Otter poo?......Worms…..
by Bernie Bell - 09:38 on 13 March 2024
Otter poo?......Worms…..
Otter poo?.....
On Monday, I posted the following on the Orkney Wildlife Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/133013273445588/?locale=en_GB …………
“This morning Mike took a picture of some poo near the pond in our garden…
We got excited about the possibility of it being Otter poo (spraint) as we suspect that there has been Otter activity in the garden…
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16742
We looked it up in ‘Collins Guide to Animal Tracks and Signs’ by Preben Bang and Preben Dahlstrom in which the picture isn’t very illuminating as it’s black and white and a bit vague - but the text was helpful as it says…
“Otter faeces deposited on top of a grass tussock. Here the animal has placed its faeces so that they can serve to mark territory.”
The poo by the pond was deposited on a little tussock of grass. If it is an otter – and it sees our garden as its territory – HURRAH! Though quite a few other critters see it that way too!
We then Googled Otter poo images - which wasn’t exactly conclusive either, as they are similar to hedgehog……
“August the Twenty-ninth………………Not everyone’s idea of something to brighten the day……I was walking up the path at the side of our garden when I saw this poo……
…..not a dog, not a cat – not pellets, so that rules out hare or rabbit……What is it?……I came indoors, and Mike – who has a reference book for all Natural History queries – looked up mammal droppings…..It’s a hedgehog!….The pic. in the book was exactly the same as what was on our path.
This pleases me greatly..…We know that hedgehogs visit our garden, as we see them now and then……Somehow the poo makes me feel that they feel at home here…….It made my day…..Doesn’t take much….”
Extract taken from this article, which includes pics of Hedgehog poo…
https://theorkneynews.scot/2021/09/04/week-thirty-five-one-day-at-a-time/
But …to me, Monday’s poo looks fatter and rounder than hedgehog? And, if it is hedgehog – that no’ bad either – tho’ it’s still a bit cold for them to be out just yet.
We’re asking them as knows what they make of it – and meanwhile I thought I’d post it here.”
Following the advice of Liam Anton, Mike went out, armed with a stick, poked it in the poo (gives a whole new meaning to Pooh Sticks!) and he says that the consistency is that of 'felted hair'. No discernible smell. No bones, scales or bits & pieces in it.
I suppose it could be a cat fur-ball – how very dull - but we've learnt some things we didn't know about identifying poo!
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Worms…
I likes ‘Dune’…I likes worms…
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00690-9
My tuppenceworth…
https://theorkneynews.scot/2021/05/07/hurrah-for-earthworms-or-the-return-of-the-native/
FYI – the Voles did return!...
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16243
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