Are squirrels bad in the garden?

longwalks1

recently moved into a small village and amazed at the wildlife in the area, so bought some bird feeders and a squirrel feeder (kind of box they lift the lid to get nuts from). Was talking in work how i enjoy watching the various animals in the garden and 1 guy said how squirrels were vermin, just as bad a rats and should be chased away and will get into your shed and loft and ruin everything? I thought a little bit of an over-reaction...

Should squirrels not be encouraged into your garden,or are they harmless?

ALIBOBSY

My Dad has actually bought himself one of those kids supersoaker guns just for chasing off the squirrels in his garden, my mum thinks its hilarious and great entertainment so win win for both of them lol.

The squirrels have broken some of Dad's bird feeders to get at the food and are sods for digging up seedlings planted out and especially bulbs.

They also like to hide nuts by burying them under bushes and even in the grass and forgetting them so you end up having to pull up plants that come up from the nuts lol.

TBH I quite like them and they will run along the top of our fence to the trees further along from us, but rarely come in our garden as we have two cats so not a problem for us. Mind we also have a hedgehog (who often sits a the backdoor waiting for food at night) and the ducks have just arrived back which means spring is really here for us. We fed a couple of ducks about 5 yrs ago and ever since we get a small group back every spring. They sit at the front window and quack every morning then reappear late afternoon. We assume they are on the river nearby or the pond which is about 5 mins walk away from our house.

Mind you we are semi rural here, only ever see foxes from a distance as they are still afraid of humans-plenty of farmers around here with guns and dogs so makes sense.

Never heard of squirrels in houses though.

Ali x

missbiggles1

Red or grey?

longwalks1

sorry, forgot to say, grey squirrels (well, just the 1 at present)

Quizzical_Squirrel

Just an aside, but if anyone's using one of those metal boxes with lifting lids for squirrels, I've seen quite a lot of squirrel paw injuries from those.
They can get their paws trapped near the hinge end and it can be very nasty.

longwalks1

OK squirrel, this one is made from a soft wood, and they seem to open it, and dive in from their waist up (holding it open with back of their head)

REEN

I like to see them but the one who buries his loot in my pots and seed trays, scattering bulbs and seedlings around, gets chased off. He's getting to be a bit cheeky. It was amusing though to see it stripping my apple tree of the last little apples and burying them in next door's plant pots.

Davesnave

britishboy wrote: »

Should squirrels not be encouraged into your garden,or are they harmless?

Grey squirrels are not harmless. They sometimes eat birds' eggs and young and they will strip bark from trees. They also compete for food with endangered species, such as dormice and the red squirrel. Also, if you grow things like hazelnuts or walnuts, they'll have those as well.

However, they're cute, people like them and it's probably impossible to control them where well-established. Where I used to live in the city, pest control used to work at unsocial early hours in the local parks to keep the numbers down.

I wouldn't encourage grey squirrels. In fact I'm keeping a bit of field between the woodland I'm growing and the orchard, in the hope of keeping the squirrels away. They don't like crossing open spaces. They also dislike traffic, so it's maybe not a coincidence that the only dormouse I've seen, or their nests have been in the roadside areas. I've never seen a squirrel there.

EDIT: The squirrels in houses thing can be serious. They've been known to chew through wiring, but most modern or well cared-for houses wouldn't admit squirrels. Even house sparrows are having a tough time these days!

Elsewhere

They dig up and eat tulip bulbs too

Our supermarket has recently started selling squirrel meat along with other local game.

Farway

Elsewhere wrote: »

They dig up and eat tulip bulbs too

Our supermarket has recently started selling squirrel meat along with other local game.

They also eat crocus bulbs, I have given up trying to grow crocus due to this

They do get into houses, and can be real, and expensive, pest if they do, and they bite, not cute & cuddly

The local pub here sells squirrel pie, has licence from council to shoot them on the Downs, they harm the birds there, as Dave says

Gers

We've got at least one red squirrel - no greys here at all. I haven't seen it dig up and eat any bulbs but I suspect that it's a young animal.

I can now watch it on the newly installed CCTV and it's a joy! The birds all co-exist with the squirrel, they even feed at the same time on the feeders.