" "vermin", etc., and yet none of them is anywhere near as destructive to the earth and to each other as human beings.

As to countryside folk, I think it is a generalisation to imply that they are more "pragmatic" than town folk. With fox hunting, for instance, there are many people living in rural areas who despise it, were glad it was made illegal and were unhappy when Theresa May considered lifting the ban.

In a recent article in the Guardian Ian Birrell referred to a new book re the de-naturing of the countryside and said:

"why do Britons seem to adore their countryside, with landscape woven into national identity and huge membership of conservation bodies such as the National Trust and RSPB, yet have ended up living in one of the planet’s most denatured countries? He highlights the terrible scale of habitat loss – half the ancient woodland gone over course of my lifetime, along with nearly three-quarters of heathland and ponds, plus almost all flower-rich meadows. The inevitable result is plunging wildlife populations from bugs to birds.""

I do understand why people would want to take measures to, for instance, keep squirrels out of the roof space. I'm sure I would feel the same. I would not feel comfortable about about a squirrel being captured and killed but I suppose if that was the only way to get assistance I would to agree to it. Having removed them I would do what Humbertbear said - take measures to stop them gaining access in the future. I would not wish to destroy every squirrel that entered my garden. And why are grey squirrels "vermin" yet red squirrels are seen in a much more sympathetic light?

We had squirrels in our loft and they caused mayhem. We had chicken wire put up all round the house, under the eaves, to prevent further incursions. Please remember they are just rats with bushy tails.

Now I’m going to prepare myself for the hate, I do hope Lynne isn’t lurking.
As Hilda mentioned earlier, if you catch a squirrel in a trap, you either have to shoot it or take it to be euthanised. I have been asking lots of people round and about what they do.
May I point out that we live in a country environment and us ‘country folk’ whilst not being totally addicted to killing animals do have a more pragmatic approach to it than a lot of other people. I’ve never killed an animal in my life but am perfectly happy to eat a pheasant.
So we have decided that a quick shot is probably the quickest and “kindest” way to deal with our problem.
I do apologise to all you animal lovers on here.
Don’t know if I’ll be brave enough to check this thread again.

We’re in a pretty built up area but we’ve had rabbits move into the garden from the old railway line (now a footpath) a quarter of a mile away. Strangely, despite lettuces freely available, they only ate the grass. Grand dog came to stay for a few days and they moved on.

We have visiting squirrels from a large garden, also some distance away. They come when the walnuts are ready and bury them all over the garden. The rooks sit and watch and dig them up!

Sorry Alexa, I wasn't responding to your posts. It was Lynne's posts which I thought were "snippy".

We have squirrels in our garden too and they actually chewed through some connections to gas bottles we have that stand outside and go through the wall to our fire. As long as they stay at the top of the garden that's fine, but if they come to near the house they get chased away. Don't start me on the rabbits that eat nearly everything I put in the garden.

although, when it comes to grey squirrels, I enjoy watching the two we have here but I would not be too upset if they disappeared - provided it meant the return of the red squirrels.

Eloethan, I did not feel snippy at all. What I tend to do is broaden discussions towards an ethical issue. I now realise that lack of narrow focus can be irritating and will bear it in mind. I too dislike being preached at.

However I don't think I ever want to not consider animal welfare, and from what I read from grans generally, most grans are concerned about animal welfare.

Pamela hasn't suggested killing the squirrels. I think she just wanted some input as to how to discourage their presence in the garden. I don't think there was any need to get so snippy about her request for advice.

I don't think I would ever want a squirrel to be harmed but I can quite understand why people would be distressed and would want something done if squirrels got into the roof space. I'm not quite sure how squirrels gain access but presumably the area could be secured so they can't get in.

My husband gets annoyed when they dig up bulbs he has planted and generally root around the garden causing havoc - but he would never harm them.

I think at the conclusion of a post to type END OF DISCUSSION, end of, or any variant of that sentiment is rude and presumptuous.

Please when you get someone in to remove squirrel nest from your loft, make sure that the animals will be properly euthanised and not sold on to bad boys.

I'm not sure how you do this short of taking them to the vet yourself.

She cares more for animals than people but works in the care system, I hope the powers that be are checking her out, she certainly wouldn't get through my front door.