Is That Noise in the Loft a Grey Squirrel? A Duxford Identification Guide

People describe the noise as random. It is not, and the pattern is worth understanding because it tells you a good deal about what is going on above your ceiling.

A Roof Space Is a Drey

In a tree, a grey squirrel builds a drey — a ball of twigs and leaves lined with softer material. A loft offers all of that already assembled: shelter, warmth, and fibreglass or mineral wool insulation that tears into exactly the right lining material.

So the animal is not passing through. It is nesting, and the nest is usually against a joist, in a corner, or tucked under the eaves where the roof meets the wall plate.

What Produces Each Sound

And Why It Matters

Because a nesting animal is doing damage, continuously, rather than passing through. BPCA's list for grey squirrels in roof spaces is specific: gnawing on woodwork and ceilings, stripping insulation from electrical wires, tearing up fibreglass insulation, and contaminating cold water tanks and the attic space with urine and droppings.

The second of those is the reason we treat this as urgent. Bare conductor in a roof void is a fire risk and it is entirely out of sight.

The Seasonal Part

BPCA's guidance is that grey squirrels usually have two litters a year, in early spring and summer. So for a good part of the year an adult using your roof space may not be the only animal in it — which is not an argument for delay, but is a strong argument for looking properly before anything is sealed.

What to Do With This

• Log the times over four or five days and see whether the two-peak pattern is there
• Look outside at the roofline for the entry point and for damage
• Look for what gets them up: a branch, a climbing plant, a fence run, a drainpipe
• Do not block anything until the roof space is confirmed clear
• Do not go up and disturb a nest, particularly in spring or summer