I like having them around, except when they pinch all the baby apples and pears. We hang bags of cold tar soap in the trees at the crucial time now, and it seems to have warded them off for the last few years 🍏🍎🍐
I like having them around, except when they pinch all the baby apples and pears. We hang bags of cold tar soap in the trees at the crucial time now, and it seems to have warded them off for the last few years 🍏🍎🍐
Thanks for this reply. I actually just recently (October/November time) planted apple trees and a pear tree on the ground. I never thought about squirrels eating them. O_O now I’m a little worried. May I ask what are cold tar soap? And how exactly do you place them on tree if you don’t mind me asking as I may have to do this method to stop the squirrels from getting at my tree in future refences. Thank you so much in advance XD
Look deep into
nature, and then you will understand everything better. -A. Einstein
I think the soap is what my grandpa used to use - "coal tar" soap. It's made by Wright's and comes in a yellow packet - very distinctive smell...
Lots of grey squirrels around here, because we have woodland on our doorstep. Squirrel-proof bird feeders keep most of them off, but if it's very cold I put out a tray of peanuts for them. Baby squirrels sometimes squeeze through the mesh of the "squirrel-proof" feeders, and one once ate so much that it got stuck & couldn't get out again. I went out to rescue it, wearing my thickest leather gardening gloves, and it bit me through the glove! Ungrateful little so-&-so.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Coal Tar soap is a traditional/old fashioned soap we were all washed with as children .... well, those of us who've reached the ripe old age of 27+ anyway
They are causing havoc to local woodland and we have a huge cull every few years and it's made a big difference. I would love to have reds back in the SE of the UK. I have a few greys in my garden, trying to get at the bird feeders. It irritates me when there is already loads of sunflower seed on the ground, which would be fine to eat. They hang on the feeder and knock a vast amount of seed out because they are so heavy. Fluffy rats.
Did anyone see "Countryfile" last Sunday? Pine martens had been re-introduced somewhere in Shropshire. They eat squirrels... they'd eat reds if they could catch them, but can and do catch and eat greys, which can't escape on to the thinnest branches as the reds can. There seems to be some evidence that the grey squirrels leave the area when pine martens are present, because this is a new predator which they didn't meet in their native America. That's good news for areas like Northumberland, where there is a good population of red squirrels which is being threatened from south of the Tyne by encroaching greys. We need more pine martens...
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
We don't have squirrels (or foxes, badgers, hares, deer) here - are we better off without them? Introducing squirrels has been mooted more than once, but apparently we don't have sufficient trees and with the rate of new houses being built there won't be many open spaces left either - at least the planners can't touch our beautiful coast and beaches.... Therefore I really enjoyed looking at your pictures above.
I threw a bar of soap out the window at a squirrel that was snapping my hyacinth stems and chucking them on the ground - and missed. It picked up the soap, had a sniff, threw it on the ground and continued with its game
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May I ask what are cold tar soap? And how exactly do you place them on tree if you don’t mind me asking as I may have to do this method to stop the squirrels from getting at my tree in future refences.
Thank you so much in advance XD
Lots of grey squirrels around here, because we have woodland on our doorstep. Squirrel-proof bird feeders keep most of them off, but if it's very cold I put out a tray of peanuts for them. Baby squirrels sometimes squeeze through the mesh of the "squirrel-proof" feeders, and one once ate so much that it got stuck & couldn't get out again. I went out to rescue it, wearing my thickest leather gardening gloves, and it bit me through the glove! Ungrateful little so-&-so.
I don't bother with bird feeders any more.
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/255325749?sc_cmp=ppc*GHS+-+Grocery+-+New*PX+|+Shopping+GSC+|+All+Products+++Tesco+Brand*PRODUCT+GROUP255325749*&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvJzgr5-P2gIVw7vtCh1xpAtMEAQYAiABEgLct_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Therefore I really enjoyed looking at your pictures above.
It picked up the soap, had a sniff, threw it on the ground and continued with its game