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Who's poos?

Rob LockwoodRob Lockwood Posts: 380
in Wildlife gardening
Hi all

Put a few seeds out for the birds on this ice cream tub lid (1litre for size!) and accidentally left it out overnight.  By the morning they'd been replaced by these!  Any idea which animal they belong to?


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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Hedgehog 🦔 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Rob LockwoodRob Lockwood Posts: 380
    Wow!  You reckon Dove?  We've got something like 90% of the garden surrounded by concrete fences and 3 foot drops.  It would be lovely if they were able to navigate that lot.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Looks like it to me ... we get droppings like that every night at our feeding station and over the terrace ... they have terrible table manners ... we sometimes have two or three sitting in the big dish eating, dozing and pooing. 

    Our garden is pretty impregnable except for two holes in the base of the back fence ... that’s enough. 

    Make a feeding station ... put some Gocat chicken biscuits in a shallow dish and put out a shallow dish of water too .... maybe lay a trail to lead them there for the first night or two ... and sit back and watch. 

    😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I'd agree. How lovely @Rob Lockwood  :)
    I had some a couple of years ago who'd been displaced when aa neighbour was putting in a new fence. Unfortunately, they haven't been back. We have a lot of woodland/habitat  etc nearby though.
    They got in under the fence, and made a little track along the grass.  :)

    Yours might have travelled further in search of food because of the dry ground too. When those ones appeared here, mum was out foraging at night and the ground  was very dry at the time, We were feeding them, and it was lovely seeing the little ones out too.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Rob LockwoodRob Lockwood Posts: 380
    Thanks both - that's very exciting!  Dove - in terms of sitting watching: am I sitting up all night with a torch(!) or do they sometimes do dusk?
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    It depends where you fit in their regular nightly rambles ... ours tend to visit us a couple of hours or more after dusk so at this time of year it means staying up ... my OH is a very light sleeper and often hears them pushing  their dish around on the terrace, not to mention their amorous huffing, puffing and snorting  at this time of year.  One night the summer before last we slept out in the garden on an air bed, but had to abandon the idea around 2am because they kept waking us up.  

    @Hostafan1 regularly sees 'his' hedgehogs tucking into the food he puts out for them by their french windows as they visit  his terrace quite early in the evening.  

    You might feel like investing in a 'trail camera' or similar to watch them at your leisure.  

    And have a look here https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/

    By the way, those poos in your garden are very clearly hedgehog poos ... you can see the little shiny bits of beetle wing cases etc ... and possibly the more indigestible bits of adult vine weevils too!

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    Bit late to the party but yes l'm 99.9% certain it's hedgehog 🦔.
    "Mine" have been turning up around 10pm the last couple of nights,  since the weather turned cooler, before that it was around midnight.  If you can, invest in a trail camera,  they are fascinating creatures! 

  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889

    Devon.
  • Rob LockwoodRob Lockwood Posts: 380
    Nice - thanks all!  I'm wondering about the food - like most of you, we have cats and squirrels visiting the garden; I've seen rats from time to time and wouldn't rule out foxes; anyone come up with anything ingenious to make sure the food gets into the right animal? 
    Hedgehog Street suggests either putting a shallow saucer under eg a tile, or a feeding station with either a drainpipe entrance or up against a wall / fence (creating a gap too small for cats and foxes).  Neither will stop rats I suppose... 
    What a great way to start the weekend!  Need to fill that pond now :D:smile:
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889


    I use a trap with the door locked open but very low so poxy cats can't get in.
    Devon.
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