Spring is here!

We went up to the wood on Sunday afternoon, and finished coppicing one stool we'd left part-done by the pond. While we were there, we saw a sign of spring coming - catkins on this Hazel tree:
There's a good bit of sky above the pond now, it'll be interesting to see how it does in the summer, though we need to dig it out a bit more.
The little animals, possibly squirrels, are still gnawing at the holly:
This has been done to all of the young holly trees along the path between Sweep Wood and Grist Wood. I'm really beginning to dislike squirrels....

And rabbits too for that matter, as they did this to a chestnut stool:
Fortunately this is near the pond, where we want to keep a clearing anyway. In the main part of the wood very few chestnut stools have been attacked.

Last week, while I was away, Tracy had been up and found the squirrels had gnawed through the rope to get the bird feeder down. Until we manage to reduce their population and increase our supply of meat I've gone a step further to keep the bird feeder up:I know they can climb the chain, but as long as it stays up in the air they can only get at limited amounts of the food - it's when they get it down on the ground and roll it around that all the seed comes out. We'll visit again in a few days and see what's happened...

The final thing we had to do as we left was help one of our woodland neighbours who'd skidded off the track on the wayleave. It was good that we had the winch and rope handy, and nice to be able to help out.

Mike

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Feeding the birds, and problems with squirrels

This post is mostly about birds in our wood:
but first let me digress onto squirrel damage...

Here's a young holly tree that's been gnawed, which we saw as we walked between Sweep and Grist wood:
This was too high off the ground to be a rabbit, so it was deer or squirrel I guess.

The following was certainly from squirrels though:
So much for squirrel proof! I guess they didn't know the squirrels would be able to unscrew the hook from the top of the bird feeder so it falls to the ground and lets them in...

And here's some more evidence - squirrel droppings:
So, we set about putting the feeders back up in places where it might be harder for the squirrels to get to them. We want the birds to be able to get some food during the current cold weather.
We'll see how we go. If the squirrels get them again, I'll be back with the air rifle next time and we'll be having squirrel for dinner (I'm not joking).

Anyway, the birds in our wood are either fearless or very hungry, because no sooner had we got the food out than they came down to eat it, even while we were still bustling around. Here's a Coal Tit scavenging for seeds dropped on the ground:
A Robin came straight to the usual place he hangs out on a dead wood pile, where we'd put some fat:
and a Great Tit found the seeds we'd put under a piece of wood leaning against a tree (we knew they liked going into this gap already). By the way, the rest of the photos are ones Tracy took.
Some Blue Tits also came, and found the hanging fat rings to their liking:
Within just a few minutes the birds were back at one of the feeders, so they must have been using it before the squirrels got to it:
Then a new arrival turned up - a Nuthatch. As if to prove his tree climbing abilities he came in via the rope:
He did get to eat, but before long a bossy Great Tit flew in, and so he had to fly out:
Last of all, the Coal Tit decided to come to the feeder as well:
and once the Great Tit had got out of the way, he was able to come down and feed:
Here's the Coal Tit making his escape - we did well with in-flight photos today!
And finally, the next couple of pictures aren't great, but I wanted to include them as it's a bird we've not seen in the wood before - a Treecreeper, creeping around on a tree, as you might expect:
That's all for now. I'm travelling around the UK for work for the next week, so I hope the snow doesn't cause any more chaos...

Mike

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Grey squirrel control workshop

On Sunday morning we went on a SWOG workshop on grey squirrel control in woodland. It was a bitterly cold day, about 1C and windy, with light snow falling as we got to lunchtime.

John Bailey of Sussex Environmental Pest Solutions led the workshop, telling us about the origin of grey squirrels, their impact on British woodlands and different methods of population control.
He said:

The grey squirrel was introduced to the UK in the mid-19th century, mainly spreading from Woburn Park, Bedfordshire and as they have no natural predators their numbers have soared. It is estimated that there are now over 2 million grey squirrels in the UK!

Here's a typical squirrel dray - they're much larger than a bird nest:
This is typical damage to a young oak, which will now never become a full-grown tree, although it may survive as a pollard. This is because the squirrels had "ring barked" it, preventing the flow of vital nutrients beyond that point:
When the populations are over 5 per hectare, the greys are known to kill native trees through stripping of the cambium layer. They usually eat the sap from trees that are 10 – 40 years old and the damage in some woodlands can mean that some trees will not make maturity.

Grey squirrels also compete for food, nest sites and space with our native wildlife e.g. dormice, tawny owls, kestrel, woodpeckers, tree creepers, nuthatch, jay etc. Large populations of grey squirrels can cause instability to the carrying capacity of the woodland ecosystem.

To assess if you need to implement squirrel control before damage takes place, you could look for damage in neighbouring/adjoining woodlands or carry out a visual assessment to see if the numbers are above 5 per hectare. Look at the damage to trees, watch to see where their favourite feeding places are and then chose a method of control. There are a number of control methods:

1. Hire an experienced squirrel trapper like John. This will ensure the populations are controlled with the minimum of fuss and cost. (john@sussexeps.co.uk)
2. Buy traps - the different types are detailed below. You should also note that traps must by law be checked daily, under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Section 11.
3. Buy an air rifle to shoot them. You will need to be sure you are able to shoot to kill, not injure and must check the law and all safety considerations.

Trap Types
Kania
One of the safest traps to set, is species specific and probably the most powerful trap you could use. Approx £50 each and you would require around 7-10 per hectare
Here it is in action:
Wooden tunnel MK4/MK6 Fenn trap
Sited in places and runs used by squirrels, a highly successful method of clearing large number of squirrels. The law requires that the trap is placed inside a tunnel. Approx £50 for 10 and you would require around 7-10 per ha. This does not include the cost of making the tunnels.Clear the ground where you are going to lay the trap (this is so the squirrels can easily see the bait you place near the trap).Peg it to the ground (this is to stop badgers or foxes running off with the squirrel and the trap!) and cover with a wooden run. You must do this part to protect other animals from the trap. You can also disguise it by covering it with leaves. John will usually pre-bait areas for a few days with everything in place but the traps set not to go off, so the squirrels can get used to it being there.
Here's the trap in action:
Multi/Single Cage Traps
These traps keep the captured squirrel alive, which then of course, means you will need to kill them later (note that it is illegal to release a squirrel once trapped). £80 for a multi cage trap, £30 for single cage trap; around 4 multi cage traps would be required.
Good bait to use is maize, peanuts and peanut butter. The best time of year to control the squirrel numbers is February and July, when they are breeding.

We finished up with lunch round the fire, and then a chance for people to try shooting some different air rifles at a target. Finally, our friend Paul demonstrated another method of squirrel control that he uses - a "buffalo" shotgun cartridge.
Here's what it does to a dray:
The idea is to shoot through it when it's full of young squirrels, and have other people with shotguns waiting nearby to get any that run out of the dray. Messy, but effective - a few people can cull dozens of them across many acres in just a few hours.

So, will the biodiversity of your woodland benefit if other woodland owners are not controlling numbers?

John from Sussex EPS says yes, based on personal experience your woodland will benefit long term. He said that a plan for managing a woodland without taking account of pest control was not a complete plan. Grey squirrels can damage and kill young trees, and out-compete other wildlife for food and breeding sites.

So what are we doing in Chestnut Coppice?

Well, I've got myself a decent air rifle, and I've now got the sights lined up on it. I need some more target practice before I can be confident of getting a clean kill on a squirrel - maiming them is not acceptable. We don't think we have too many squirrels, but will be surveying the number of drays to get an idea. In any case, if we cull some there will always be more to move in. An important point for us is that we intend to eat every one we shoot, as we believe that eating wild meat is more environmentally friendly than eating farmed meat, which usually has large inputs of fossil fuels and chemicals.

Mike

p.s. I also took some pictures of birds on a feeder in the woods where we had the workshop, you can see them here.

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Footprints in the snow

The view out the window this morning was:
We drove to the wood and parked at the bottom of the wayleave, which had a thin covering of snow:As we walked up we were keeping an eye out for animal tracks - I've tried to identify them, but feel free to correct me, as I'm not an expert tracker! The first one we saw was a fox, which had padded its way down the track:
I stopped for a quick photo along the footpath where we've been cutting:
Next up was a bird, possibly a blackbird from the size of the prints, and the fact that they were in pairs (from hopping?), but I'm not really sure:
and after that a pheasant, clearly walking rather than hopping like the smaller birds do:
Then we reached the wood
The first tracks here were human and dog:
It was interesting as we wandered round the wood looking at the footprints to see how many people had walked their dogs through our wood this morning, and where they'd come from.

Inside the wood we could see where a squirrel had been:
including up on the log piles:
and our of our outdoor "tables":
Before we did any work we walked around the wood - it's not often we get to see it in the snow.
Although today it did keep snowing for a while in the morning:That's all for now - I'll do another post tomorrow with some pictures of a robin, a goldcrest and wren.

Mike

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