Squirrel burgers to top the menu at Welsh Game Fair

Well-known Welsh hill farmer Gareth Wyn Jones is on the lookout for a ready supply of grey squirrels, as he prepares to serve them up at the upcoming Welsh Game Fair at the Faenol Estate, near Bangor.

The event takes place over the weekend of 9-10 September, and one of the supposed attractions will be a pop-up restaurant serving, among other things, squirrel burgers. 

See also: Making the most of wild deer, with Charlie Flindt 

A keen cook, Gareth reckons they will go down a treat.

“Squirrel meat is like any other wild food, eating them is like foraging for anything else,” said Gareth, who farms at Ty’n Llwyfan in Llanfairfechan, Conwy.

“We have to remember they are a pest. On the farm, if I have too many rats or crows, I have to deal with them. What’s the difference with squirrels? Their meat is a by-product, so why waste it?”

Gareth Wyn Jones © Mandy Jones

‘Limb chickens’

Squirrels are popular quarry in the US, where most states classify them as game animals that can be killed for food consumption.

They are sometimes known as “limb chickens” and experts consider the best time to eat them is in the autumn when they have been feeding on a diet of nuts and fruit.

Gareth will be using an asado – an Argentinian-style barbecue – and will also be serving up lamb from the farm.

The Welsh Game Fair is organised in association with the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, and will cover everything from angling and axemen to conservation, shooting and wildlife – all on Faenol Estate’s magnificent 200ha overlooking the Menai Straits.