Me versus the Squirrel: guess who's winning!

Last week I received a very interesting phone message from a lady who had had a bad experience with a squirrel-proof feeder. (My apologies to the lady concerned for being so rubbish with mobile phones that I accidentally deleted her message and so was unable to ring her back to thank her. Those who know me would not be surprised at this latest technological mishap!).

Her problem had been with the same feeder I have, which appeared in this blog with a Blackcap and Blackbird in residence. It has a stout, green-wire outer cage surrounding an inner tube that is designed to carry fatballs.

The top of the inner tube is open so that you can get the fat balls in, and this lady found that a young Starling had got into the outer cage (as it is supposed to do) but then climbed inside the inner tube and couldn’t get out.

It was only because the lady spotted the problem that the Starling was saved. Now that I’m aware of this, I will be rigging up a cap for the inner cage to stop this happening on my feeders.

With regards to their squirrel-proofness (is that a word?), my determined rodents have been pretty persistent. They tried chewing through the wire...

When this didn't work, they found that reaching through the top of the feeder they could juggle a fat ball up to the top with their front paws and then hold it there while they demolished it.

So I now only half fill the feeder. But then they found that the holes around the base of the outer cage are wide enough to stick their head through and gnaw at the fat balls at the base of the inner tube. So I’ve taken the unusual step of putting a rock at the base of the inner tube: I’m hoping chewing on granite will put them off.

The squirrel proof feeders I’ve always been most happy with are the Squirrel Buster design, large and small, in which the weight of the Squirrel causes the feeding ports to close. They are expensive, but not as expensive as the cost of kilo after kilo of birdfood disappearing down into a Squirrel’s belly.

I’m sure many of you have had your own Squirrel Wars – are you winning?