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

Sometimes there is no substitute for going up. If you are going to, these are the things worth knowing first.

Before You Go Up

• Do not go alone. Somebody at the bottom of the ladder is the single most useful safety measure there is
• A proper light, head torch ideally, so both hands are free
• Stand on the joists or the boarding, never on plasterboard. A foot through a ceiling is the commonest loft accident by a distance
• Mind the wiring, particularly where a squirrel may have been at it
• Gloves, and old clothes. Fibreglass insulation is unpleasant
• A dust mask if you are going to be disturbing anything
• Do not go up if the hatch is awkward, the ladder is unsound or you are not confident. It is not worth it

What to Look For

1. Daylight. Turn the torch off for a minute and let your eyes adjust. A hole at the eaves or under a tile shows immediately, and this is the single most useful thing you can do up there.
2. The nest. A gathered mass of torn insulation, usually against a joist, in a corner, or under the eaves.
3. Torn-up insulation, in strands and dragged rather than compacted.
4. Gnawing on timber, rafters, joists and the boarding.
5. Cable damage. Look, do not touch, and get an electrician if you find any.
6. Droppings on the joists, which are the walkways.
7. The cold water tank, for contamination and whether it has a proper lid.
8. Stored possessions, opened or nested in.

What Would Make You Come Straight Back Down

• Anything that looks like bats — droppings in a pile under one point that crumble to a glittery powder, and no gnawing at all. Legally protected; leave and take advice
• An active bird nest, protected while nesting
• A wasp nest, which is a papery grey structure and a very good reason to leave
• Damaged wiring, which is an electrician's problem before it is anybody else's
• An animal that is present and moving

Do Not Disturb a Nest

Particularly in spring or summer. BPCA's guidance is that grey squirrels usually have two litters a year, in early spring and summer, so a nest may well have young in it. Leave it exactly as it is, come down, and let the survey establish what is there — because the order the job is done in depends on that answer.

And Take Photographs

Of the hole, the nest, the damage and the droppings. It is more useful than a description and it saves somebody else going up.