squirrels eat my nesting boxes!

Followers of this blog may remember the siting of our first bird nesting box.

Here's what grey squirrel damage to bird nesting boxes looks like! That was a waste of flaming time wasn't it!!!

The little fiend has gnawed a big hole into the front of the box, making it useless. You might think this merely as an over zealoous commitment to a high fibre diet. Think again!! Squirrels think there is a tasty treat of eggs or baby birds waiting inside. Greater spotted woodpeckers also love their food pre-packaged but their vandalism at least is much neater leaving a sharper edge around the hole. Grey squirrel damage has a much more frayed appearance.

I will need to put another piece of wood on the box, drill another hole and next time protect with a metal piece. This, however, won't stop the damage. It will just require these pests to show greater ingenuity. I'm told that the only long term solution is to have nesting boxes made out of a mixture if sawdust and cement called 'woodcrete'. This will be expensive and so my plans to put up many bird nesting boxes looks to have been thwarted for the time being.