Hello all I have just found this through searching for answers and thought it's a great place after reading through quite a few of the posts and maybe some of you could offer some kind of help.
I have always been a lover of everything wild and always like to help the birds and animals out when the autumn cold season comes. I live 1 up in rented accomodation below I have a neighbour on each side who have large gardens the right neighbour had bird feeders on their fence and then last year revamped the garden by chopping down a beautiful blooming tree and putting a bird house on the stump they started to put feed out and then stopped after a couple of months next thing they erected 2 plastic owl onto their veranda railing which I thought was strange.i'm in a 8 block so up above me and up again i have neighbours on each side, on the right side 3 of my neighbours purchased the flats garden/home, and 1 & 2 up top rented and the rest are still rented so out of all the neighbours myself and the 2 bottom neighbours have lived here from the 1960's the rest are all new as in the last 5 years. As of 2 years ago we put up a gate at the front of our house to stop my little dog running out my husband boxed it in so I started to put out bird seeds and monkey nuts the magpies that live across the road in my other neighbours garden would fly over eat some nuts then load up and go plank them around then the wood pigeons (Doves) as I have heard people call them and pigeons, sparrow and then a single grey squirrel turned up to my surprise I managed to get a video of the squirrel the other day when I went out it had ran along the railing to my neighbours and was making strange sounds which I looked up and it was warning sounds so it must have been afraid anyway at that particular time the neighbour that is new and lives up on the top was coming into the open close with her son and they were talking about the squirrel I overheard her saying yes it's nice to see but not nice if it comes in your kitchen window, I have a small dog and never in all the years have they spoke to her or petted her even when she ran out to them with her tail wagging before we had the gate. The reason I mentioned that is today that neighbour and her husband came to my door my husband answered and they said that a squirrel had been in their kitchen can you believe that? That they have a hole in the wall next to the window and it had got in that way so my husband had said that he would tell me not to put seeds and nuts out seeing that had happened. I actually was really shocked when he told me they had been at our door that she or they are assuming it was the squirrel I had fed and say it's been in her kitchen after verbally saying it out loud 3 days prior and to be honest I don't believe it, logically why would the squirrel I have fed that gave strange sounds off which her and her son both heard and commented on to then go in her window ( I know the answer!!! this squirrel is smart it heard them and knew she was worried about it going into her kitchen so decided to frighten her by doing so ) hahaha jokes aside, it has seen me a few times and never once tried to come in my kitchen window which if it wanted in for a cosy life wouldn't you pick the one that is feeding you it just doesn't sound true to me or make sense not that I know how squirrels think but my logic thinks why would it when its being fed and it will already have a home outdoors. Anyway I am now feeling down because now I don't know what to do and if I had been home and answered the door myself then I would have dealt with it completely different putting back to them the comments she made just a few days earlier and asked for a photo of it but I don't think there is anything I can do I got great satisfaction knowing I was helping them out plus I love watching them all and now I can't feed them so it's not just the squirrel that will miss out it's all of the birds too although it's only October and no snow or ice yet but it is becoming bitterly cold and I worry as I read or watched a video and they said once you start feeding you shouldn't stop because they rely on you and they can starve if you stop which is the last thing I want to happen. I have just had a thought while reading over what I have written and I think I should approach them and explain that the feeding is just through winter to help them survive and when spring rolls around I will stop as they won't need to rely on me then, what do you think about that?please can anyone give me any advice or ideas on what I can do about this? Thank you
Quote: "I have just had a thought while reading over what I have written and I think I should approach them and explain that the feeding is just through winter to help them survive and when spring rolls around I will stop as they won't need to rely on me then, what do you think about that?
Please can anyone give me any advice or ideas on what I can do about this? Thank you"
I'll pick up on the last part of your post first, feeding can be all year through for birds or animals.A lot will depend on what the local environment provides with regards to trees, grass and open spaces.
But don't expect birds or animals to feed on a daily basis, because they will go where the most suitable and safe places are to feed from. That doesn't mean you're not providing a safe haven, it just means that sometimes, for that time of year, flying insects for example, will be more suitable than seed. And providing flying insects is not an ideal scenario.
After all, we vary our diet and feeding places, you don't always eat at home, and when you eat out, you will vary where you go for a variety of reasons, and menu choice will be one of many reasons.
Your neighbour feeding the squirrel, obviously the squirrel feels safe and it's an easy ready supply of food.
There is a but with that, it's not ideally a good idea, the squirrell should be allowed to stay wild, and therefore it's nest, called a drey, will be in the trees and not find a hole to access the house.
Rodent damage to cables and other property aspects is not rare and ideally should not be encouraged.
I'm all for supporting our wildlife, but ideally it needs to be done in the right way. It's 'wild-life' and it needs to be treated as wild life. That doesn't mean you can't feed a robin from your hand, you can, and if a robin is happy to feed from your hand, it's a fantastic feeling, its free, it's wild, it will come of it's own choice, feed, and then fly off. But encouraging the robin in the house is not ideal.
Yes, feed them in the garden, on the patio and around the property, but preferably not indoors, they're wild animals and should be allowed to live wild.
regards
John
I never encourage Grey Squirrels! Grey Squirrels are carriers of Squirrel Pox of which Red Squirrels are susceptible to and have died nationally from Squirrel Pox since the Victorians kept then and lots of Grey Squirrels escaped onto the UK landscape and Red Squirrels are now absent from large area’s of England. Grey Squirrels are classified as a pest and are controlled by culling. Most of all the UK wildlife organisation control and cull humanely Grey Squirrels. My local wildlife trust also controls and humanely culls Grey Squirrels. If anyone catches a live Grey Squirrel in a trap. It is actually illegal to release a Grey Squirrel back in to the wild. The Grey Squirrel has been the main reason that Red Squirrels are now absent from large parts of England because of catching Squirrel Pox from Grey Squirrels of of which Grey Squirrels are unaffected but the Red Squirrels from the early 20th century when widespread all over England are now now absent. But luckily for myself Red Squirrels can still be seen in Northumberland. The last colony of Red Squirrels in Tyne and Wear died from Squirrel Pox around 5 years ago. My local wildlife trust are doing there best in controlling and culling Grey Squirrels. There maybe some hope if Pine Martins can be reintroduced in areas in England. But that won’t be a quick fix as that can take years to organise.
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/on-land/red-squirrels
Link above from the county wildlife trust with article about Red Squirrel’s!
Regards,
Ian.