Faeces ID help please

[clarebear]

Hi,

Sorry for another poo ID thread but I'd be really interested to find out who is visiting our garden. I've had a search but can't seem to find a good resource for identifying British mammal faeces. Any thoughts/links etc greatly appreciated.

For the last few weeks we've seen faeces in our garden that at first glance I'd say was hedgehog from previous visitors but it seems a little large. We used to get hedgehogs in our garden but don't think they can get in any more after we put a fence up to stop our chickens going out the front of the house. The garden is bordered by fencing and a stream. The neighbours had their ducks taken by something they suspect was mink. It remains unidentified but others have seen mink. We also get otters come up stream from the main river, which I haven't spotted but the people behind our house have seen and heard them a lot recently. They've also seen other mustelids.

I still think what we are seeing is most likely hedgehog due to the colour and consistency (lots of slugs in our garden) but a large adult. I'm very intrigued to know how he/she is getting in to our garden. I'll have to stay up and see if I can spot them tonight.

Here are this mornings discoveries:

[vole-woman]

That looks the right size for hedgehog. The stuff I've seen is firmer and contains beetle cases, but it'll depend on what the hogs have been eating.

[clarebear]

Thank you. I think it just looks small compared to the previous hedgehog visitor and he/she was a good sized hedgie. There are certainly plenty of big black slugs here that explains the consistency!

[clarebear]

I just popped out to see if there was anyone about in the garden and the hedgehog appeared behind me on the garden steps. I followed him around for a while and he seemed unphased just sniffing out slugs as he went. My next plan is to build some sort of feeding station, although I don't want to discourage him from eating the huge amount of slugs we have!

The lovely prickly out there tonight:

[Wild-Woman]

Oooo. Lovely. Such endearing creatures.

[vole-woman]

Magic!

I understood they didn't much rate slugs, preferring worms and beetles and eggs where they could get them. I thought slugs could sometimes give hogs a nasty parasite?

[clarebear]

I'm sure there are plenty of beetles and other bugs in the garden too. We've got a few log piles and other habitats for them. While I was out there with the hedgie I found a mole the cats (I know, I probably wouldn't keep cats if I didn't keep finding unwanted kittens - one of the not so nice things about living in this area) had left on the lawn and when moved had some funky yellow and black beetles under it. They scurried away too fast to get a photo