Grey squirrel management

[sime42]

Yep. But aren't there some downsides to reintroducing Pine Martins all over the place? I heard something about them once but forget the details again. Do they attack birds nests as well or something?

[daveatdave]

good job that non of the anti hunting lot come on here there would be hundreds of posts condemning everyone   

[Squirrely]

1 hour ago, sime42 said:

Anyone know why the buggers do so much bark damaging? The Greys. A guy told me once that it was all to do with territorial behaviour and the fact that they have no natural predators in this country. Frustratingly I've forgotten the details of what he said.

Until recently I didn't realise that they attacked oak trees as well. I thought it was beech and sycamore that they preferred to go for. I was doing a light reduction and thin of an oak a few weeks back and when I got to the top loads of branches were screwed with squirrel damage.
 

From memory, I was told that they chew the bark to get at the phloem which is a sweet sap produced in the leaves and then transported through the phloem "tubes" under the bark

[woodwizzard]

8 hours ago, Big J said:

The problem:

 

 

The answer:

 

Can you imagine the response from the game-keepers around our way Jon! According to a lot of them, everything kills and predates on pheasants 🙄

 

8 hours ago, daveatdave said:

good job that non of the anti hunting lot come on here there would be hundreds of posts condemning everyone   

That will be one of those "sweeping generalisations" then!

[Paul in the woods]

I'm not sure bark damage is down to food, you could try feeding them and see if that makes a difference. I thought it was more down to single males marking territory/being bored.

 

They certainly do go for oaks, that's the biggest problem I have. Sycamore seems their favourite and then beech, hornbeam, oak etc.

 

I'm not convinced by pine martens. It's going to take a number of years before there's enough to make a difference down here in Devon for example and I have concerns about their impact on other endangered wildlife such as birds.

 

As for reducing their numbers in a 3000 acre wood, it would seem possible if there is a serious will to do something. One problem would be stopping public access for a while. A good method of control is putting out a feeding station for a while and then shooting as it's gets them down on the ground and in a safe place.

[Tippin Alaybye]

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[Tippin Alaybye]

Shooting is good sport. Recently I’ve had a variant of greys, locally, smaller, a gingery brown with tufts on ears. Must be some mutation. Anyway, they still taste ok

[Paul in the woods]

11 minutes ago, Tippin Alaybye said:

Shooting is good sport. Recently I’ve had a variant of greys, locally, smaller, a gingery brown with tufts on ears. Must be some mutation. Anyway, they still taste ok

Red troll squirrel?

[drinksloe]

12 hours ago, Big J said:

The problem:

 

 

The answer:

 

 

There is quite a few scientific studies which do claim to prove that.where PM are present there is more red squirrels.

The SWT I think are going to go down and push this route more I think in the future.

Grey's spend a far longer time on the ground ( up to 70%) and with them being larger can't escape into the lighter branches the way reds can.

So there is some logic behind it at face value

 

But in my opinion the studies are flawed, and there is not more reds because of the PM but more as the PM is a goos indicator species for good red habitat.

Which is not surprising as they both evolved together, so good PM habitat is also good red habitat

 

For the studies to be truly proved by rights they should be removing the PM and see if the reds either increase or decrease.

By rights if the studies are correct the reds should decline in number when PM are removed, but I'd be very surprised if that actually happened.

 

 

A PM is a fearsome predator, they're is a very good chance the Capercaillie will likely go extinct again pretty much just due to there increasing numbers, they also won't be helping the Scottish wildcat either if there even is any left.

 

Yes they will hammer the Grey's, but by the time they're is enough numbers to make a dent in Grey's, wot happens then??

As Grey's decline they will just switch the prey drive to other species, no nests will be safe, same with chickens.

And at a time when rabbit numbers are very dry low across almost the whole UK.

Coupled with the rise in corvid numbers ( magpies, crows etc).

 

U ask any wild bird keeper or conservationist from NZ ( there spending massive fortune trying to eradicate the introduce stabs which has decimate there wildlife including dropping poison from helicopters over vat areas) about the massive damage stoats cause, so imagine giving 1 steroids and teaching it to climb trees.

Ur song birds would be even more screwed than they are already.

 

Really not a good idea to encourage them might solve or help to solve grey squirrel problem but will cause a lot more future problems.

The main problem is modern people esp urban rally don't like killing anything.

Edited April 19, 2021 by drinksloe

[Baldbloke]

The problem:
 

 
The answer:
 

We’re infested with the f****** now. We’ve lost about 30 hens and the wildlife has suffered greatly. PineMartins aren’t too fussy about killing anything they can. Especially birds and the contents of their nests. Rabbits, leverets are no bother to theses creatures and they’re clever enough to prise or chew their way through doors and pen wood to access chickens. I work out of hours and regularly see them hopping along the roadside and even saw one in a local cottage hospital car park. I’d have the protection removed from the bastards and a bounty put on them[emoji1304]