Rod wrote:
On Thu, 14 Apr 2005 00:05:03 +0100, "Miss Perspicacia Tick"
wrote:


I have two squirrel feeders in my garden. And no, it isn't vermin -
they are neither a nuisance, nor do they carry disease. The only
charge that can be levelled at the grey squirrel is that they are
partial to birds' eggs; but, unless someone with more knowledge than
I corrects me, I do not believe that they have had a significant
impact on the avian population of these islands (besides, reds eat
birds' eggs too, as do hedgehogs and quite a few members of the
weasel family).

Just try keeping them out of a fruit cage containing Cherries. We've
spent most of this week and will be spending a good deal of next week
fixing wire netting over the top of ours.

=================================================

Rod

Weed my email address to reply.
http://website.lineone.net/~rodcraddock/index.html

OK, Rod, I will concede you have a point. The squirrels in my garden do not
eat my fruit (that 'job' is done by wasps, which I *do* consider vermin)
but, then again, I do not grow cherries (raspberries, strawberries, plums,
currants (all varieties) and apples - oh and blackberries).

We lost 90% of our plum crop to wasps last year and about 75% of the apples.
I was also extremely badly stung trying to pick the remainder (I do not go
into anaphylactic shock, but my whole arm was swollen for a fortnight).

I did post here once asking for something to eradicate them, but my post
received no replies so, either no-one else suffers from such bad
infestations (we removed a nest from the loft, but they're coming from
elsewhere, because the numbers did not reduce).

The birds take the currants (only the red, though, not the black or white,
because, IIRC, birds cannot see black and white very well) but we still had
enough last year to keep us in jelly the entire winter.

Birds I don't mind - I just wish I could be rid of the damned wasps! Please
if anyone has a solution, then tell me!


--
In memory of MS MVP Alex Nichol: http://www.dts-l.org/