Regurgitated remains

[shirl]

Any ideas what sort of animal might regurgitate something like this? Found on our grass yesterday morning, made up of bone fragments and very coarse grey hair.

Shirl

[nightshade]

I would start with a Buzzard, Gulls from a resevoir or if you were really lucky an Eagle Owl. That should start the ball rolling

[djackso]

I can only eliminate (???) various species of crow:

The absence of small stones and plant material suggests it is not a member of the crow family.

What sort of habitat surrounds your garden? Woods, lake, river, fields?

[Jason Green]

I'd personally guess a BoP.

[mh68]

It looks very loose to be a pellet. Had it not contained the bone fragments i`d have said a cat furball ( is it possible for a furball to contain fragments like this???).The large-ish bone fragments rule out Buzzard - usually these have very little bone content.As Djackso says, the lack of small stones rules out a Corvid.

Can you give us an idea of the size Shirl?

Mark H

[djackso]

I've got my "tracks and signs" book out. Apparently the digestive juices of birds of prey can DISSOLVE BONE

Well I never!

At best, there may be a few half digested pieces, but often they are completely gone.

So not a typical b.o.p. pellet then.

[mh68]

Originally Posted by djackso

I've got my "tracks and signs" book out. Apparently the digestive juices of birds of prey can DISSOLVE BONE

Well I never!

At best, there may be a few half digested pieces, but often they are completely gone.

So not a typical b.o.p. pellet then.

Birds of prey also tear their food into pieces while feeding to avoid ingesting large bones,as opposed to the likes of Owls which swallow most prey whole.

Mark H

[shirl]

The whole thing was about 4 inches long, the pic shows it as I found it, already looking as though it had been pulled apart. The garden is in the Derbyshire Dales, we live on a limestone hillside with a sandstone outcrop above us, loads of dry stone walls, trees and fields and a limestone quarry about 1/4 mile away. We do see quite a few raptors (usually buzzards and kestrels) and are close to Carsington Water so we do get seabirds flying over.

Shirl

[Tracey.A]

Are there any trees, posts or fences in this area? Were the remains of this pulled apart when you found it? If not how big was it? Don't know if this is a cat's furball or an owl pellet? Unlikely to be any of the other birds of prey as unlike owls their digestive juices are able to digest most of the bones. Not crows either, although you do find bone remains in their pellets, but as Djackso pointed out there are no stones present in the pellet. I don't know what a cats furball looks like, although I did try and google, but didn't find anything. Sort of remember someone having a picture of a furball on this site, not sure if it was Vole woman?

Tracey

[Tracey.A]

Originally Posted by djackso

I've got my "tracks and signs" book out. Apparently the digestive juices of birds of prey can DISSOLVE BONE

Well I never!

At best, there may be a few half digested pieces, but often they are completely gone.

So not a typical b.o.p. pellet then.

Looks like we have the same book Djackso. It's a good one

[shirl]

Originally Posted by Tracey.A

Are there any trees, posts or fences in this area? Were the remains of this pulled apart when you found it? If not how big was it? Don't know if this is a cat's furball or an owl pellet? Unlikely to be any of the other birds of prey as unlike owls their digestive juices are able to digest most of the bones. Not crows either, although you do find bone remains in their pellets, but as Djackso pointed out there are no stones present in the pellet. I don't know what a cats furball looks like, although I did try and google, but didn't find anything. Sort of remember someone having a picture of a furball on this site, not sure if it was Vole woman?

Tracey

Hi Tracey The remains were found close to one of the sycamore trees, there are lots of trees in the garden, sycamore, oak, ash, conifer, poplar, elder etc, we have a field which is surrounded by wooden fence posts but the garden boundary is mainly dry stone wall. When I found it it wasn't in what you might call a pellet form, but looked as if someone / something had pulled it apart to see what it was! Just been and checked it again and there are only a couple of small pieces left.

Shirl

[Tracey.A]

This is only a guess, but I wonder if it was a Tawny owl, have you heard any in your area? I think it might be one of the owls, but not really sure which one to be honest. Sorry, but it's easier to tell if the pellet is intact, although the real experts would be able to tell by analysing the contents. I wonder what it is that is scavenging the bones from the pellet?

Tracey

[dragonfly]

I would say a bird of pray eagle bussard owls if it was left ove night then it would point to an owl

[shirl]

We do have tawny owls and sometimes a little owl, so hopefully that's what it is. It was left overnight and we do have shrews / voles/mice in the garden so a good food supply for the owls.

Thanks for all the suggestions, pity it wasn't intact

Shirl

[Nightranger]

This strongly suggests an owl pellet that may have been secondarily scavenged by another creature, possibly a rat or Hedgehog.

[shirl]

Originally Posted by Nightranger

This strongly suggests an owl pellet that may have been secondarily scavenged by another creature, possibly a rat or Hedgehog.

That would make sense that there was a scavenge, we do have both Hedgehogs and rats, thanks for the suggestion, will look out for some more

Shirl