In Desperate times...My Silky saves the day!

[lux]

But he has survived and now is part of the family who live next door so I see him everytime I pass and they k now that he must stay with them for maybe up to as much as 20 years in captivity! But he is very much loved.

They are great little characters. I raised 4 that came out of tree being reduced. For a while I used to be able to call them down with food after being released. Still see them occasionally in my woods.

[Silverhooker]

I thought it was illegal to release grey squirrels without a home office license ? Always was led to believe you had to keep as captive pets or knock on the head. Might be wrong.

[Mick Dempsey]

Hardly crime of the century is it?

[Stubby]

11 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

Hardly crime of the century is it?

Norman Stanly Fletcher . You released a grey squirrel with no regard for the consequences . You are an habitual criminal and seem to take imprisonment in the same casual manor . I there fore feel constrained  to sentence you to the maximum   penalty for these offenses . You will go to prison for five years . 😥

[lux]

Norman Stanly Fletcher . You released a grey squirrel with no regard for the consequences . You are an habitual criminal and seem to take imprisonment in the same casual manor . I there fore feel constrained  to sentence you to the maximum   penalty for these offenses . You will go to prison for five years . [emoji26]

They might of caught fletch but they didn’t catch me [emoji23]

[lux]

Hardly crime of the century is it?

No it’s not...
honestly don’t see why people get so bent out of shape about it. Sad that they have pushed out the red squirrels. But plenty is being done to re introduce them around the country.

As for damaging trees. You see very little damage from squirrels. The odd chewed branch that is no worse than some rubbing branches. I fell a lot more trees due to honey fungus than grey squirrels that’s for sure.

[Khriss]

You want to see the state of my pots - i trap the little fvvkrs. Vermin. K

[openspaceman]

5 hours ago, lux said:

honestly don’t see why people get so bent out of shape about it.

Nor me but it remains a problem. I'll see if I can dig out a photo of my little friend, within 12 months of the photo  I was engaged in my first forestry employment and got to run the trap lines on an estate in Surrey, so killed quite a few. It was pointless as only the adjacent FC land and our estate did  any control. At the time 90% odd of my wages were rebated by the government so it paid the firm I worked for to get me doing pointless jobs.

5 hours ago, lux said:

 

Sad that they have pushed out the red squirrels. But plenty is being done to re introduce them around the country.

But it's not only red squirrels, they also out compete other native mammals for food, notably dormice.  Just look how they strip hazels before they are ripe.

 

No amount of re introduction of red squirrels will overcome their lack of resistance to parapox which is lethal to reds whilst greys are largely just carriers.

5 hours ago, lux said:

 

As for damaging trees. You see very little damage from squirrels. The odd chewed branch that is no worse than some rubbing branches. I fell a lot more trees due to honey fungus than grey squirrels that’s for sure.
 

 

 

I  see some damage in gardens but overwhelming amounts in woodlands, especially beech. People will never see the grandeur of beech trees we were felling in the 70s, for furniture mostly, as those remaining are getting into their old age and suffering and the young have lost their form because of bark stripping.

 

It is the middle of next month when you first notice the damage looking onto the trees from a distance and seeing the wilting and brown leaves in scattered clumps on trees.

[skyhuck]

7 hours ago, lux said:

As for damaging trees. You see very little damage from squirrels. The odd chewed branch that is no worse than some rubbing branches. I fell a lot more trees due to honey fungus than grey squirrels that’s for sure.
 

You must not climb many trees.

[Big J]

1 hour ago, openspaceman said:

I  see some damage in gardens but overwhelming amounts in woodlands, especially beech. People will never see the grandeur of beech trees we were felling in the 70s, for furniture mostly, as those remaining are getting into their old age and suffering and the young have lost their form because of bark stripping.

 

Adjacent to the block we were working in was a small copse of mature beech. Over 100 years old. Looking at the canopies, you can almost tell the exact point where the greys moved in. They are perfect trees to an exact point, and then the canopies above that point was gnarled and twisted.

 

I can say with absolute certainty that planting broadleaves anywhere in a woodland setting our part of the country is pointless without extremely thorough control measures. It's worse than pointless. It's spending £3.60 (plus VAT) on creating hardwood bushes and a future plastic waste problem. Anyone fancy crawling through a bramble thicket in 15 years to extract 2000 plastic tubes per hectare from underneath oak bushes with only 1.3m of straight stem before stag heading?