Backyard Squirrel Box With Camera

I previously made a Blue Tit Bird Box with a Camera, and it really was a joy to be able to watch nature at close quarters, both whilst working in my Shed, but also when my son was getting ready before and coming back from school, to check in how things were going. This is a backyard project, as sadly I don't have any big trees I can [legally] install a squirrel box in, so have had to create this as a workaround on my property. As you will also discover, I created a 'on a pole' version also, as a replacement for a lack of tree. These are experimental, so it's a bit of an exploration, but I've had some great tips from the lovely Jo and John Fesler, of Beryl The Squirrel IG channel, who gave advice on some aspects of the nature of squirrels and general sizes of home, etc. (If it's great, thanks to them; if it's a bad idea, blame me!!)

Squirrels - especially Grey Squirrels - may divide some people. I get that. Please feel free to gently move on if this post is not for you. I grew up in Cumbria, which is one of the last refuges of the endangered Red Squirrel, so I get it, but I'm now in London, and I just really like squirrels, ok.

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So, dear remaining readers, as someone who is also up for some squirrel shenanigans, welcome, and this Instructable was a fun way to entice squirrels to nest. I have not got there just yet, but signals look promising, so I remain hopeful. It should also be said, perhaps do not do this if you are worried about squirrels running amuck in your attic or suchlike, and indeed, I give a freestanding variation on this later on. They are basically very entertaining rats with more fluff, so perhaps don't encourage them to set up home near where you might regret it.

I feel I'm on a bit of a roll here with using tech to engage kids in nature, and for anyone who's seen Squirrels do an 'assault course' - it's just huge fun. I made one when my son was very young, enjoy!

Like Mark Rober, I have also used Squirrels as a way to teach kids about incremental problem solving in design, and how these scritters are incredibly smart, and can crack most attempts to get into nuts in a bird feeder. This was with Design & Technology Association, in the UK.

The other aspect of this project is to consider how to make thing from found/up-cycled wood, and I've made various other projects using scraps. I have given dimensions as a guide, but would suggest you approach it freestyle, as squirrels don't seem that particular and many squirrel boxes online have a lot of variation in size and location.

As mentioned, this project can be approached from various angles - you can do variations on the build, you might even end up using larger or smaller cameras, so need to make adjustments for that. This guide is more where I got to in making a place that will invite squirrels, whilst also enabling filming, and indeed, making the film gear 'squirrel proof' (ie protecting cameras and cables from sharp teeth, and a tendency for squirrels to wanna gnaw stuff at random!!).

Wood Planks, as shown. Salvaged from a skip (with permission).

Dowel ~6mm dia. (Other sizes will do, for pinning joints).

Wood Glue.

Wood Screws (some that can go through 'two planks' thickness).

Latches (Optional): https://amzn.to/4ed2HaJ

Bike Inner Tubes (recycled from bike shop waste - free!)

Essential Tools: Band/Skill Saw, Drill, Clamps, Files.

Nice to have Tools: Plane, Sander, Vibration/Oscillation Tool: https://amzn.to/3Cj5EcA

Bird Camera (Wired): https://amzn.to/4fzUnTn

Example Monitor (with Composite Input): https://amzn.to/3CcvaA1 (often can get for free in jumble sales!)

AV to HDMI Converter: https://amzn.to/3Chhfc4

Multi AV Box/Switcher: https://amzn.to/3UEFZB4 (only if you plan to do this with multiple cameras!)

For me this is one of the best example of using a quick cardboard prototype. (I've written about this in detail in other Instructables). Not only does it help with the Field of View, or FoV, but it helps get an idea of the 'low light capabilities' of your chosen camera. Some are more sensitive and will work in very low ambient light, some like mine, needed a little 'boost' and I added a 'skylight' so more light would come in, whilst still keeping out rain.

Of course one needs to respect the cardboard is the 'interior' dimensions, so build the thicker wood around these internal dimensions. Sounds obvious, but easy to forget - and even then, making a little larger does not hard (reducing size is easier than increasing it after the fact).

Guide Dimensions.

This seems to be fairly relaxed, but I asked Jo and John, and they sent me a sketch of a box with 11.0(w) x 11.5(d) inches for the internal area, with an internal height of 18(h) inches at the 'ridge' and 16 inches at the sloping side. They suggested a 3 inch hole, and to protect this with an enclosure around it. They also suggested a 3-4 inch shelf, mid way up. Two entrance / exit holes are advisable, so squirrels can always flee if one hole is attacked. (Who said the life of a squirrel seems easy!).

I worked with these approximately, and it seems from a look on line, you can be flexible about these, but the 3 inch hole is pretty specific, so as not to be too tight, or too big - and let predators in.

I got planks which were too small for this large box, so needed to join them together. I could have just butt-jointed them, but this is likely over time, (out in the elements), to split - and I didn't want the thing to fail with nesting animals, or above people's heads! So I made a way to joint them securely, which may not be the perfect carpentry way, but worked pretty well.

As with many of my guides, I think 'working with what you got' is a skill in itself, and hope this gets people out of a jam, as frankly 12 inch wide planks of timbre are not extortionate but not cheap either, so a bit of upcycling is advisable, especially when taking a punt on whether they will nest or not.

I began by squaring off by boards, so the edges would be flush, and I could remove any defects. In order to make a 11.5 inch wide board, I was joining some 8 inch boards, which were halved to be 4 inch, and then jointed (next steps), with the other 8 inch boards.

I used a router to cut out a channel halfway between both boards (about 3/4 inch, so 3/8 inch deep), and about the same inset. I used a plane to shave off any thicker parts so both fit snugly.

I enlisted my son to 'whack-a-mole' the 6mm dowel pins into 6mm holes as shown, securing the two planks together, with woodglue also. I used about one every 2 inches.

These were left to dry, in our kitchen, (my Wife is a Saint!). The dowels are left protruding, and can be sawn/sanded down later.

My son (complete with PPE), had a great time with the rotary sander, but it could be done by hand with sandpaper too. The reason was to 'lighten-up' the sides from being slightly dirty/muddy - to be a bright pine yellow. This not only looks nicer (perhaps) for the squirrels, but it also keep it light inside to help filming in lower light levels.

I checked the fit as shown, but did not assemble yet.

I marked on a 20degree roof-line, and cut as shown, both planks at the same time is recommended. Use a G Clamp for safety.

I've done a fair bit of working with kids in D&T classes, and for organisations, so I'm a big advocate of showing kids how to use real tools at a young age - heavily supervised always. This video gives some examples, but of course, do so at your own risk / judgement of what you feel is safe for them and yourself.

My son is using a pilot drill-bit to pre-drill the holes, and then screw in the screws to join the two pieces together in a butt-joint.

I could be wrong, but I find creating an 'inset' here avoids water running down and round the edge, and then 'wicking up' into the base. This should keep things dry.

I did this by placing the 'floor' on two pencils, and then piloting and screwing together as usual.

Long story short, I ended up 'un-doing' this step, as I realised I wanted a 'front facing' door, as when up a ladder, it's easier to access a 'side', rather than come from 'above', so hindsight is a wonderful thing. Top hinge is better for rain protection perhaps, if you have no access issues, but I would advise the following instead...

As mentioned, I dropped the roof hinge, and went for this. it requires some awareness of fitting latches, and of course realising that the 'door' has to slide 'under and up' to go into place under the roof overhang. So it a bit more involved but worth it for the easy access. I also added a 'landing strip' should the squirrels need to grab onto an edge when arriving home from a tree-branch. (I suspect this is being over-anxious, as squirrels are hardly timid things!).

If you have a 'vibration tool' like this, it's a real time saver. If not you can use a drill, and jigsaw. Or failing that a 'Jab Saw' (like this). I build this around a 3 inch hole. Based on the cardboard mock-up, this meant I could be quite confident of the focal range of the camera, etc. And simply built the box around it to keep dry.

I screwed this very firmly to the side, so as to keep water out as best as possible, and applied glue to be sure.

I made a 'race-track' of slot so the camera could be slid back / forth - so as to get the right angles, etc. Check on your monitor before tightening up in place.

Next up, I created a 'protection' screen to keep the squirrels from casually chewing the camera / camera cables. The fact that squirrels and rats have been reported to gnaw through aluminium when motivated suggests this is more a deterrent than a guarantee, but that's also part of the fun.

The benefit of Aluminium is that it can be worked easily with pliers, and this was an offcut I found in the 'scraps bin' at a workshop, these are usually free to take. I slid it into place between 4 screws, so I could tweak any parameters easily if needs be.

As per Jo and John's suggestion, I added a shelf, or should I say 'mezzanine level' in the dwelling.

I suspect this doubles as a mix up allowing them some space when sleeping/active, but also to act as a security baffle for any predators. Either way it seems to be the 'done thing' on many online videos, so I'm inclined to roll with it.

I used the few remaining spring latches to secure the side of this so as I can access the camera for wiring later.

Unlike the camera hole, which needs to be square for filming / FoV needs, the access hole for the squirrels should be round, as they'd usually gnaw this or use an abandoned bird hole, etc. 3 inch diameter can be easily drilled with one of these sets shown, and is a surprisingly useful thing to have around the house for a DIY-er. I put the holes on different sides, so as not assume a predator could not 'corner' them from one angle.

This is my son trying to 'be a predator' and stick his hand in, and it was suitably tricky to get access to much inside, so it was a good, even if not perfect test. The little housing is added and screwed form the inside.

So here we have the basics all done!

The second hole was from below, to keep things varied for the squirrels.

I was unsure if it might get too dark in the evening to see much - in colour.

The good news is the camera is Infra Red, so it can 'see in the dark', but I wanted to see as much colour footage as possible, so i added a 'skylight' in, using a glass ramekin jar, you get with these fancy 'Gu' pudding deserts. The idea being if it was plastic it might get gnawed out by accident by the squirrels.

I matched the glass dish to a suitable hole cutting disk/saw, and installed as shown.

Wood will contract and expand with humidity and warp with age, so I wanted to allow some 'flex' with the glass (which will not change in size), and used Hot Melt Glue to fill the void. Mastic would also likely work, so long as given time to allow the off-gassing to fade. I added two wide-head screws to secure from falling inside, just to be safe (you could use a washer if not).

I used some basic fence stain, I had left over from a previous job. I gave it two coats to be sure.

Because I'm fancy, and clearly have too much time on my hands - I added some shed-roofing asphalt, which was from offcuts from my own shed, but I'v often found ends of rolls given away by neighbours or in skips, so seems fair to suggest keeping an eye out for this stuff. I added a layer of thick plastic [rubble sack] bag, as a waterproof liner. I used a staple gun to hold it all in place. For cuteness - I mean waterproofness - I adde some on the two access holes, and the camera box.

Although I will say 'attempt at your own risk' upfront, I tried to make this safer, by using a 'belay line' principle in hoisting up the box...

I fitted an eyelet as shown, and used some paracord to hoist the build as I lifted it up the ladder with my long-suffering wife 'taking up the slack'. This meant I could measure the fixing holes, drill through the box, and then lower it again, whilst I installed wall plugs and got screws ready. I also added a 'L bracket' as show, as a 'datum' but also to take some of the weight whilst installing/installed.

The box was help in place with 3 heavy duty 100mm screws. It was about 2.5-3m high, which is about the minimum for squirrels to nest apparently, and about the full height of my ladder / my tolerance of precarious heights!

I checked the video feed, with it training across our garden to my shed, to check everything worked and looked nice.

I was told by Jo and John that squirrels don't like screwing through butyl rubber - ie bike inner tube, and this hopefully deters then from being 'curious' and nibbling on wires, the way many a fated rabbit does with phone charging cables. Perhaps this is a product innovation for techy Rabbit Lovers?

Anyway, I cleaned out all the white talc-y gunk inside, and then threaded the cabled for the camera through and wired up.

Shout out to the kind folks at https://www.thecyclemot.co.uk/ who let me have the old inner tubes for free!

I threaded the cables as shown, and luckily because the inner tube was larger than necessary for the cable - this had a benefit of allowing it to be pinned to the wood with thumb-tacks, as shown.

I continued this along the wall for a bit, and then via a washing-line style cable to my shed.

I needed to ensure the squirrel was happy to access the house, but not make it easy for cats or whatever to access, so I added this ramp.

I put some nails in so as to stick monkey nuts onto as a 'breadcrumb trail' as it were, to lead them inside the house, from the nearby trees in the park.

Although I'm still waiting on a nest and babies, I've at least had a visitor in no time... who purloined 20 or so nuts in about half an hour!

Pretty excited to see it working as planned. As mentioned, I'll have to be patient and see how they 'settle in', which I'm told can take time, so patience indeed needed, but a good start!

Hope you enjoy attempting this. As mentioned, many thanks to Beryl The Squirrel hosts Jo and John, and hope to update later with some nesting footage. Do let me know how you get on also!

Thanks for your support in the *backyard contest*. =)

I found a pole that had been fly-tipped by a road side. (I feel like I'm a more DIY version of David Sedaris at times, hunting for 'treasure' in other's trash). Anyway, I took this home, (which I suspect is a defunct parking notice sign), and decided to try moving it near to our apple tree, which was too slight to hold the Box, but would likely feel more 'natural' than our wall, so both options were worth a try.

Not gonna lie, this is less risky than being up a ladder, but it's also a heavy lift to hoist a 10kg thing on a 3m pole! Anyway, this is a bit of a side-quest on this Instructable, so I've not given loads of details, but I used some coach bolts and some 'drainpipe clips' to secure it, as well as some adjustable pipe clamping strip (link).