Looking for pics of squirrel damage

[robert t]

Couple of Acers to fell shortly. This is the worst damage I has seen caused by the little blighter's.

[Mesterh]

Forgive my ignorance but are they eating/feeding on the bark or just chewing it like rats do to cables etc?

[ferdinand2000]

Forgive my ignorance but are they eating/feeding on the bark or just chewing it like rats do to cables etc?

 

They strip the bark to get at the cambium underneath, which carries nutrients the squirrels can use.

 

Species (e.g., oak, sycamore), times of year where nutrient flow are at a maximum (which means, I think, the summer growth period), and the maturity of tree (bigger than saplings to have a decent flow but small enough not to have very thick bark) mark out the common targets.

 

Hence optimal squirrel control is before the growth period and before there of are loads of little squirrels everywhere.

 

I haven't seen data on whether bark stripping is a problem in the spring growth period as well as the summer period. I'm guessing it is less because squirrels have not exploded their population that early.

 

F

[ferdinand2000]

Thanks for the pics so far, guys.

 

Now I'm off to my editing suite.

 

F

[David Humphries]

Wondered how you were progressing Ferdinand?

 

 

Here's a Hornbeam that had a stripping history, that has eventually succumbed to a series of lateral tension cracks across the exposed heart wood.

 

 

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[antipesto]

On a different note here is some squirrel control that I did earlier this year

[Matthew Arnold]

On a different note here is some squirrel control that I did earlier this year

 

Nice one. My dad and i have been waging our own mini war on the greys. So far this year we have shot 1,239 grey squirrels in 10 woods. 3 of them are Hazel Coppice, 4 of them are Beech and Birch Plantation and the other 3 are Oak and Larch plantation.

[Sam Thompson]

Up to 469 trapped/shot this year - might have another couple on boxing day shoot (actually on the monday) would be nice to get it up to 500 though.

 

They are the only species I want to get the isles rid of!

 

 

Sam

[Matthew Arnold]

We shot 18 out of one drey. We were both amazed as it didn't look like a drey just a big dark patch in a load of ivy. Two shots from me and 5 from my dad and they just kept falling out.

[BenR]

nice one. My dad and i have been waging our own mini war on the greys. So far this year we have shot 1,239 grey squirrels in 10 woods. 3 of them are hazel coppice, 4 of them are beech and birch plantation and the other 3 are oak and larch plantation.

 

good stuff