Squirrel Feeder

Squirrel Feeder Finding No 1.

2006-03-15T14:02:00.000Z

In two days time I shall have completed the report. I will have to push squirrels to the back of my mind as I study for final exams. This is my chance to show one or two interesting snippets of my findings.

Number of hairs from either red or grey squirrels on a peice of sticky tape.

Statistical tests show that there is a 'strong' link between the number of grey squirrel hairs and how many red squirrel hairs there are. Does this mean that less red squirrels will use the feeder when more grey squirrels are using it? To be honest this is the least conclusive result I have. Maybe it doesn't show that at all. But I think that it's interesting all the same.

Peanuts disappearing from squirrel feeders

2005-11-09T11:13:00.000Z

The grey squirrels in Kelvingrove are eating through my sack of peanuts in no time. It cost £27 and weighed 25kg which seems a lot after the first mile in a back-pack... It's all worth it tho. I'm taking recordigs every ohter day from the counters which are showing about 100 lid-lifts a day form each feeder. Although the squirrels in one spot still haven't leant how to lift the lid and insist in chewing through whatever defences I add to the feeder... Stupid squirrels.

Kelvingrove Park gets Squirrel Feeders

2005-10-28T16:16:00.000+01:00

After working on their construction all week, I've finally had an afternoon climbing the trees of Kelvingrove to install 6 brand new squirrel feeders. Each is complete with tally counter and sticky tape to record exactly how many squirrels lift the lids to access the peanuts, and whether the number of hairs they leave behind is a good indicator of this.

Counting Squirrels

2005-10-19T13:39:00.000+01:00

Installing tally counters under the squirel feeder lids has brought to light an interesting squirel phenomonom: It seems that tho red squirrels appear happy to use the selective feeders they may prefer to take the easy option if there's a normal one around. Last week I put up 2 feeders without any selective mesh and not surprisingly the grey squirrels starting using them -they must be well happy to be able to steal red's nuts again. However -the reds have just about stopped using the feeders that were excluiselvy for them and are sharing at the same ones that the greys are using. Do they like sharing with greys or is is simply too much effort to squeeze through the mesh to thier special feeders?

Both the hairs caught on sticky tape under the lids and the tally counters are recording this. The cameras are pretty defunct just now and need an overhall..

Grey Raid

2005-10-08T12:59:00.000+01:00

Caught grey-handed: A grey squirrel un-able to fit through the mesh but activating the camera by sticking a paw through and lifting the lid. I don't think he can have reached any nuts but he had a good attempt -I've got 12 photos of him!

Squirrels galore

2005-09-24T22:49:00.000+01:00

Another day with a camera that functions beautifully taking one automatic photo after another and then seizing up. And I have to leave the project to start a new lecture course tomorrow morning... I leave the cameras in my brothers hands. He has high hopes for his mini-soldering iron in solving the last technical issue!

Squirrel feeder PHOTOS!

2005-09-23T08:55:00.000+01:00

At last; 2 squirrel feeders are up and running taking automatic squirrel photos. They may be a little erratic and require some fine tuning so that they actually work all week between photo-downloads, but here are some examples of what they produce when they decide to work:

Local Reds

2005-09-12T21:21:00.000+01:00

I have at last discovered a small pocket of red squirrels! Right under my very nose, just over the hill in the next valley a little family of squirrels is fed in a garden on the edge of the woods. I hear reds have also been seen in neighboring gardens. What's more, they're even used to being fed using the weighted-door type of squirrel feeder -great potential for using my size selective one. But the hazel nut season is just beginning making shop bought nuts seem very unnapeailing to the squirrels...

Nae red squirrels here

2005-08-21T13:53:00.000+01:00

I'm sitting in a Cambodian version of an Internet Cafe so sadly can't provide any nice squirrel pics just now. I can at least apologise for the lack of recent updaters. My excuse is the travels through SE Asia that have been rather absorbing my attention over the last 6 weeks. I do return in early September to continue squirrels and squirrel blogging! And I have seen a few Asian squirrels now and again in recent travels; a dull brown colour but full of energy and just as fun to watch as their British counterparts even if they have not the looks.

Feeding Sequence

2005-06-25T21:19:00.000+01:00

Still a bit of reliability required to add into the squirrel-activated--cameras (need to come up with an acronym!) so my latest set of a squirrel feeding -just with my fully Henry operated camera - to post meanwhile.

Not Squirrels

2005-06-25T10:04:00.000+01:00

Met these at intervals on a drive yesterday, mission being to collect to wooden squirrel hoppers to integrate with the cameras. Integration target = tomorrow!

Stripped-down squirrel camera

2005-06-23T20:53:00.000+01:00

The photos either side are admittedly nothing to do with squirrels but are the only others I took today so help fill in empty space...

Squirrel Cameras!

2005-06-23T16:07:00.000+01:00

Been very busy these past few days. I can reveal that the automatic squirrel-activated squirrel-imaging device is now complete! Or almost complete anyway. The table in front of me is littered with the internal bits of digital cameras all customised with extra circuitry soldered in. Most of them work... These will do this when activated by a squirrel opening a feed hopper lid:

turn on and take 1 photo
wait ten seconds and take a second photo
wait 60 seconds in which time squirrels flicking lids up and down will not activate further photos
turn off ready for next lid opening

If this evening is relatively uneventful I shall put up some pictures of all the electronics and how I'm going to make the switch on the lid using a hack-saw blade, a copper screw and a copper pipe.

And I may have a potential site for the research fairly close to home! It depends on the latest opinions on how dangerous it is to bring reds and grey's close together considering poxvirus transmission from grey to red... Hopefully no greys would get into the feeder anyway but there is the issue of young grey squirrels that are the same size as reds...

A Reccy

2005-06-17T15:21:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I put up two squirrel feeders. Not the special selective mesh ones you understand, just the normal nut-containers with the lid that the squirrels lift to get to the nuts (and, hopefully, to activate an automatic photograph). As there were already two feeders installed in the wood, I now have 4 squirrel feeding stations ready and waiting for the project to begin!

The evening started with an hour’s drive north, collecting another couple of selective feeders and a sack of squirrel-food au route. At the destination, my contact was just locking up the post-office, grabbing a sandwich and his gun before we headed out to the wood where he’s been feeding his red squirrels and keeping the grey’s in check. A bit of a tour round and I’d seen his ingenious grey squirrel-catching device that uses a sponge, just a normal sort of washing-up type sponge. He originally played around cutting up sponges till he got the sponginess just right so that red squirrels (up to 300g) can dance around on the sponge quite happily and eat their fill, but greys (over 500g) compress the sponge and trigger the door to close.

Anyway, not to get sidetracked, he introduced me to the two different trees his squirrel hoppers are based on and I popped up my two additional ones in the vicinity*1. Added some double sided sticky tape now that the official stuff*2 has arrived. Not very impressed with it tho. It only leaves the gluey sticky bit on the wood so there’s no way I can peel it off again to collect hairs once a week! AND a squirrel came and used a feeder I’d just sticky taped but hadn’t left any hairs behind when I checked before leaving! Shall try experimenting with a paper strip sandwiched between 2 sticky layers so that I can de-peel more easily. So: 4 feeders in secret location now up and awaiting installation of squirrel-activated digital cameras. Target camera collection and setting up date: Monday. Definite Progress.

*1 The forestry commission reckons 2-3 (or 4 if you’re me and want to maximise statistics) feeders 200-300m apart in a 50 hectares woodland block. I’ll stick with one block as squirrel populations are likely to have different feeding behaviours in different areas.
*2 “…double sided sticky tape (e.g. Scotch ‘pressure sensitive’ tape; Stock reference no. 465; North British Tapes Ltd, Killingworth, Tyne & Wear) are placed on the inside roof…” Practical Techniques
for Surveying and Monitoring Squirrels, Forestry Commison.

The Stuff

2005-06-14T19:11:00.000+01:00

Still to arrive:

55m Reccomended squirrel-hair-catching sticky tape
3 More sets of mesh from 2 locations
Squirrel food
electrical gadgetry connecting cameras to food hopper lid

The cameras are still to be bought too but I thought I'd stick the photo in for a bit of variety from lots of mesh photos. Oh yes, and I've been given a first sachet of disinfectant for regular mesh cleanings, but haven't actually taken it's picture.

A History

2005-06-14T15:43:00.000+01:00

Over past weeks of many conversations with a variety of squirrel-experts people scattered over the country, I’ve gleaned something of a history about the attempts that have been made to use mesh feeders in keeping grey squirrels from eating the reds’ nuts.

In the early days, the forestry commission experimented with mesh, but birds got away with most of the squirrel food, and young grey squirrels still got in and stole much of the rest. Trials were discontinued in the fear that the reds might catch the dreaded poxvirus from the greys sharing the feeder.

Nothing happened for a while. The fashion was for weighted feeders that tipped out greys. These tend to also allow in young small greys and the see-saw can become clogged with leaves and dirt.

Three years ago Veronica Carnell made use of her husband’s welding skills and her local squirrels at Gosforth Nature Reserve to find and produce a small quantity of mesh that just let reds squeeze through fairly comfortably. She has monitored 3 feeders for the past 3 years, red squirrels using them happily with a noticeably increased healthiness sort of look since the supplementary feeding was started.

A couple of years back she ran a study in some other areas; adult greys didn’t get into the feeder and reds used them in 2 out 3 sites.

However, lately the mesh has been trialed nearer to my home in the Lake District. Even when squirrels have become used to feeding in the mesh cubes with one side missing, once it is sealed off the reds have seemed nervous of sitting inside to eat the nuts, altho they have been seen to go inside. Greys have tried their best to squeeze through but with no success, but there’s not much point to a feeder that the reds won’t use!

I’ve heard two ideas from people that know their squirrels. Perhaps the fact that the red squirrels in question were rather knowledgeable about humans and houses and so forth meant that they had some experience of mesh type stuff and thought it was dodgy. Or perhaps they felt too exposed –I’ve heard tell that an older type of experimental feeder had a roof and was more happily used.

So lots of variables to confuse things in designing my project. So, the present day, or rather the future: Thursday will see me journeying to a spot where red squirrels are fed. I’ll be shown what’s going on, then hopefully will set up the first set of equipment. I don’t actually have it all yet but various interesting bits and pieces are arriving daily by post or being collected from far and wide.

A Start?

2005-06-13T10:56:00.000+01:00

Been walking/camping over the past few days but no avoidance of the squirrel project, as I found myself walking with an electrical engineer specialising in security cameras, so some interesting squirrel-activated camera chat! And my uncle whose birthday the walk was celebrating is a forester so also some discussions as to wood and preservatives and other important things in the line of squirrel feeders.

Tomorrow I finally receive my first mesh of that critical red-squirrels-only size. I should also receive 55m of special sticky tape for catching squirrel hairs to indicate who's been using the feeder, and I'll be buying wood, nails etc for building the little hoppers and lids to hold the nuts and provide a switch for automatic photos.

And I may no longer be lacking a location! I've been in touch for some time with someone that mans the Post Office over Haweswater way; a good hour and a half's drive north. So although I haven't actually got there yet and it's not the ideal spot for regular checks, he sounds pretty helpful and has himself designed an interesting sounding piece of equipment, tho he’s in the line of controlling grey squirrels so his only lets in the greys and not the reds! Anyway, the plan is to drive up this weekend with all the gear and set up some trial feeders. A busy week lies ahead! Carpentry skills to be tested. I hope you shall soon be seeing photos of the handiwork itself…

Impasse

2005-06-08T19:38:00.000+01:00

The week began with promise after my technical advisor and chief electronics engineer Jon noticed that squirrels have to lift a lid to get to their nuts, and hence a little switch on the lid could be constructed to photo any lid-lifting squirrels. However, the hunt for a research location continues... A very promising (but uninspiringly named) Foulshaw Moss contains a small pocket of reds not too far away. However, the two people that would know about the squirrels there and could be potentially very helpful are both independently away on leave for another two weeks. And my contacts up in the North who are not on leave and very helpful have just bumped off all their grey squirrels -good for their red squirrels of course but not for my research. Although of course the research is only to achieve good things for red squirrels so I can't really complain. So the search continues. Many phone calls were made today, but it was sunny so most people involved in the squirrel business were very far from their phone. I shall arise at dawn tomorrow in an effort to catch them.

Light Trap

2005-06-02T15:43:00.000+01:00

I spent yesterday trawling through ebay finding exciting digital cameras that took photos whenever their infrared beam sensed an animal walking by. These, I thought, could happily be photographing all the squirrels that dropped by to eat nuts while I filled my time with things other than sitting in the rain waiting for a squirrel to turn up. Only problem was I'd have to import from the USA at $200 a time. So I had a bit of a chat with Jon who happened to appear on msn messenger. Jon knows about these sort of things having just finished his degree on somehting electrical and computer/circuit board orientated. Anyway, he thought something designed for photo-ing deer might not notice a rather small squirrel. Good point. Then he said he could design a 'light trap' which would photo squirrels whenever they passed a little beam of light! Ingenious. I've attempted a bit of a sketch to show that squirrels will have to sit on a little platform to get the nuts, perfect for the position of a beam of light that'll photo them when it gets cut of by the squirrel. Now to find some cheap digital cameras...

Believe it or not, this is actually the standard way to feed squirrels. Apparently nothing else has the brains or brawn to open the lid.

Invaders

2005-06-01T14:07:00.000+01:00

Here’s a grey squirrel. Partly to show the cause of all the red’s misfortune and partly because I actually took the photos.

These things arrived at my home 5 years ago, moving in from the south. One of my neighbours dropped round just now to say one or two reds have been seen at the top of the valley but otherwise there aren’t really any red squirrels left for miles and miles. My project is going to have to be right up in the North of the Lake District where there are still a decent number, for the moment anyway. But the greys are moving fast…

Hype

2005-05-31T23:14:00.000+01:00

Exciting progress! As it's late I won't bother posting it till tomorrow. Meanwhile, here are my new hypotheses which the whole project will be seeking to either prove or disprove, I've not sure which...

Hypotheses

Red squirrels’ will eat supplementary food whether a selective feeder is used, or not.
Adult grey squirrels will not use the feeder.
Young grey squirrels will use it.
Thus less grey squirrels will use it as time passes and little grey squirrels grow up.
Red feeding will not be affected by grey squirrels sharing their feeder.

Squirrel No1

2005-05-30T21:20:00.001+01:00

Had tea with a fantastically independent 95 yr old lady in her house hidden away at the end of long winding road at the southern end of Ullswater. She doesn't have any neighbours but is visited by 3 red squirrels, one of which was eating her nuts just a few feet from where we were sitting. The first red squirrel! Sadly her back's 'like a dog's dinner' and she hasn't been able to get about so much this year. So not a candidate for the squirrel project. I'm going to send her some calcium to add to her squirrel nuts as her squirrels looked a bit deficient. That’s the problem with peanuts. Hence the hazelnuts my lucky squirrels will (hopefully) soon be scoffing (once I've found them).
Sadly the sun has resulted in rather silhouetted photos...

Confused Red

2005-05-29T21:39:00.000+01:00

Both these squirrels are red squirrels! That's why I'm going to be getting out a microscope to check whether any squirrel hairs have a little groove down them (red) or not (grey).

Plan II

2005-05-29T20:55:00.000+01:00

Squirrel Feeder Locations:

Gardens where someone feeds: Red squirrels; grey squirrels (if I can find anyone that really does feed grey squirrels); both squirrels

Methods:

Replace the squirrel’s normal feeder with a standard hopper+sticky tape and keep it topped up with hazelnuts
Record each day the no. hairs of each species that are stuck to tape
Let X days pass for habituation
Add a Selective Feeder around the hopper
Record each day: weight of nuts taken; continue hair counts and identification.
Record for X minutes at X o’clock each day how many squirrels successfully feed

Now to find some dedicated people that feed the local squirrels in their garden. Maybe they would even like to collect, each day, the little hairs squirrels leave stuck stuck to sticky tape...
Oh yeah, and read some journals to fill in the X's

Phone call

2005-05-29T16:55:00.000+01:00

Just got thru to a professional squirrel person on the phone. Seems he isn't always out but that I had a wrong number... Some people really know their squirrel stuff! Chats with all these knowledgeable people have confirmed my suspicions that:

I can sit in the wood in front of hazelnuts for a month but it's anyones' guess as to whether any squirrels might turn up, regardless of whether the woods teeming with the things or not.
You can measure how fast nuts are eaten...
...and trap squirrel hairs on sticky tape (squirrel hairs actually look prety much the same whether from red or grey except that under a microscope you can see a groove running down the hair of a red squirrel. Usefull).
There are lots of helpful 'save red squirrels' people around. Some of them already feed squirrels in their back garden.

I forsee an action plan is likely to be posted up very soon.

Real Thing

2005-05-29T16:15:00.000+01:00

I’m just back from a morning spent in the woods on tour. Not just any old woods, Gosforth Nature Reserve is home to the selective squirrel feeders. Veronica has been feeding the reds using these feeders ever since finding the critical size 3 years ago, tho sadly the squirrels have gone hungry recently as she has a broken ankle from her exploits! Even so, she ventured out with her crutch on the trek around reserve along with myself and her husband John. No squirrels appeared for a photo opportunity despite half an hour spent whispering in a hide, tho I had an exciting introduction to my first feeders: "

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication"
~Leonardo DaVinci

The Plan

2005-05-28T15:39:00.000+01:00

The only squirrel I've seen today was found on google. The meeting of the real thing's been re-scheduled to a rather early hour tomorrow morning. All the other squirrel experts I know of seem to be out, as any sensable person should be on a sunny afternoon.

However, there is still exciting progress! Here I present
'The Four Selective Feeder Questions'

Can all reds get nuts?
Can any greys get nuts?
Do less reds get nuts when there are greys around too?
Do more squirrels get nuts the longer the feeders up?

There is also an unofficial question: Will any squirrels turn up if I sit in a wood for 4 weeks watching a wire box with nuts inside? I hope to have an answer tomorrow after speaking to the people that really know about squirrels.

Beginnings

2005-05-27T15:36:00.000+01:00

I'm armed with 3 fuzzy photographs of what looks more like a squirrel cage than their potential saviour. Planning a project to test whether this cube of mesh will let red squirrels get to their food while excluding their grey rivals is proving tricky to fit into my one month of squirrel-project time.

Tomorrow I meet the lady who has pioneered the feeder, learning along with her local red squirrels what size of hole lets them through to eat while excluding the greys. After years of trial and error she thinks she's almost perfected the critical size. Tomorrow I hope to see first hand the sight of a red squirrel squeezing through to get a hazelnut!