05/Feb/2022
Squirrels are amazing creatures, I have to admire them. After securing our new ground feeder guard with the pegs provided, and having watched our ground feeding birds take to it immediately, the next day a squirrel tunnelled underneath one edge, gained entry through the hole and devoured all the seed. We had some pieces of slate hanging around, so we laid them out in a rectangle that extended about a foot outside each side of the guard, and set the feeder and guard on top. Haha, fooled you squirrel!
Er, no...since the top of the feeder is designed in such a way that it isn't strong enough to rigidly align with the sides, the squirrel (same one?) was somehow able to wiggle his way in through the gap between the top and the side. This is a design flaw and should be fixed. On top of that, he also had started to dig under the slate which was made up of several pieces, and we realised it was only a matter of time before he managed to push the slate aside and come right up through the middle. So, we moved the feeder next to a large shrub for bird shelter, but on a garden path laid with paving stones. Then we weighed the top of the guard down with more slate. The guard was also attached on one side through a couple of gaps in the stones using the pegs provided. Haha, fooled you squirrel!
Er, no...the squirrel's next move was to somehow push the guard off square (the sides and top are not rigidly aligned - another design flaw, or maybe the same one) such that he could then reach the small, round feeding tray through the guard and drag it close enough to the edge that he could reach it through the bars. We laid more slate on the path next to the two sides of the feeder that weren't anchored by the pegs into the paving stones, so that the guard couldn't move. Haha, fooled you squirrel!
That did work for a while. We put the trail cam out to see what was happening when we weren't watching. A day or two later - was that a large, adult squirrel inside the guard? Yes! Looking at the photos taken 10 seconds apart, we could see he took some time trying to squeeze through the bottom row of holes, aided and abetted by a mate who seemed to be trying to push him through, and then he was in! We couldn't tell exactly which hole he came through. A few minutes later, the trail cam showed he was no longer there, and so we never did see through which hole he was able to exit.
So, what to do? The birds love the feeder - it's in constant use by blue tits, great tits, dunnocks, robins, chaffinches, and even a marsh tit. The squirrel who gained access didn't actually eat a lot of seed, so we've decided we're just going to live with him. Perhaps he'll decide it's more trouble than it's worth. I'd buy another one of these guards, but will skip all the learning steps and go straight to the path setup with weighted top. One benefit of that, by the way, is that it's somewhat protected from rain and a lot protected from bird droppings, so maybe a solid roof is something else for the designers to consider.
What fun! Maybe we'll attract a brambling, or even the hawfinches which have been seen in our area....