Owl pellet ID

[popcorn]

Assuming this is actually an owl pellet, what type? Barny?

Apologies for shoddy phone pic.

Thanks.

 

[Box Brownie]

It might help if you can give any indication of its size???

 

[Phil-D]

Its hard to say but possibly fox cr*p from the photo

Get two sticks and break it up, if there's more fur than bones its fox.

I've opened up loads of owl pellets, its very unusual not to have a small mammal skull in them, if you're really lucky and careful, it can still have the lower jaw bone attached

Edit- Forgot to add, its not barn owl, they are big and black!

Doesn't look like Long-eared, they are more cylindrical and fairly long.

Depending on habitat where you've found it, a wood ect, if it is an owl pellet, more likely Tawny,

Short-eared are more cylindrical but shorter than LEO and are usually found in more open countryside, grassland, moorland, ect.

 

[popcorn]

Thanks both, I don't believe it to be fox cr*p. It's about the thickness of my thumb. It was directly below a dead tree, only an inch from the trunk, which you can see at the top of the pic. The tree had a small about of bird poop on it directly above. Edge of some moorland, but close to woods and farmland.

 

[Phil-D]

, only an inch from the trunk, which you can see at the top of the pic.

A perfect spot for a fox to mark its territory

As I said, its hard to tell from the photo but if you're convinced its a pellet, break it up with your fingers, as long as you wash your hands before eating ya sarnies you'll be fine.....................................but looking at the photo, I'd definitely be using two sticks

 

[popcorn]

A perfect spot for a fox to mark its territory

As I said, its hard to tell from the photo but if you're convinced its a pellet, break it up with your fingers, as long as you wash your hands before eating ya sarnies you'll be fine.....................................but looking at the photo, I'd definitely be using two sticks

Thanks Phil, I'll check it next time I go up and take photos with the camera rather than my phone!!!
Fox waste I've seen before seemed much smoother?

 

[Phil-D]

Fox cr*p can be really confusing and can look nothing like the images on Google, even after dissecting possibly 100's of pellets, I can still get thrown by a fox.

Honestly, the best way is to break it up ( with sticks ).

An owl pellet will break up easy, even crumble if its dry and you'll be left with clean bones and usually a skull.

The fur in fox scat keeps it mattered together with the bones being tangled in it

 

[Tringa]

Looks like a pellet to me and work collecting and dissecting.

If it does turn out to be fox poo then, if all the fox poo I have found is typical, you'll know it pretty soon.

Dave