Interesting Owl Pellet

[Dogghound]

Found this week in coastal grassland, near arable land in East Yorkshire on a private farm.



Barn owl pellet below for comparison. The pellet is approximately 2.5 inches in length and about 2cm wide.

Local owl species include

Barn Owl - good local breeding population, however this pellet doesnt look like a barn owl pellet.

Tawny Owl -which tend to avoid the coastal grassland and farmland nearest territory is about 800 meters from this area (that I know of).

Little Owl - which it isnt.

Short eared Owl -birds hunt along this coastal grassland, although its been a quite winter for these, not seen any or heard of any recent reports within the area, the last sightings (I had) were around october most of these birds carried on straight through the area.

Long eared Owl - the nearest territory is approximately 400 meters away ive never seen them over the coastal grassland though.

Ive only really got experience with barn owl and tawny owl and thought this looked different.

Thankyou D.

[htcdude]

Perhaps from an escapee of some sort? Send it to Packham he should be able to tell you

Nige

[Adam Cheeseman]

If you think it isn't an owl, how about Grey Heron or one of the larger gull species?

Cheers,

Adam

[Wild-Woman]

Perhaps soak and disect DH. If contents similar then perhaps it's just an odd pellet from a Barn Owl. Barn Owl Pellets that I've disected have been a range of sizes and shapes.

[The Woodman]

Agreed, it does look different.

If it's for an EIA or similar, barn, snowy, tawny, little, long and short-eared can be DNA tested. If you need the details, PM me.