My mum bought the Ho hum family one of these seed, peanut and fat balls bird feeder a few years ago.

I like seeing the wee birds in the garden and so do my children.

However, it has been spoilt this year by an influx of big birds (think crows, ravens, magpies) and now bloody grey squirrels!

When they are around the wee birds just sit in the background looking longingly at the food while they scoff themselves.

I have tried shooing them away and throwing stones at them (I am not a good shot though) without any joy.

Today, mother grey squirrel brought her two young ones along to join in the easy feast!

Any thoughts on how to get rid of them? An air rifle is not an option…

If you can, buy/make a bird table with a wire mesh cage around it…..With the wire mesh just wide enough to let the small/songbirds in to get the grub….. Works here 🙂

think crows, ravens, magpies

Ravens ? 😯

You sure they’re eating seeds and peanuts ? 😕

An air rifle is not an option

shotgun, less important about the aim then too. You can get the whole lot in a shot.

We had problems with huge ugly pigeons; we now have a feeder that is like a tray suspended from an upside down hanging basket on the ground, which small birds can get to but larger animals can’t, and another feeder that hangs from something with a cover above it to keep the rain off, larger birds out and any climbing creatures like squirrels from dropping onto it. They do the trick nicely; the pigeons sit and watch from the rooftops but can’t get at the grub.

mk4 fenn traps under cover (cut open holes bucket weighted down with a brick)

initally bait with peanut butter and peanuts pressed into it (on the square plate) leave it unset for a few days uncovered and unset peg it down with a tent peg

once you see them feeding from it cover it with the bucket so they start feeding again once they work out how to get in….

then rebait again and cover the opening with a bit of carrier bag taped over it they soon learn to shred the bag to get in……

once they get cocky set the treddle and leave the catch on. for a few more days so it goes click when they touch the treddle

when they get used to that remove the safety catch and bingo one dead tree rat….

(keep it covered as above so you don’t accidently catch a cat or bird)

the fenn trap is legal in the UK to control vermin..

Can’t say I’ve tried this myself, but putting chilli into the bird food deters the squirrels. Birds can’t taste it, but the furry little critters can and they really don’t like it 😈

Ravens are unlikely, probably Jackdaws or possibly Carrion Crows. My folks live with me, and love having the birds on our feeders. There’s quite a flock of Goldfinches now, with some Greenfinches, Robins, Blackbirds, etc. We also have a birdtable with biscuits on and a small number of Starlings come to it. For some reason my mum has an irrational dislike of them and keeps wanting to shoo them off! Fortunately tree rats, Magpies and crows aren’t visitors, and I’ve only ever seen one Sparrowhawk. We do get Buzzards soaring overhead from time to time, though…

These work against our local squirrels:

Only thing I’ve tried that does. You absolutely need to make sure it’s at least 5 feet away from anything a squirrel could jump off of though.

when they get used to that remove the safety catch and bingo one dead tree rat….

Why needlessly kill a wild animal? We Humans **** their environment up enough as it is, and you want to kill them without good reason? 😯

If you can, buy/make a bird table with a wire mesh cage around it…..With the wire mesh just wide enough to let the small/songbirds in to get the grub….. Works here

Why not just do that?

An air rifle is not an option…

As mentioned shotgun will give you wider spread if your aim is not good enough to use an air rifle. Failing that other munitions should work, c4 sleeve round the tree and remote detonator, you can sit safely inside with the kids and some night vision goggles and take them suckers out. Maybe coincide with the upcoming fireworks night celebrations.

Why not shoot them? Our wildlife habitat is under enough pressure already without these alien vermin. Shoot ’em and eat ’em (they’re very tasty).
No choice of catching them alive because under law you’re not allowed to set them free somewhere else. Wood pigeon are also good eating, not the town and city variety though.

I enjoy watching the squirrels, got a couple of black ones now which are even feistier than the greys
Starlings are very amusing to watch too, very sad wanting to kill living things, makes me proud to be part of the human race

No harm in having a few greytreerats around.

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/8456675.Furry_vandal_drives_police_nuts/
“A spokesman for the RSPCA said: “Squirrels do have a tendency to chew through wires of all sorts.

“It is important however that members of the public do not try to catch the squirrels and take the law into their own hands. Squirrels may well bite if cornered which may result in a hospital visit or at least a tetanus jab.” ”

Squirrel-proof feeders work fine fere.

what exactly do you have against larger birds? racist!!

as for the tree rats just secure the perimeter with feather response anti personnel mines

Mate of mine had this problem a little while ago. There was a thread on here about it a couple of months back also.

I think the general consensus is “you can’t,” squirrels are resourceful little buggers.

We had the same problem with squirrels and the local rooks eating the food we were putting out for the birds.

Bought a couple of these:

Choice Sanctuary Range (MP7-9)3/4 of the way down the page.

Not cheap solution and while they have stopped the rooks the squirrel can still get its paw far enough through the bars.

Not seen the squirrel for a while though so it might have found a better source of food.

“Not seen the squirrel for a while though so it might have found a better source of food. “

Its been eaten.

http://www.crackerjack.co.uk/bristol/restaurant-news/food-news-squirrel-menu-taste
“It is estimated that there are about five million grey squirrels in the UK.

They are not a protected species and are, in fact, considered a pest. Many of them killed on roads.

But now they are being killed and sold to game dealers as a specialist meat and cropping up on restaurant menus and on the dinner tables of an increasing number of home cooks.

The increased interest in squirrel has been fuelled by endorsements from celebrity chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Fergus Henderson of fashionable London restaurant St John, where squirrel is often on the menu, braised with bacon and dried porcini mushrooms.

As a meat, squirrel has a lot going for it. It’s completely free-range and wild (and therefore low on ‘food miles’) and it’s also low in fat.

Taste-wise, it falls somewhere between free-range chicken and rabbit and it has a sweetness to it because of its diet of berries and nuts. ”