Have your tailed rats appeared yet ? This is where the fun starts.

[SheffieldLass]

Steve

I don't worry about the grey squirrels in the garden, in fact I have to admit I do rather like them, they are smart, resourceful animals ... they have a drey in the sycamore at the top of my garden so we get quite a few around, 2 pairs that are often chasing each other, and then quite a few young. I don't protect the feeders from them, but I do have 4 feeders in the garden so the birds can always get to something. They've not destroyed any of my feeders, but they are the squirrel resistant ones. The birds are not afraid of them, though they won't go on the feeder at the same time. I do find that by letting them eat from the feeders they do not bother with raiding the birds nests during the breeding season. Sunflower seeds are clearly preferable to the risk of being attacked if they go for birds eggs. And as they have access to good food they are in beautiful condition. However before I started feeding the birds, years ago, we had a magpies' nest in the same sycamore, and the squirrels would raid their nest, in spite of being attacked quite ferociously by the magpies, because they did not have much other food around.

So don't worry, they do thrive side by side in gardens where both are fed.

Melanie

[daffy66]

i saw quite recently on tv a superb deterrent for squirrels.it was a bungee type thing.the feeder was on a soft spring so when the birds went on it it hardly moved but when a squirrel got on it went down into a bucket of water making said pest scarper.