Is That Noise in the Loft a Grey Squirrel? A Wisbech Identification Guide – Cost & Prevention Guide

People ring us convinced there is a squirrel in the roof, and often there is. When there is not, the answer falls into a short list — and most of the items on it are cheaper to deal with than a squirrel.

It Was a Rodent

The commonest alternative. The separator is time of day: rats and mice are active after dark, squirrels in daylight. If the noise is a night-time one, it was never a squirrel. Rodent evidence is different too — droppings scattered or on a route, fine gnawing, smearing along edges, and no damage at the roofline outside.

It Was Birds

Fluttering and scratching near the eaves, loudest in the early morning, and generally in spring and summer. Nesting birds are protected while nesting, so the answer is usually to wait until the nest is finished with and then proof the entry point. That is a proofing job rather than a pest control one, and it is a great deal cheaper.

It Was Bats

Faint scrabbling and squeaking at dusk, droppings that crumble to a dry glittery powder in a pile below a fixed point, and — the decisive part — no gnawing anywhere at all. All bat species are legally protected. Nothing gets treated, blocked or cleared, and we will tell you what has to happen instead.

It Was the Building

• Pipework ticking and creaking as the heating goes on and off, which is the commonest of all
• Timber movement as the roof warms and cools, clustering in the evening
• A loose tile, ridge tile, vent cowl or aerial in wind
• Water hammer or an overflow into a void

It Was Outside the Roof, Not In It

A branch or a length of ivy touching the roof or the wall in light wind produces an intermittent scratching sound with pauses between it, and it sounds convincingly like something inside the structure. It is one of the more common false alarms and it takes two minutes to rule out by going outside and looking.

And Sometimes It Was a Squirrel That Has Gone

An empty drey and old damage in a loft is a record of something finished, and it does not need a treatment. It does need proofing, because a roofline that admitted a squirrel once will admit another — and it is worth checking any cable that was in reach while somebody is up there.

Why We Are Happy to Tell You This

Because a squirrel job on a property with no squirrel achieves nothing, and we would rather you spent the money on proofing or on a roofer. Where it is genuinely unclear, a pest inspection and survey is a fixed cost, and a survey that finds nothing is a result rather than a wasted visit.