please help identify poo

[ilovewildlife]

Hi there, I have found a mystery poo on my lawn, I have seen similar before, we live in a remote area,but about three miles from the sea in North Wales, it is definately not cat/dog poo, it was about 2 1/2 inches long and black / shiny, I have to admit to sniffing it! just as I have seen them do on the tv, it smelt strongly of fish? is it possibly otter?




just another thought, last year we saw a mammal that we thought was a pole cat, from pictures we had seen, it was after out blackbird nest and we believe it took her eggs, anyway it was as big as a small cat! sort of brownish with a long tail and slunk along like a ferret.

[Burko]

Mink I'd say.

[ilovewildlife]

eek I hope not!

[ilovewildlife]

ok - I have just got the poo out of the compost heap to see what it consisted of, I picked it up with a piece of kitchen paper, the poo is blackish, or very very dark green, there are no bones in it, or insect parts, in fact it doesnt consist of anything really, just poo! it now doesn't smell that fishy. In fact not of much at all.

[vole-woman]

It looks at first glance like hedgehog poo, but if there are no insect parts in it then maybe not.

[vole-woman]

Otter poo does smell of fish, and it's incredibl;y distinctive. I've just come back from Scotland where I found some poo on a stone by a ditch in a field, a good way from the river. I assumed it was mink partly because of the location and partly because the poo was black and oily-looking, but a sniff told me straight away it was otter.

[ilovewildlife]

Oh I am glad someone thinks it is Otter, as it was definately fishy!

A neigbour of mine has some night time video footage of what he thought was an otter taking a baby duckling from his 'lake' a couple of years ago, so maybe it is otter.

[Keith D]

Hi

Assuming its about the diameter of a cigarette
we have loads of poo like that every morning on the patio
and lawn plus some inside our feeding stations.

the feeding stations are for hedgehogs we have about 4 sleeping here
plus visitors from elsewhere.

dark poo like that normally means they are finding dried mealworms
which hoggies love or cat biscuits

cheers

K/

[dampflippers]

If you feel inquisitive, place it in some warm water and leave it to soften. Then take it out on some kitchen paper and investigate with cocktail sticks.

My money is on hedgehog, but if it is otter you should find parts of fish (scales and bones) and small mammal bones rather than insect wing cases for a HH.

[ilovewildlife]

Hi there, I would love it to be either hedgehog or otter, I think it looks a bit big for hedgehog at 2 1/2 inches long? not that I know!, any way as I mentioned in an earlier post, i did pick it apart with a stick and there was nothing at all in it quite smooth with no fish, wings or bones, not a thing, just poo! quite smooth in fact inside and very dark greenish, I will look out for more.