..these carcasses sometimes are left as bait, as said the worry would be that they are poisoned bait, destined for the local fox but taken by the local buzzard let's hope this isn't the case
That would be my worry too!
Mike Crawley said
Mon Jan 3 1:04 PM, 2011
..these carcasses sometimes are left as bait, as said the worry would be that they are poisoned bait, destined for the local fox but taken by the local buzzard let's hope this isn't the case
Nick Isherwood said
Mon Jan 3 9:02 AM, 2011
No carcasses present today! They all appear to have been shifted either by the fox or the two local buzzards.
Dave Thacker said
Sun Jan 2 9:47 PM, 2011
Nick, this is a little usual. Normally a Fox when finding food, especially birds it will carry them away a short distance before eating them. The Pheasant may have been eaten by another animal. Possibly the farmer may be shooting the birds and putting them down to attract Foxes to a certain area so he can shoot them.
Nick Isherwood said
Sun Jan 2 8:37 PM, 2011
Over the last year or so I've noticed on odd occasion whilst walking my dog an occasional dead bird on a small part of a farmers field near to the road near my house. Normally I'd think nothing of it and put it down to either a fox or dog or something. However, the day before yesterday, on the same small part of the field there were 4 dead Wood pigeon and a dead pheasant. All within a 10 yard square patch. Only the pheasant appeared to be half eaten and the pigeons looked to be relatively untouched. Then this morning, the wood pigeon were gone and in their place were 5 dead pheasant (4 male and a female).
Recently, the farmer has started dealing in free range chickens and ducks and has a large enclosure a few hundred yards away and on the odd occasion I've stumbled on what appears to be the odd chicken carcass. Then a few weeks ago I flushed a fox from nearby undergrowth. I suspect that this is the culprit!!
My question would be though is it normal behavior of foxes to kill this many birds in an outing and to stash them in one place for perhaps eating later. I know how destructive foxes can be when it comes to getting into chicken enclosures etc but this seems a little strange to me. To be able to kill 4 wood pigeon in a day and then 5 pheasant the day after strikes me of a very successful fox - or is it finding birds that have perished from the recent harsh weather?
Any insight would be most appreciated.
That would be my worry too!
the worry would be that they are poisoned bait, destined for the local fox but taken by the local buzzard
let's hope this isn't the case
Normally a Fox when finding food, especially birds it will carry them away a short distance before eating them.
The Pheasant may have been eaten by another animal. Possibly the farmer may be shooting the birds and putting them down to attract Foxes to a certain area so he can shoot them.