I am always fighting a battle to keep the numerous Grey Squirrels in my garden, from eating all my expensive seed mixes! It is a common battle, familiar to many of us! Don’t get me wrong, the squirrels and rats are welcome here, but I would rather they kept to their own feeding stations and I like to try to keep the expensive sunflower hearts and seed mixes, bought to attract special again visitors, to those it was designed for!
I have tried all sorts of arrangements and, for a while, my dog crate arrangement worked brilliantly! My younger squirrels soon worked out that they could fit in, if they positioned themselves sideways and the rats had no trouble getting in. Also, this set up meant that my Great Spotted Woodpecker was unable to feed. Although, I still have a set up like this in operation, it is no longer on my live cameras.
I chose to try a more traditional bird feeding station; the pole type with the hanging hooks. I placed this in the centre of the patio, with a squirrel baffle on the pole up to the feeders. I had to place it about 6′ from the fence before the squirrel found it impossible to leap from the fence! The other issue I have is the camera. This has to be mounted quite close to the feeders and was generally used as a way to get to the feeders. To counter this, the camera is now mounted on its own, separate post, also with squirrel baffle!
We are now 2 weeks into this set-up and, touch wood, the squirrels seem to be beaten… for now! Without them dominating the feeders, bird numbers are picking up and I am getting some great visitors. Check into these cams on my website and you are almost guaranteed to see: Great tit, Blue tit, Coal tit, Long tailed tit, robin, Dunnock, House sparrow, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Jackdaw, Nuthatch, Great spotted woodpecker and even a siskin turned up earlier in the week! The feeders often change, as I try out new ones and experiment with set ups.
Spot the siskin!
Make sure you opt to watch this clip in HD..
Comments