The Grey Invader

The Grey Invader
My Professional Squirrel Control
​ Also A National Grey Squirrel Control Group

I have been dealing with the grey squirrel for well over 45 years since I was a young boy, you know love or hate these grey invaders, these tree rats never fail to amaze me, they are intelligent, remarkable, resourceful and come on lets be honest quite cute and amusing, but beneath this appearance lies a wolf in sheep's clothing, they are in fact vicious, adapt efficient killers of our native song birds, killing the young and adult birds alike, stealing their eggs and also a conservation night mare for our ground nesting birds too, let alone the unrepairable damage they do our ancient forestry and broad leaf trees, they are also a direct reason our native Red Squirrel are almost extinct, as the Grey Squirrel carries a pox that is deadly to our native Red Squirrel.

I am often called out on pest control jobs in houses in the middle of towns, cities and villages etc, they are also a night mare in the domestic and business scene too, Wife oh look Burt we have a Grey Squirrel on our bird feeder, awwww they are so cute Burt, one becomes four or more then not so cute, yes until they get into your attic etc and start chewing wiring etc, then a roof fire starts or your entire electrics are fused, then the wife says we have rats in the attic with hob nail boots on, you get what I mean.

I have been dealing with one such place for the last three years, they area plagued with squirrel problems, I have lost count the reproofing jobs I have done at this place, the problem here its a 600 year old cottage, when I grew up as a boy this was a village, its now a ghastly town build around itself, so an original cottage with its own small orchard, surrounding this are housing estates with lots of English Oak Trees and other trees, every house feeding the birds and indeed rats, the perfect hotel for squirrels, I seem to be trapping every grey squirrel in the area, the guttering on this job is replaced every year as the squirrels keep eating it and finding new ways in to the attic of the said cottage, shooting is not an option at this venue, location and safe shot zones are almost zero, even baiting them to a safe shot area is almost impossible, cross that with the local save our grey squirrel brigade always watching.

Humane Katch It Trapping covertly is the ways forward, some people use poisons, I don't like this its an eco nightmare and has a know on effect to other things, but I wont go there now as it will take too long to discuss, I might do this in another article, I must say these humane squirrel cage traps are brilliant, especially if you catch a non target species you can just let them out, we have a lot of hedge hogs here, I am always catching them, they are a prickly customer to let back out again I telle, the video that is accompanying this article will show my trapping better than my words, Katch It Traps does an awesome Trapping Comb, this makes the humane dispatch of the lawful quarry you are dealing with very easy, squirrels in this case but rats too in the humane rat traps, I tend to use an appropriate powered air pistol now days, again this makes it all quite discrete and little fuss.​

I was called back in for my usual come quick the grey squirrels are back, I put three traps in and within 24 hours I had four in my traps, again watch the video, I am happy to report no more have been seen and two weeks later my traps are still empty, so next week I will go reproof the cottage once again and my job here for another year is done I hope, I must say these tree rats were very tasty in my Southern Fried Pop Corn Squirrel the other night.

I have a great many traps out on the local country estate where I am employed as their pest controller as well as the game keeper for their family shoot, as you can imagine this large estate with ancient woodland and broad leaf trees are a full time job keeping on top of the squirrels, but I do pretty well, especially taking my young sports there drey poking, sat in a hide with an air rifle, or myself using a 20b my favourite calibre shot gun next to the mighty little 410.

just recently I was out filling my pheasant hoppers, one of my big cock pheasant has got to big for his boots, I have him on the trail cameras attaching deer, rabbits, squirrels, including myself and Goose my cocker spaniel, he has decided that hopper is his property so nothing is allowed near it, I had the single 20b with me as I had decided it was time for this red devil to be brought into the oven, as I approached the feeder loaded up with buckets of grain out he came spurs flying, he picked on Goose big mistake, three times I drove him off, on his fourth attack my boy true to his training did not touch him, the dog looked at me, I looked at the dog with the same look, I gave him the order get him, that pheasants look on his face when my Goose changed pace was priceless, he brought him to hand still very much alive, Goose 1-0 Pheasant, I necked him and Goose and I enjoyed him for our tea in a recipe I call bashed pheasant, quite an apt recipe I think, he was enjoyed with a nice glass of port too, for me not the dog of course, now there was a squirrel that had been giving me the slip for quite a while now, I have him on camera destroying one of my hoppers, another reason I had the 20b with me, Gosse flushed him from under the said hopper and up a tree, lets just say a single shot brought him to hand, he was also enjoyed as pan fried squirrel portions after soaking in butter milk in the fridge for 24 hours.

As I am UK & Ireland Grey Squirrel Group South West Regional Director (The Grey Area) were getting more structured, look out for the new app and website coming out soon, an old game keeper friend from Somerset invited me out for a days squirrel drey poking, I love this and took along my 1891 Peterson and Son’s of Peterborough 16 Bore hammer gun, my old friend loves to do things in a certain gentleman's style, so I put a tie on and my new tweed gillet and Jack Pyke Baker Boy Hat, actually I really did feel the part, I did not expect a big bag today as my old mucker is a great keeper and keeps things well in balance, but for myself and the rest of the guns it was a social day and we got to work our dogs too, as it turns out the woodland we were clearing was new woodland purchased by his estate from a farm next door, we had a lot of fun especially when one squirrel ran down the drey poking poles, I swear old George tried to blow the squirrel back up, puff puff puff, you get the picture, we all laughed so much at this, the squirrel did not get far as my Goose as fast as lightning had his card marked, one bite and a shake and he dropped it in my hand, that little dog has always been the same he shows rats or tree rats no quarter, but is as soft as velvet with everything else, all the boys mostly keeps all saying that's a good dog that, I did feel rather proud as did my boy.

​I wont boast the bag size but we did well on our squirrel poking and vermin drives, even putting a big dog fox in the bag that had been raiding my friends pens, a truly wonderful day spent with old friends and making new ones working our dogs, from a sporting Countryman's point is just don't get better than that now does it.

Look out for us at all the country shows or game fairs, and click to join the face book group, lets get this grey invader on the back foot, pictured here we are at The Northern Shooting Show, I am teaching the boys the new come back squirrel call.

I finished off this month with having to buy in a lot more humane traps, my good reputation goes before me, as the work just keeps flooding in, both in the cities and towns and in the agricultural world, I now have seven guys working for me on the pest control company, if I get this next huge contract I will be looking for number eight, I have a great team here, I seldom do the city/town work now as my heart lays within the agricultural sector, although I do get dragged back in as with the cottage job, some of my clients just refuse to have anyone but me on their jobs, they always say the same thing, knowing your on our job we have peace of mind, it is nice to be thought so highly of, but often my good reputation, its like a dog with a bucket tied to its tail, it makes a lot of noise but it’s damned inconvenient especially when I am so busy, I am honored to feel so highly thought of by my clients, also my lads they say I am a good boss to work for, I have always had this ethos a fair days pay for a fair days work, I do look after my lads and they go above and beyond for me, like a wasp/bee job that's just come in on a multi sports ground contract, a Sunday Afternoon and Marco has gone out for me much to his wife's annoyance, I will make it up to him this week, I will pay for him and his good lady to have a nice meal in a local pub.

Olympia Air Rifle Pellets, we have just got these in the shop, I have issued all my pest techs with them, WOW deadly accurate, with a humane strike on target, take a look at the video that is with this article, all available on our Really Wild Adventures website on this link www.reallywildadventures.co.uk , try a tin you will be so surprised as I was, like with everything in my shop, I wont stock it unless it comes up to my high standard, I still love my Air Arms Pellets but WOW these are as good on the range or in the field, mark my words for the price and performance you wont go wrong with these Air Rifle and Air Pistol Pellets.

I hope you enjoy this article as much as I have enjoyed writing it and remembering some awesome days, work you call this work, no I call it enjoying and loving what I do, even the lads who work for me say this ain't work Boss this is being paid to professionally enjoy what we do, I must admit this was what my Pappy (Grandfather) taught me as a boy, he always said find a job you love, you will never work a day in your life, he was so right, how many of you can say you look forward to going to work everyday like I and my lads do, until the next time and my further adventures, may I wish you all a safe and happy time to you and all your families, make sure you keep on top of all your Grey Squirrel Control.

The Grey Invader
My Professional Squirrel Control
Also A National Grey Squirrel Control Group​

By The Ole Hedge Creeper
www.theolehedgecreeper.co.uk
www.reallywildadventures.co.uk