A SPOT OF LOCKDOWN THERAPY

Mick Garvey builds a squirrel feeder that will last a lifetime

- Mick Garvey

The prolonged lockdown is not only giving me a chance to catch up on various tasks and jobs around the house, but also with my shooting gear, including swapping out accessories on the FX Impact, cleaning and maintenance of rifles in the armoury, and even building more of my indestructible squirrel feeders that I wrote about in last month’s feature. Over the years, I have had to replace many of my timber-built feeders; they had served me well, but after a combination of adverse weather, squirrel attacks and I’ve even had the odd one vandalised, I put my mind to work on a more robust feeder.

STEEL APPEAL

I am lucky to be on great terms with an electrical wholesaler for my day job, and they know to inform me as soon as any returned, unwanted or damaged galvanised steel trunking comes in. Anything from 4” to 9” square will work, but my preference is for 4” and 6” because these are easier to work on and transport to the woodlands. Any damaged parts can be discarded if beyond repair, and to be honest, I haven’t had anything that my engineering skills haven’t been unable to overcome, so my supply is looking very healthy at the moment.

It usually comes in 3-metre lengths that I cut it into 300mm sections, which gives a rough capacity of 7 litres of feed, with either a pitched or a flat top. The pitched top presents a problem where the next feeder has the slope the other way round, which means the removeable lid has to face the back. This is not a huge problem, though, because timber of the right size can be inserted into the trunking and will be out of the way of the feeding skinnies, so no wastage is encountered and getting 10 feeders from a 3-metre length should be ample for most of us.