How Do You Know If You Have Grey Squirrels in Greenwich?

The Question That Does Most of the Work

Heavy movement in a loft at three in the afternoon is far more likely to be a squirrel than a rat. Rats are nocturnal; grey squirrels are diurnal, most active in the morning and again in the late afternoon.

So before anything else, spend two days noting when you hear it. Not how loud and not how often - when.

What It Sounds Like

Squirrels are heavy, and people describe the noise in ways they never use for rodents: thumping, rolling, dragging, scampering with real weight behind it. Something being carried across a ceiling. A distinct sense of an animal the size of a cat rather than the size of a mouse.

The rolling sound is worth mentioning because it is fairly distinctive - squirrels cache food, and nuts moving across joists produce a noise people find genuinely strange until they know what it is.

Go and Look at the Outside of the Building

This is the part most people skip, and it is where the answer usually is. From the garden, in good light, with binoculars if you have them:

1. Look along the roofline - the soffit, the fascia, the verge at each gable end. You are looking for a hole, a chewed edge, a displaced board or a gap where two elements meet.
2. Look at the tiles, particularly at edges and valleys, for one sitting proud or displaced.
3. Look where your roof meets a neighbour's in a terrace or semi - a common access point.
4. Then watch for twenty minutes in the morning. If there is an active entry point, you will very likely see an animal use it. This is the single most conclusive thing you can do.

How They Got There

Squirrels do not climb a wall to reach a loft. They arrive along something, and identifying that something tells you a great deal:

• An overhanging branch reaching the roof or close to it.
• A fence line running to a wall or an outbuilding.
• A cable - they are entirely comfortable running along one.
• A neighbouring roof, in a terrace, where the whole run is a highway.

If your property has none of those and you are hearing daytime activity, it is worth widening the search rather than assuming - in a terrace the entry point may be several doors along.

Inside the Loft, If You Can Get Up There Safely

Only if the access is safe and you are comfortable doing it. Do not go into a loft where you suspect an animal is present if you are not confident.

• Insulation torn up, compressed and gathered into a mass, usually towards the eaves. This is nesting.
• Gnawed cabling. The most important thing on this list - see below.
• Droppings. Larger and more irregular than rat droppings.
• Stripped bark, nut shells or cached food.
• Daylight visible where it should not be.

Grey or Red?

Grey. Red squirrels are a protected species and are confined to a small number of areas - parts of Scotland, Northumberland, Cumbria, the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, Brownsea Island - and are not found in Greater London. Anything in a loft in Greenwich is a grey squirrel.

That matters because the legal position for greys is specific, and it shapes how the work has to be done. There is more on that in the guide on getting rid of them.

Seasonal Timing

Squirrels use lofts most in the colder months and around breeding, so activity reported in late winter and early spring is common. That is also the period when a drey may contain dependent young - which is one of the strongest reasons never to block an entry point before the loft has been checked.

When to Call

• Daytime activity in a loft or roof void.
• Any gnawed cabling.
• Visible damage at the roofline.
• Torn-up insulation.
• You have blocked a hole and are now hearing activity inside - say so immediately at the enquiry rather than waiting for a routine appointment.

If You Are a Landlord or Managing Agent

Squirrels in a roof void are a building matter rather than a tenant one, and there are three things worth establishing early.

1. Get the roofline looked at, not just the loft. The entry point is outside, it is usually visible from the ground, and it is almost always a maintenance issue that was going to need attention anyway.
2. Treat gnawed cabling as urgent. Damaged insulation in a loft is a genuine fire risk and it warrants an electrician regardless of what happens about the animals.
3. Expect the work to be a programme. Trapping requires frequent checking as a matter of proper practice, so it is a series of visits over a period rather than a single attendance - worth knowing when you are managing a tenant's expectations.

The report will record the entry point, the insulation damage and any gnawed cabling found, which is usually what is needed to get the roofline repair authorised alongside the pest work.