"Moonraker" wrote
I am heartily sick of squirrels getting the lion's share of my bird
food. As fast as I get rid of squirrels new ones come to replace them.
Has anyone experience of those for sale? If so which are useless and
which are good? The only problem that I can see is that the pair of
woodpeckers (well I say pair maybe they are just friends) will be
unable to feed. any help most welcomed. TIA

I had same problem with squirrels stealing the birds' peanuts and got
through several so-called 'squirrel resistant' mesh ones before deciding
enough was enough. Anything made with a wire mesh will just get ripped
open in the end. But I have found two feeders that did stop their
raiding.

One is a strong 'caged' version from The Nuttery (got it on ebay at a
good price). The other has no cage, so great spotted woodpeckers still
come and visit it, but it's made with a tough ceramic top and bottom and
the body is of perforated steel rather than wire. You undo a wing-nut
and take the base off to refill.
It's proved strong enough to foil the blighters even after several
year's use. The young ones do come and try a few times before they learn
they can't tear this one open no matter what they do - after that they
leave it alone. I can't remember the make now, but I found it in a local
garden centre.

--
Sue