Out on beech patrol

I am a great advocate of using feeding stations to achieve meaningful results when culling grey squirrels. Offering a ready supply of peanuts or maize is usually a sure-fire way to lure the destructive rodents away from their leafy hiding places and out into the open — where I can get a clear aim at them with my airgun.

This method of tempting greedy squirrels out with food can often work right through the year, but there are times when my offerings go ignored. Unsurprisingly, if grey squirrels are going to lose interest in a feeding station, it is likely to be during late summer and into autumn when their natural food is most abundant.

A couple of weeks ago, grey squirrels suddenly became noticeable by their absence around the feeding stations in a small wood where I shoot. It happened quite suddenly