rjb wrote:Grey squirrels were classed as vermin. There was a scheme to pay anyone who presented a Squirrel tail to the appropriate authority. It was abandoned in 1958 when it became clear that numbers couldn't be controlled by culling.
Well here in the "Lost Kingdom" (Nb. Marketing blurb no one's ever heard of!), we still have reds.
I saw my first grey roadkill 20 miles down south a couple of years ago, but otherwise it's red. It was pleasing to see a 4/4 country motorist stop last Friday and allow the red squirrel to cross an otherwise empty sub-moor road (Empty, apart from me, a cyclist).
Surprising as the roads one of two where the farmers dump their illegal badger "roadkill" (I.e. Badgers with a suspicious round hole in the forehead - it's been incredible how the legal culling of badgers down south over a few years, has hugely increased the badger roadkill locally (Always in the cattle areas!).
good eating on a squirrel, well the back legs make mighty drumsticks. healthy too.
claws and teeth are like razors though, having seen them run like geckos around house walls I'd be worried about my tyres. not advisable to pick one up unless defo deaded.
I saw thirty at least yesterday walking back home only a mile or so, all juveniles.
Hi, Can,t avoid them especially in the dark, simply to fast to react I find nowadays
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
Middle of the road wrote:Mrs M-O-T-R was almost hit by a Muntjac deer a few years ago whilst we were cycling through the Sandringham estate in Norfolk at New Year and we had a close encounter with a Roe Deer biking through Brittany last month
crazydave789 wrote:good eating on a squirrel, well the back legs make mighty drumsticks. healthy too.
claws and teeth are like razors though, having seen them run like geckos around house walls I'd be worried about my tyres. not advisable to pick one up unless defo deaded.
I saw thirty at least yesterday walking back home only a mile or so, all juveniles.
serious? See lots in London. How to kill them? trap them?
MikeF wrote:I've often nearly hit a squirrel that has darted out in front of me often just inches away, but yesterday one darted out from the offside of the lane and went under my bike just behind my front wheel ie under the BB. I don't know if the squirrel was surprised, but I certainly was. Has anyone hit one?
Yup, in the new forest a few years back. It ran into the front wheel, nearly had me off! Had some yesterday trying to commit hara-kiri on the towpath, managed to miss all three of them and avoid a ducking!
Brompton, Condor Heritage, creaky joints and thinning white (formerly grey) hair ""You know you're getting old when it's easier to ride a bike than to get on and off it" - quote from observant jogger !
crazydave789 wrote:good eating on a squirrel, well the back legs make mighty drumsticks. healthy too.
claws and teeth are like razors though, having seen them run like geckos around house walls I'd be worried about my tyres. not advisable to pick one up unless defo deaded.
I saw thirty at least yesterday walking back home only a mile or so, all juveniles.
serious? See lots in London. How to kill them? trap them?
squirrels are a curious creature and you can catch them with a simple pole covered with snares, they are also lazy and will take an easier route such as a pole leaning against a tree on their route. catch one and the rest turn up to see why bob is swinging back and forth as it looks like fun.
as a kid we used to go and find a large dray (nest with up to 20 squirrels in it) a shotgun would rattle the dray and they would all come scurrying out and we tried to pick them off with airguns, people who harvest them in culling programs then sell the meat to the local butchers and its usually very popular. you can trap them or shoot them depending on the area and bylaws. once trapped it is illegal to release a grey. something I find the RSPCA needs to learn about as i watched an animal rescue program take in a litter of greys, raise then release them. I was waiting for the legal case to go against them for a change.
crazydave789 wrote:.......claws and teeth are like razors though.
Years ago s neighbour's Siamese cat was attacked by a squirrel. What a mess. Cost them a fortune to get the cat fixed up.
A couple of times over the years I have seen them fall out of trees where I presume they just missed a branch or something. Very funny. Still quick as lighting. My dog barely noticed. Good job I don't have to rely on him for food.
I have similar problems with rabbits, sheep, and even birds. But not experienced squirrels. I seem to remember a squirrel teaching me how to cross roads.
david7591 wrote:I have similar problems with rabbits, sheep, and even birds. But not experienced squirrels. I seem to remember a squirrel teaching me how to cross roads.
You had a sheep dart out from a hedge and go under the bottom bracket!
"It takes a genius to spot the obvious" - my old physics master.
I don't peddle bikes.
archy sturmer wrote:This time of year, I think squirrels can get drunk from over ripe fermenting fruit. It might account for their excitable, reckless behaviour!
lucky squirrels glad they get some thing out of life than being flattened by cars and lorries
crazydave789 wrote:.......claws and teeth are like razors though.
Years ago s neighbour's Siamese cat was attacked by a squirrel. What a mess. Cost them a fortune to get the cat fixed up.
A couple of times over the years I have seen them fall out of trees where I presume they just missed a branch or something. Very funny. Still quick as lighting. My dog barely noticed. Good job I don't have to rely on him for food.
we have one that runs along the fence to get to the park and back again, one afternoon I was chatting to the neighbours when a grey flash zipped between my legs followed by a larger black one - fortunately our rosie can't climb trees as fast.
I don't know if the squirrel was surprised, but I certainly was. Has anyone hit one?
