War on Squirrels and Jays

Having posted on how well the codling moth traps were working, I can't say the same of the squirrel trapping. We have had a huge influx of squirrels this year, and one in particular seems impossible to trap. They have just stripped the Denniston's of its small crop completely and are randomly biting into our small crops of apples and pears. I trapped one last week, thinking at least that only left one hard nut to crack, but I'm blowed if another two didn't appear almost immediately. 

In addition to crows this year jays have done an extraordinary amount of damage. I'd been wondering what had been hacking lumps out of my Grenadier, and then moved on to the Worcester and my un-named early red. I'd been thinking it must be pigeons but then I caught a jay actually doing it shamelessly right in front of me. We have a very active extended family of jays which are continually attracted to the area by a neighbour who tips peanuts into his garden as if they were garden mulch, one reason for the influx and high breeding numbers of squirrels. 

I hope the jays may be a temporary problem. They haven't been a problem before, and I think they initially started pecking at the fruit because of scab-related soft patches on the fruit. Having started off with these, they then discovered that the rest of the fruit was palatable. I hope they don't remember next year, but they are bright corvids and they do have a remarkable capacity to remember and teach others of their kind. If they don't forget, then sadly we'll be getting towards the stage of having to net everything soon.

Squirrel damage

This has been an awful year for squirrel damage, with significant losses on some varieties. All the apples on the Worcester Pearmain were removed or damaged, the blighter then moved further up the garden to the pear cordons. Worst affected was Winter Nellis, where 2/3rds of the crop were nibbled and subsequently lost to brown rot. Nearly as bad was Devoe, where very few of the fruits escaped being bitten. Some bite marks will heal and go corky as with scab damage, but I doubt they will keep well. 

It took me a long time to catch the culprit, as there were several squirrels around and the fruit-nibbler was also the most wily. Plus my squirrel trap disappeared one night, whether taken by two-legged or four-legged vermin I don't know. I imagine squirrel trapping probably upsets some of my neighbours (particularly when they devote quite a large proportion of their income to feeding both them and the local rat population) but the losses they inflict on fruit are unacceptable, and it would be completely impractical to cage a quarter of an acre. The damage stopped immediately with the removal of the last squirrel.

More squirrel damage

Several more apples and pears with single bites taken out and clearly visible tooth marks. All way to early to ripen before brown rot sets in. I wonder how often birds get blamed for pecking fruit when the real culprits are squirrels. The trap goes out first thing tomorrow!!

more squirrel damage

Having had to spend so much time in Wales as my father is so ill, I haven't got round to removing any squirrels yet, and they are beginning to be a nuisance again. Quite a lot of fruit has been ruined on this Worcester Pearmain. Rot has already set in, and all damaged fruit will be useless.

War on squirrels

This is another excellent example of squirrel damage on a pear crop, this time on my only crop of Dr Jules in 5 years. Although holes and shallow depressions can also be caused by moth damage, there are clear incisor teeth marks. The trap goes out first thing tomorrow before they ruin the remaining fruitlets.

Pears: Squirrel damage

It might come as a surprise to most people that the very worst pest of orchards is the grey squirrel, in urban or semi-urban areas at least. Most people are completely unaware that much of a crop can be lost this early to squirrels. If they do spot the damage, it's usually misattributed to birds.

Squirrel damage is very easy to identify. If you look carefully you can see two identical upper incisor marks, with a 'spooned out' mark above made by the lower incisors. Other fruitlets in this cluster just show tooth marks which match. Squirrels rarely eat the whole fruit at this stage, but can fatally damage a large number by 'mouthing' them out of curiousity.

Two year ago I was not at home to monitor the problem at this stage, and lost the entire crop from my 50-odd cultivars. One pear, two apples and no plums, the entire result from a sizeable, mature orchard. The problem is largely due to a particular neighbour who has numerous bird feeders that are not squirrel proof, and the population had grown from a single pair to numerous competing ones over the exact time period that has been excess supply food in the environment. I trapped and disposed of 10 squirrels last year, and this had a very positive effect on the crop which was very large despite a particularly poor growing season.

This is not something I like doing, but it is impossible to get worthwhile results from fruit growing where there are significant numbers of squirrels. They are also a serious pest of nesting birds particularly where there are population explosions. It may be a coincidence but since the recent spike in squirrel numbers, the reed warbler population in the lake complex that neighbours our garden has crashed; the squirrels have easy access to the reed beds from many poorly-managed fallen willows. Peanut feeders also encourage Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, of which we have 2 nesting pairs currently; these are also voracious predators of smaller nesting birds and have pecked their way into our blue-tit boxes and eaten all the chicks on several occasions. 

More on legal grey squirrel control