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Can you identify this pööp..?

NeoNewLawnNeoNewLawn Posts: 82
in Wildlife gardening
Good morning all!

So I have a large, mostly enclosed garden in Devon. Very rural, surrounded by horses and fields and a large forest to the front. Lots of animal activity not least of all a large herd of deer that visit most days. 

There is a badger set about 100m up a wooded lane though I am not sure how to tell if this is still active. I say the garden is mostly enclosed as a human wouldn't be able to make it through the hedge on two sides, but certainly a neighbour's cat does so it's not an impenetrable barrier. 

I woke up this morning to find this in the garden! I have never seen nor heard any foxes in the area though it's my suspicion this was the culprit, though its not unusually smelly, something I normally associate with fox scat.

I have included a tennis ball for scale, its a pretty impressive poop (can we say poop in here?) and I was hoping one of you reading this might be able to tell me who the likely pooper was!

Thanks in advance. 




Posts

  • B3B3 South East LondonPosts: 24,082
    No mistaking fox smell😖. It must be something else.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • NeoNewLawnNeoNewLawn Posts: 82
    edited March 2020
    B3 said:
    No mistaking fox smell😖. It must be something else.
    I mean I haven't stuck my nose in it! :)
    But yes normally they are pretty rank. I am 87.3% sure it's not a dog, several reasons not least of all I am probably a mile from the nearest neighbour and its just not the sort of 'thing' you might see, other dogs just walking around. 

    I have a battery powered camera trap, but I figure the odds of the creature in question coming back and having a repeat performance at the same spot is probably zero...
  • B3B3 South East LondonPosts: 24,082
    I don't know about yer rural fox but you dont need to get anywhere near urban fox poo to smell it!
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • nick615nick615 SW IrelandPosts: 1,251
    Wouldn't it depend on how long the 'sample' has been there as to how badly it smells?  To me, if it's black it's fox, but out in the fields where I usually see it any smell has long since faded away.  I'm certainly no expert, though!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Central Norfolk UKPosts: 82,274
    edited March 2020
    I think that's fox ... fox poo (like ours) depends a lot for its consistency and smell on what the fox has been eating.  Urban foxes tend to have a rich and quite fatty diet (all those KFC and burgers) whereas rural foxes' diets consist much more of small rodents, amphibians, big slugs, rabbits and the occasional foray into a hen coop, supplemented by fruit in the autumn.  The two diets produce very different poos.  
    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • FairygirlFairygirl west central ScotlandPosts: 49,148
    I'd say fox as well. The foxes here are semi rural, so the smell is not as pungent, as @Dovefromabove states.

    Glad I had my breakfast a while ago.....

    If you set your camera up, there's a good chance it will come back to, or near to, that spot. It's a way of marking territory, so there must be something attractive and convenient about your plot  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....


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