I'm being terrorised by the squirrels in my kitchen

Michelle Collins says she is terrified to enter her kitchen every morning because of the grey squirrels which have been living in her house for the last three years.

Evading the efforts of pest controllers, they have chewed up her doors and skirting boards and have eaten her dogs' food.

The 39-year-old gym owner said they go into her kitchen at night, leaving her at the end of her tether.

Michelle, from Kilwinning in Ayrshire, said: "I never imagined squirrels could do this to my home, it's unbelievable what they can do.

"I've tried everything but nothing is working. I feel terrorised by them.

"I'm terrified to go into my kitchen every morning."

Michelle told BBC Scotland she became aware of the problem when she started hearing a noise in the walls, then noticed piles of sawdust at doors and skirting boards.

"I live near woodland and they jump off the trees, on to my car port and then on to my house," she said.

"There is a hole where they have dug under my porch and are coming up the inside of my walls."

She keeps her dogs' food in the conservatory, which is off the kitchen - and the squirrels had chewed through the door to get to the food.

"I now put the food away when I go to bed, but in the morning I've found the towel I've used to stop up the gap is pulled out and chewed too."

She said a pest controller had given up after trying everything to catch the squirrels.

Pest controllers are not allowed to trap and kill grey squirrels living in guttering or roofs - but once they enter lofts or other rooms in a house they can be exterminated.

Pest controller Scott McIntyre, who covers Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife, said he had seen the "nightmare damage" that could be done by squirrels.

"The worst was a woman in Fife who had every electrical cable chewed, so she had to have her whole house rewired. The damage they caused cost £30,000.

"Another woman in Edinburgh had her cables chewed through in her converted attic, and I've seen them chew through from attics into bedrooms.

"What they can do to a house can be devastating."

His technique is to scare squirrels out of houses before blocking up the holes.

But he said that on one occasion he was attacked by three male squirrels which he had cornered in an attic.

"They jumped on me and tried to claw and bite me, but usually squirrels run away when I go into attics."

BBC Scotland has spoken to a number of people who have experienced squirrel problems in their homes.

Jacqueline Hewitt, 49, from Gracemount in Edinburgh, said a pest controller had been to her house, but she could still hear scratching in her roof.

"He put down nine trays of poison and they were all eaten when he checked two weeks later.

"He told us squirrels can be vicious so to be very careful. We haven't dared to look in the attic.

"We don't know where the hole is so we can't get it blocked up.

"My daughter has been having nightmares that they are in her bed and she thinks they are going to come through the walls. The scratching sound is terrible."

Alayne Costello, from south Edinburgh, said there had been an issue with squirrels in her house since she moved in a year ago.

She said: "They chewed right through the lead flashing around my skylight and during the storms before Christmas it meant I was flooded.

"All the insulation was soaked, the wall in my hall was damaged as well as my bathroom. It has been a nightmare."

Nan Dickson, 75, and her husband Gerry, 85, have lived in Edinburgh's Mortonhall area for 43 years.

Nan said: "We have had squirrels for the first time and the noise of them jumping above our heads is horrible. We have been worried about the damage and they gnawed through the eves.

"When my husband went into the attic one of the squirrels stuck its head out of the hole and we were very stressed.

"We have been shocked at what they have done."

The British Pest Control Association said there were thousands of call-outs every year because of squirrels.

"This is in part due to the damage they cause to your home and the noises squirrels make at night - which can be very distressing.

"As their numbers have increased in the UK, so has the damage they cause," it said.

It said there were no poisons which could be used by the public.

However, the association did recommend attempting to seal all entry points to a property.

Josh Galera, 20, the owner of Precise Roofing in Edinburgh, said he recently helped a customer who had seven squirrels living in her house.

He had discovered that the verge at the edge of the roof was not screwed in.

"It was flapping open and squirrels were getting in. We screwed the dry verge into the fascia so their access point into the roof was closed."