"Judith Lea" wrote in message
...
Can you help identify black poo, tapering at one end, loads and loads
everywhere on the lawn, could this be fox - although it would seem to be
from an animal with a small bottom!!
--
Judith Lea
hmm, black poo would indicate something which eats other animals. The blood
makes the poo black. Could be hedgehog?

"gavin" wrote in message
...

"Emrys Davies" wrote in message
...
"Judith Lea" wrote:

I can't find a picture of fox poo to check - does anyone have a
link?

--
Judith Lea

http://tinyurl.com/8c7ar

Regards,
Emrys Davies.

I have also started to get similar unwanted gifts being left on my
lawn. I
know there have been foxes seen in our street although I have never
seen
one, so I am assuming these are from foxes. So the question is how do
I
discourage foxes) or whatever animal it is) from dong this on my lawn?



Gavin

I don't think that you will be able to stop foxes from using your
garden. They are very determined and soon get used to whatever you use
to discourage them.

Many years ago I dunked used teabags in an expensive liquid (about £8 a
tin, I think) which I was assured would dispel foxes, and placed them
around young heathers which they were digging up. I watched through my
bedroom window and saw the foxes approach cautiously and after a short
while they started playing games with the teabags.

Hedgehogs are to be encouraged and if it were not for their tiny and
inoffensive droppings you would not know that they had visited you. I
have been feeding them for many many years, but none have turned up so
far this season. Do not give them milk or fish based food.

Regards,
Emrys Davies.

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 19:29:04 +0100, Magwitch wrote:

Judith Lea muttered:

In article , Emrys Davies
writes
Judith,

This image (site) will tell you whether or not it is a hedgehog.

http://www.wildlife-gardening.co.uk/extra%20info.htm

Thank you to everyone who replied - it certainly looks like hedgehog
poo. Obviously I have a family of them - how can I move them on as it
would be impossible for my grandson to roll anywhere on the lawn. I
can't find a picture of fox poo to check - does anyone have a link?

Oh dear... I knew modern parents were mimsy about the great outdoors and
their children, but I'd have thought a grandparent would have a greater
sense of proportion on these matters.

Hedgehogs eat slugs and snails and all manner of other larvae and insects,
they are very good news in a garden and should be encouraged.

What kind of prat would presume a garden is clean just because they
cant see any poop?

"Judith Lea" wrote in message
...
In article , Emrys Davies
writes
Judith,

This image (site) will tell you whether or not it is a hedgehog.

http://www.wildlife-gardening.co.uk/extra%20info.htm

Thank you to everyone who replied - it certainly looks like hedgehog
poo. Obviously I have a family of them - how can I move them on as it
would be impossible for my grandson to roll anywhere on the lawn. I
can't find a picture of fox poo to check - does anyone have a link?

Why on earth would you want to move them on? They are good for the garden.
Rake the lawn with a lawn rake to clear them up. There are very terrotirial
so even if you managed to catch them and take them elsewhere they would
probably come back again.
They eat all kinds of garden nasties, like slugs, snails, beetles etc and
are worth encouraging.

"w.g.s.hamm" wrote in message
...

"Judith Lea" wrote in message
...
Can you help identify black poo, tapering at one end, loads and loads
everywhere on the lawn, could this be fox - although it would seem to be
from an animal with a small bottom!!
--
Judith Lea
hmm, black poo would indicate something which eats other animals. The
blood
makes the poo black. Could be hedgehog?

"Our" hedgehog appeared earlier today for the first time this year as I was
cutting the grass - evidence on the grass of poo as described above. The hog
itself appeared this evening, scoffing the grub the cat had left. They enjoy
the leftover nuts beneath the various bird feeders. I like them.
Chris S

"gavin" wrote in message
...

I have also started to get similar unwanted gifts being left on my lawn. I
know there have been foxes seen in our street although I have never seen
one, so I am assuming these are from foxes. So the question is how do I
discourage foxes) or whatever animal it is) from dong this on my lawn?

Build a water closet in the shrubbery and speak to them nicely.

--
Brian
Henry Fielding: "All Nature wears one universal grin"

"w.g.s.hamm" wrote in message
...

Why on earth would you want to move them on? They are good for the garden.
Rake the lawn with a lawn rake to clear them up.

That might break up the bits.

Picking 'em up with plastic bags or gloves as dog owners are supposed to do,
and disposing of them elsewhere (in bin or borders) would be better.
--
Brian
"Anyway, if you have been, thanks for listening."

"ned" wrote in message
...

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
"Mike Lyle" writes:

My "Shit Book", aka Bang & Dahlstrom, _Collins Guide to Animal
Tracks and Signs_, agrees with Janet, saying fox droppings "are
sausage-shaped, usually 8-10 cm long and c. 2 cm across and with
a
spirally-twisted point at one end." If the dropping is broken
up,
only one bit has the point. It makes no mention of lawns as a
likely
site, though it's possible if a fox has a regular path across a
particular lawn; in general they leave them on a slight
elevation,
allowing scent-marking to take better effect. Hedgehog
droppings,
on
the other hand, usually have a point at one end, but there's no
mention of a twist. "The size is very variable, but on average
each
dropping is 3-4 cm long and 8-10 mm thick." "...they can be
found
distributed at random on, for instance, lawns..." I infer that
fox
droppings are black only in autumn when they've been eating
berries,
while hedgehog ones are black all the year round.

The spiral twisting is not invariable, because it is caused by
there
being a lot of hair and feathers in it, and they are often
(perhaps
usually) black, anyway. My difficulty is in telling a small fox
dropping from a large hedgehog one.

I see quite a lot of ones that are 5-7 cm long and c. 1.5 cm
thick,
so you can see why I have the difficulty!

Hmm. I suppose in those cases one can only fall back on probability
based on location, unless the culprit's caught in the act of
committing a public nuisance. (Lowering the tone, I think of an
incident in Robert Graves's _Goodbye to All That_. A soldier was up
before the CO for "committing a nuisance" on the parade ground --
and
who among us hasn't briefly wanted to do that at one time or
another? -- and pleaded in defence having been caught short; the RSM
broke in, saying, "I hexamined the nuisance, sir, and it was done
with a heffort!")

:-))

Re the difference between small fox and big hedgehog poo;

if it's fresh try the sniff test.
Very smelly - fox.
not-so-smelly, hedgehog.

If its old, break it down and look for fur and feather - fox.

A bit extreme? Needs must, when the devil drives. ;-)


But why bother? Why is it important for a gardener to identify the probable
source?

"Judith Lea" wrote in message
...
In article , Emrys Davies
writes
Judith,

This image (site) will tell you whether or not it is a hedgehog.

http://www.wildlife-gardening.co.uk/extra%20info.htm

Thank you to everyone who replied - it certainly looks like hedgehog
poo. Obviously I have a family of them - how can I move them on as it
would be impossible for my grandson to roll anywhere on the lawn.

I'm afraid that, according to the SNH people who are killing the Uist
hedgehogs, it would be cruel and inhumane to move them on, since, if put in
a new location with an existing hedgehog population, either they or the
existing hedgehogs would probably starve, whereas if put in a new location
without an existing hedgehog population, that location must be unsuitable
for hedgehogs (which is why there's none there) so they'd die anyway. The
humane solution, as practised in the Uists, is to live trap the hedgehogs,
and then administer a lethal injection.

"Brian Watson" wrote in message
...

"gavin" wrote in message
...

I have also started to get similar unwanted gifts being left on my lawn.
I
know there have been foxes seen in our street although I have never seen
one, so I am assuming these are from foxes. So the question is how do I
discourage foxes) or whatever animal it is) from dong this on my lawn?

Build a water closet in the shrubbery and speak to them nicely.

--
Brian
Henry Fielding: "All Nature wears one universal grin"


LOL!

"Emrys Davies" wrote in message
...
"gavin" wrote in message
...

"Emrys Davies" wrote in message
...
"Judith Lea" wrote:

I can't find a picture of fox poo to check - does anyone have a
link?

--
Judith Lea

http://tinyurl.com/8c7ar

Regards,
Emrys Davies.

I have also started to get similar unwanted gifts being left on my
lawn. I
know there have been foxes seen in our street although I have never
seen
one, so I am assuming these are from foxes. So the question is how do
I
discourage foxes) or whatever animal it is) from dong this on my lawn?



Gavin

I don't think that you will be able to stop foxes from using your
garden. They are very determined and soon get used to whatever you use
to discourage them.

Many years ago I dunked used teabags in an expensive liquid (about £8 a
tin, I think) which I was assured would dispel foxes, and placed them
around young heathers which they were digging up. I watched through my
bedroom window and saw the foxes approach cautiously and after a short
while they started playing games with the teabags.

Hedgehogs are to be encouraged and if it were not for their tiny and
inoffensive droppings you would not know that they had visited you. I
have been feeding them for many many years, but none have turned up so
far this season. Do not give them milk or fish based food.

Regards,
Emrys Davies.

Thanks, Emrys - I guess I'll have to grin and bear it then! I don't think
they are hedgehog poos because they seem too big for such a small animal and
even if they were I wouldn't do anything to discourage hedgehogs. Actually I
haven't seen any round here for quite some time :-( Although last year
slugs were not a problem in my garden which might mean that we do have some?



Gavin

On Fri, 22 Apr 2005 09:05:26 +0100, "BAC"
wrote:

But why bother? Why is it important for a gardener to identify the probable
source?

One reason might be that if it is fox stools it suggests that using
bonemeal would be a bad idea and keeping chickens would require more
protection than normal whereas hedgehogs are only good news.

JB

Chris S wrote:
[...]
"Our" hedgehog appeared earlier today for the first time this year
as I was cutting the grass - evidence on the grass of poo as
described above. The hog itself appeared this evening, scoffing the
grub the cat had left. They enjoy the leftover nuts beneath the
various bird feeders. I like them.

I like them, too: the good they do, the noises they make, their
general purposive pottering-aboutness. Which leads me to hesitate for
a moment before asking, in a purely Ray Mears spirit, has anybody
here actually _eaten_ one?

(I see from today's Grauniad p3 that a little Canadian girl once came
back to life after being frozen to death: her name is Erika. Which,
with a c, is Latin for female hedgehog; maybe it matters more than we
thought what we call our children.)

--
Mike.

In article , Magwitch writes

Why oh dear! I didn't ask for your personal viewpoint, I asked for
identification of poo to ensure it did not pose a health risk to my
grandson.

I have now had the poo identified and it is, accordingly to the
gamekeeper, fox.

Oh dear... I knew modern parents were mimsy about the great outdoors and
their children, but I'd have thought a grandparent would have a greater
sense of proportion on these matters.

Hedgehogs eat slugs and snails and all manner of other larvae and insects,
they are very good news in a garden and should be encouraged.


--
Judith Lea

Judith Lea muttered:

In article , Magwitch writes

Why oh dear! I didn't ask for your personal viewpoint, I asked for
identification of poo to ensure it did not pose a health risk to my
grandson.

I have now had the poo identified and it is, accordingly to the
gamekeeper, fox.

Oh dear... I knew modern parents were mimsy about the great outdoors and
their children, but I'd have thought a grandparent would have a greater
sense of proportion on these matters.

Hedgehogs eat slugs and snails and all manner of other larvae and insects,
they are very good news in a garden and should be encouraged.

I sometimes wonder why people don't consider the _mental_ health risks they
impose on children, with their paranoia and hysterical phobias.

Try Googling and see how many children are hospitalised by hedgehog/fox poo
per annum, why don't you? MRSA is a much more serious threat, and more
prevalent in hospitals than back lawns.

Like someone said, "rake it up".