What would wedge bird remains in a branch?

[laurey81]

Hi everyone.

Whilst sitting in a tree in a lovely wooded dell this afternoon, I looked up and noticed the remains of a bird that appeared to have been wedged where a branch had cracked. It was about 3m off the ground. The bird looked like it might have been a fair size - the leg bone I could see was about 6cm or so in length, and quite thick, maybe 1 cm or a bit smaller.

I immediately thought shrike, but I had the impression that they were quite small and presumably took smaller birds than this appeared to be.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm in South Somerset by the way.

(I was too far away to be able to get a decent photo unfortunately)

Thanks!

[solus]

OK, nastiest suggestion first - [sub]Human being.

Assuming the bird didn't die there as a result of some unfortunate accident it may have been the remains of a raptor kill, left to be finished off later - a Sparrowhawk kill, maybe? If the situation was accessible to a small mammal, it might have been a fox although I would have thought they may be more likely to bury their food (like the half-eaten Wood Pigeon I dug up in my raspberry patch recently!)

I'm sure someone will be along with some better ideas soon!

Shrikes in general aren't particularly common in the UK and while we do have a number of wintering Great Grey Shrikes they tend to hunt small birds and insects in open clearings or moorland/grassland locations and 'your' bird sounds too big anyway.

[Hedgehoggy]

Sparrowhawk, owl, corvid, or other BoP?

Welcome to WAB

[thewoose]

I found a lapwing's remains in a similar situation next to the River Wyre in Lancashire last month.

I too was trying to figure out how it might have got there! My theory (and it's only that) is that a peregrine took it (they like waders), realised it was a bit too big, landed in the tree, and then was spooked and left it there. The lapwing was already dead of course, and just rotted in the branches.

Just a guess though!

[Dogghound]

Mustelid like a stoat perhaps, I recon corvid is a good shout.

[RobinP]

I was thinking Raven...

[faz]

hmmmmmmm big cat


lol joke every one phew

[Farplace]

Magpie or other corvid at a guess.

[laurey81]

The remains are a lot smaller than I first thought (sorry), and the leg turned out to be a wing (it was far away!)

My guess is that the prey was maybe sparrow-sized...

Thanks for all the suggestions!