Scat I.D Help

[jamesthornton]

Hi,

I was at Leith Hall Estate yesterday which is in Aberdeenshire. I was up on the hill looking for Wildcat signs (1 spotted very near by) and discovered this.

For reference: the book is 18cm. It was all 1 scat, all conncected. It didn't smell in the snow but we bagged it and later it had a slight musty but not unpleasant smell. Contained fur and bones, but I didn't completely break it up.

I think it looks Mustelid, and I did find some others which were quite likely to be stoat, but I can upload them for comparisons if you want..



Cheers

[healfdan]

Hello James

I would say too large for a stoat when using your book as a guide to size. I think it is a fox, although not typical of the usual cylindrical droppings shown in guide books.

[jamesthornton]

Hi,

Yeah it's much too big to be a stoat, but I think I found a stoat scat on the same estate.

I don't think it's fox, as we found about 3 fox scats spread out. Am I right in saying this is fox?



We didn't want to be too excited but we thought it could be Pine Marten, the length (albeit a little bit larger!) smell and shape all seemed right. The nearest sighting of a Pine Marten was 10km in Huntly. Possible?

[healfdan]

Hello again James
Not being familiar with pine martens, it is possible. I browsed through a tracks and signs book, and although the shape looks right, the size exceeds the 8 and 10 cm length indicated in the book. Still I am sure it will not be long before someone familiar with pine martens confirms it, or not.

[jamesthornton]

Yeah that's what confused me so much, although the book pictured indicates 8-12cm, and the VWT states Pine Marten scats are very hard to I.D and the length varies a lot, which I guess is true with all animals, but I just can't picture anything else doing this...

[Dogghound]

The top scat is very interesting, it could very well be a pine marten. What sort of habitat do we have in that area? However as stated it does seem a little large. Sometimes fox droppings can uncoil and if they have a high hair content look similar to this. Both species leave a musky smelling dropping.

The 3 scats are from a fox.

[jamesthornton]

Hi Dogg,

It's a small hill surrounded by woodland and and a little farmland. It was lit by a fire a few years ago and is quite open on top, very rocky and shrubby, but there are still some older trees still on top.

It wasn't very hairy compared to some of the examples ive seen, mostly hair and bone inside rather than all hair on the outside.

I don't know if you can see on that picture, but there a few very small white balls which could be seeds or fungi?

[Dogghound]

Could they be bone fragments, its quite hard to make out, more likely fungi than seeds. Martens and foxes both feed on fruits which show up as large seeds or stones. The habitat would suit either. The reason that it twists like it does is does to hair in the dropping. It Might be an idea to go back and look for more signs.

[jamesthornton]

I did bag it up and I could pick through it, but as you say the diet could be either..

[Blizzard]

I think it could be fox. The thin and twisted appearance could be due to a lack of food due to the previous weather perhaps?

I think it's too big to be pinemarten but I'm sure there will be pinemarten in that general area. Although you think of pinemarten being in wooded areas I have seen them in "scrubby" areas this year.

Mind you I'm no expert, just going on my own experience .