The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Wildlife => Topic started by: Dans on June 09, 2016, 01:03:11 am
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Can you help me identify what might be hunting on our land?
A couple weeks ago I checked on the sheep water and say a leg bone floating in there, not very big, maybe a baby rabbit, mostly eaten down to the bone, a little bit of fur stuck to one end.
Then we moved the sheep after shearing and I found next to water bucket half a song bird. One leg and wing were missing and the body cavity had been hollowed out.
Then a couple of days ago, again by the sheep water I found a mole with a hole in its head. Untouched otherwise (we'd been getting some molehills so I am kind of glad of this one).
Any idea what could be doing this? We have has a couple of crows hanging around, and hubby thought he saw an owl the other night. I have a picture of the mole and the bird if that helps. It just seems odd that it is always by the sheep water even though we have moved fields.
Dans
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I'd say a cat is the most likely candidate. I don't know anything else that would hunt rabbits, small birds and moles.
The hole in the mole may have been a crow taking advantage after the cat had killed the mole.
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Now I'm thinking it might all be crows. I looked at the pic of the bird (hubby did that clear up) and what I thought was a whole wing was actually just a leg (long grass) so not a songbird. Hubby also said he found a slice of bread at the same spot.
We have two crows (or ravens I can't tell) who are in that area a lot during the day. Could they be scavenging and bringing it here to eat?
Dans
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Ravens are HUGE and I don't think they are found in Lincs. Crows are much smaller. There's also rooks and jackdaws to differentiate.
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Could well be more than one hunter on your land, Dan's. Possibly you just notice the bones and bodies that are near the water because you happen to be near those spots more as you go about your chores.
We have ravens nesting in the wood behind us. As FW says they are very big ... I would say buzzard sized. I think they are found mainly on the western side of the UK.
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It's two crows then. Completely black, beak included. Could they have made us their dining room?
Dans
Ps :wave:
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Just did a quick search on the net and straight away it came up that crows do indeed 'store' food in certain favoured spots. Apparently they often cover with a leaf or grass to mark the spot rather then bury their cache. They sometimes do this to build up a store for winter or if they can't carry away all the food in one go.
Like the jay with acorns, I guess.
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Could well be more than one hunter on your land, Dan's. Possibly you just notice the bones and bodies that are near the water because you happen to be near those spots more as you go about your chores.
We have ravens nesting in the wood behind us. As FW says they are very big ... I would say buzzard sized. I think they are found mainly on the western side of the UK.
We have loads of Buzzards here on the eastern side of North York Moors: I think they're increasing their range so it could be. There are various other birds of prey that carry off birds or mamals to eat them. Is the water trough under trees?
The mole sounds like stoat.
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The water buckets aren't under trees but they are against a fence or hurdles, so somewhere to perch.
Found several bits of bone and gristle around the bucket end of last week then noticed bone shard at the bottom of the bucket.
Hubby saw the 'crow' and immediately said 'what was that, it was huge' so maybe it is a raven. I saw that they have been increasing their range. Spent an evening listening to the different calls so will see if I can make an I'D. I'm rubbish at size estimations.
I had thought I'd seen it all but today theres a blinking rib in the water bucket!
I'm checking the buckets twice a day and scrubbing them clean when I find the meal remnants but should I be doing more? It doesn't seem great for there to be dead things in the sheep's water.
Dans
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I wouldn't worry too much Dans, animals have a different immune system to us and can withstand a few bones (and worse) in their water.
The boy hasn't been to shear the girls yet, I'll nag him a bit this morning!
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Thanks. I am such a worry wart!
And *bounce* thank you! :excited:
Dans
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I used to have a pet crow and it always liked to dip its food in water. So anything found in or near the water trough - I would put down to crows.
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Many years ago friends of ours had a tame crow. It's name "Status Crow"!
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Mine was called Cronan the Barbarian. :)
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Mine was called Cronan the Barbarian. :)
So, "Nan", then? As in, Crow Nan (the Barbarian)? Good one. :roflanim:
No-one got a Russell, then? Too obvious, perhaps! :D
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Ours was called 'Crow' :roflanim:
Dans :wave: - how about moving the water buckets? They don't need to be at the edge.
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And you'd probably know if you had ravens about, this is the size of one at 12 weeks old....
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/GreenBeast999/General/Animals/20160605_182528-1_zpsjnp5f8qp.jpg)
And you would have heard their deep croaking about
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I'd say a cat is the most likely candidate. I don't know anything else that would hunt rabbits, small birds and moles.
The hole in the mole may have been a crow taking advantage after the cat had killed the mole.
Sorry, couldn't resist -
"There's a hole in my mole, that's been killing me forever..."!