Ideas wanted for a baffle to 'squirrel proof' a pole type bird feeder.

[Gillstay]

I tend to just shoot them and feed the birds with them. Its quite straightforward and protects the new trees coming up next door.

Plus the nesting birds.

 

[SteveH80]

An 'instant dispatch' squirrel trap would do the trick, you can get none lethal ones but then you have to kill the it yourself because it's illegal to release grey squirrels.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

if they can't survive a winter without humans feeding them, they'd be long since extinct.

They can in a natural environment
but we have messed about with our environments so much that a lot of creatures just can;t find the food they used to find
for example - tearing up the old hedgerows so fields are easier to sow and harvest for modern machinery

but that means a lot of small birds and small mammals have nowhere to shelter and nest

etc

so places like the RSPB ask people to supplement the available food during winter (etc) so some species can cope that would otherwise have too little food

 

[wafter]

Seems like the best approach is a non-climbable pole (think thin steel) with an arm from which a feeder can be suspended with a circular baffle above it to prevent attack from above. The feeder needs to be high enough to prevent jumping from the ground, and far enough away from elevated features to prevent jumping from these.. something that's often easier said than done in many gardens.

Another might be to suspend a wire between two poles with the feeder in the middle and appropriate measures on the wire (such as circular baffles or bits of tube that are free to rotate) to prevent access from the ends.

Seems grey squirrels are perhaps the single-most destructive invasive species in the UK; having pretty much wiped out the indigenous reds whilst hammering song birds, destroying woodland and wrecking personal property.

If you're able to cull them safely and humanely this is in the interest of the greater good and often there are far, far more than you might think. I used to know a local chap who regularly saw 3-4 in his garden; started shooting them and ended up claiming something like 60 or 80 in a year. This was in a relatively urban environment too - he wasn't living in the middle of woods or anything.

Seems the little grey bastards have had a bumper crop this year too - probably due to the prolonged warm weather and opportunity for multiple breeding seasons.

 

[PeteXXX]

This kind of feeder slows them down a bit.. 👍

 

[Sharky]

Bit of a coincidence, we've never had a squirrel in our garden, but this afternoon had a sighting of a squirrel, running across the lawn. We've had foxes and even a couple of those green parrots, but until today, never a squirrel.

 

[Drago]

Upside down plastic mixing bowl at the top with the platform atop that.