The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Wildlife => Topic started by: oor wullie on July 16, 2014, 08:28:25 am
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Whilst taking a wander through a stand of birch I came across a mole carefully balanced on a branch (where it comes out of the trunk) about 2m up. The mole looked fairly freshly killed and had had its head bitten off.
It is glen/mountain margin habitat so high heather hill behind leading down, through some stands of birch to the grass fields in the glen bottom.
What would kill a mole then carefully hide it in a tree?
A bird of prey? A wildcat?
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It sounds a feline sort of thing to do, stashing it in a tree, but I've no idea if cats kill moles. Our dogs do but they don't eat them. Are there wildcats known in your area? Very exciting if it is :cat:
Probably a bird of prey though, maybe an owl. Any sign underneath the branch such as droppings?
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I've had cats kill moles, but never had a cat eat a mole, even cats that eat other prey.
So my vote is bird of prey. I wonder whether the mole was killed by a cat and then picked up by a kite?
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Could it have been a pine marten? They do eat small mammals.
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My cats get moles every summer but never eat them. don't they produce some sort of toxin and that's why cats never eat them or am I thinking of voles.
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Judging by what my cats leave, it's pygmy shrews, I think, Sabrina! But I don't know, maybe moles do the same.
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We are on the edge of the Monadliath mountains so there should be wildcats BUT I have my doubts as to if any are surviving here nowadays (It is ideal habitat so maybe I should ask santa for a camera trap..)
Pine martin is a good suggestion. There are none resident in our wee glen but there are some a few miles away and one was spotted passing through a couple of years ago. If pine martins had arrived then I would have though our (badly fenced and not always shut in at night) chickens might have started going missing.
I had doubts about a bird as the mole was not very high up in the tree and under the canopy, ie. a relatively vulnerable position for a big bird when they could easily be higher up the tree in a better position for lookout and access/egress.
That being said we have occasional red kites, we saw tawny owls several times last week (including when i stumbled across them roosting on a relatively low branch) and buzzards are commonplace all of which might be candidates.
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our cats kill moles. they often leave them to bloat in the sun so im not sure if they actually eat them.
talking of wildcats - there are kittens at aviemore wildlife park - very very cute.
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"The mole looked fairly freshly killed and had had its head bitten off."
I assume that the head was actually missing. In which case it is most likely to be a feline and probably a feral cat. They certainly do this with rats eating the head and leaving the body.
Regen
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We found a dead mole on top of the wire roof of the chicken enclosure!
We could only guess that a bird of prey, crow or magpie had dropped it there.
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I regularly find carcasses balanced upon stumps, low branches etc and usually with their head missing. This is most often an owls work. Although when plucked out and the breast stripped (i'm mostly looking at the carcasses of pheasant and partridge poults) it is often a goshawk. Buzzards and kites are messier and tend to just feed on the floor.