A bit of dirt time

[tommy the cat]

Started in my old stomping ground the quarry..

Quiet although saw a few birds long tail tits, bull finches ..
Plenty of deer sign.

Playing in the mud

Change of scene... fallow deer jumping this fence to browse in the field
.

Landing zone.

Croatia

Poor focus sorry but a nice example of a browse line...

Lots of tawnys in this part of the woos so thought I'd have a look for pellets.

Squirrel feeding sign

More feeding sign...

A close up.

Squirrel hazelnut sign

Squirrel claw marks.

An enjoyable few hours
d

 

[tommy the cat]

Crottie not Croatia? ??

 

[British Red]

Brilliant post. Thoroughly enjoyed that.

 

[falcon]

Some great detail in those pics Dave ...we need to sort out that tracking day and a night out. Very envious

 

[tommy the cat]

Thanks Hugh....I'm a bit lazy with my posts as it's off the phone so a bit more difficult to go into detail.... I'll put up a few pics of the pellets dissected when I do them if anyone is interested? ?
Stu we do mate.... Ive been getting quiet into reading on the subject but deffo not enough dirt time....

 

[tommy the cat]

This tree seemed to be getting attacked from all sides

D

 

[petrochemicals]

That seems familiar. If that's the one on Wenlock edge we should really have got one of the blue pool. The tree is probably the work of man I think.

 

[woodsorrel]

tommy the cat, I enjoyed reading your post very much. It looks like you had a terrific day!

It was difficult for me to tell from the pictures, were you handling owl pellets with your bare hands? Are you concerned about rodent borne pathogens?

- Woodsorrel

 

[tommy the cat]

Thanks petrochemicals ...no its on the Wrekin and not man made. Wood sorrel I wasn't until now!!! To be honest I am pretty careful what I handle and wash my hands asap or use antibacterial gel.... everything we do has some form of risk but I think it's pretty unlikely to be of a high risk..???

 

[petrochemicals]

Thanks petrochemicals ...no its on the Wrekin and not man made. Wood sorrel I wasn't until now!!! To be honest I am pretty careful what I handle and wash my hands asap or use antibacterial gel.... everything we do has some form of risk but I think it's pretty unlikely to be of a high risk..???

What about the sharp cuts in the wood? Unlikely to be deer with sharp angular cuts, and claws do not leave behind such indents. I take it the trees dead ?

 

[sandbender]

More of this sort of thing please.

 

[tommy the cat]

The sharp cuts I'm confused about ???? I would be very very suprised if it was done by humans.
The location is very off the beaten track, the people who own the woods are NOT going to just hack at a tree with no purpose. The tree is quite poorly but I'm not sure if it was rotten can't remember.... I'm going back to put up a trail cam at the weekend so I'll have a look.
Thanks for your interest.
d

 

[21st century pict]

Hi Tommy
Quarries are great places for tracking, I have have 2 massive sand quarries around here to play in and I'm totally spoilt for sign.

On the first post , Images 3 and 4 look like Badger to me, Pic 13 might be mouse, 15 the scratches look mostly in parallel pairs so maybe teeth marks perhaps?

Post 6 some old and new damage there ,I see the sharp angular lines Petrocemicals mentioned and they do look a bit man made but maybe just Brown Rot pick a bit out and see what it looks like underneath, how high is the new damage off the ground ? I can see the quite a lot of older holes in the tree, any woodpeckers in your area ? you got me curious now ( amuse me ) when you go back have a dig into a couple of the holes, 177 or 22 ;-) good luck with the trail cam.

 

[tommy the cat]

Thanks for that...its great 5 share ideas and thoughts.
The more I look into tracking and signs the more you realise how fascinating the subject is.... I left the CSI side of it great fun.
Will have another look at the weekend.

 

[Joonsy]

that looks very much like the quarry by Limekiln Wood (just south of wrekin golf club), walked it last summer a few times, and also the larger quarry too on The Ercall which is more well known. Looks like you took the photo from the public footpath which runs alongside the golf course, there's a clearing right by a pf post which looks down on the quarry. Did a lot of walking around the Wrekin area last year some nice views from rocky outcrops of The Needles Eye but can get very busy with people, the quarry in Limekiln wood is much quieter.

The signpost on the popular walk up to the summit directing you ''This Way'' -- ''That Way'' -- ''The Other Way''

Needles Eye on wrekin taken last year

 

[tommy the cat]

Good spot. ...bang on.
Nice area but can be too busy for me so I'm usually found the other side of the Wrekin

 

[Joonsy]

Good spot. ...bang on.
Nice area but can be too busy for me so I'm usually found the other side of the Wrekin

thought so it sure gets busy round there, too busy for me too, likewise I prefer the quieter places, generally I am much further south or west in south shropshire or worcestershire. ATB.

 

[tommy the cat]

You too mate ....nice part of the world fella!!! I used to work around South Shropshire ☺