A TOUGH NUT TO CRACK
Anyone tasked with the control of grey squirrels will know that it’s a year-round job – take the pressure of these invasive rodents for just a few weeks and their numbers will soon bounce back.
I have shot quite literally hundreds of squirrels since the autumn winds stripped the trees bare of their foliage. With the canopy open, it was easy to spot greys trying to hide up in the treetops, and the lean months of winter made them eager to visit feeding stations loaded with an enticing meal.
Now that the trees are starting to leaf up again, it is easier for squirrels to go unnoticed. Fewer sightings can give the false impression that all the squirrels have gone, but that is unlikely to be the case. It is almost impossible to completely eradicate this highly adaptable rodent from even the smallest areas of woodland, and even if you did, others would soon creep back in from surrounding woods, gardens and hedgerows.
Squirrels have already given birth to their spring litter, and it is not unusual for a second litter to follow towards the end of
