Help with Bird I.D - warning for a graphic image

[Samon]

ah! shame.. I guess the salt would work. or a brine soak.. then a air dry?

My methods have always been to leave them to dry out, but have always been small bits that don't take long. the bat was pure luck, the noses were tiny and took a few days ina window ledge.

I was gutted when i found out she'd stuck the tortoise in the bin, came to visit her after hearing it died and was expecting to be able to relieve it from it's grave.. haha! really fancied cleaning and polishing that shell, would have even mad ea nice bowly for my house keys! or mints for the children

I shoot and trap alot of rats and have been considering skinning them.. but I don't want a bag of rotting rat skins laying around. and i'm too cheap to specifically buy anything to tan the skins.. with enough of them though they could make a lovely blanket or something

 

[hobbes]

I shoot and trap alot of rats and have been considering skinning them.. but I don't want a bag of rotting rat skins laying around. and i'm too cheap to specifically buy anything to tan the skins.. with enough of them though they could make a lovely blanket or something

Now that's not a bad idea you know. A lot of work I guess, but I've seen blankets like that assembled out of more conventional fur-bearers. Rat skins are probaly very thin, would you say? Might be fiddly and delicate. I've read about tanning, but never tried it. You could try brain tanning the skins, with the rats own brains; I think it's supposed to work with any animal. Then you could stretch the little skins on small hoops, Indian style. Imagine what fifty of those would look like lined up to dry

I saw some tanned chicken-feet somewhere recently... can't remember where. Crazy.

 

[Samon]

haha chicken feet! bet they make interesting decorations!

about 50% of the rats are manky.. bald and clearly ill so onyl the little young ones will make good skins.. their skin is thin but I'm sure someone has done it.. I've never tanned pelts before though.. just chopped off bits that interest me.

I wodner if anyone with more knowledge can help us? haha rat skin moccasons!

 

[JonathanD]

On the subject of bats. It is illegal to posses ANY part of a dead bat.

 

[mountainm]

On the subject of bats. It is illegal to posses ANY part of a dead bat.

Tongue of newt and eye of frog ok?

 

[johnboy]

On the subject of bats. It is illegal to posses ANY part of a dead bat.

What about the soul??

 

[JonathanD]

Tongue of newt and eye of frog ok?

As long as it isn't a Great Crested Newt.

What about the soul??

There is no evidence that such a thing exists

 

[johnboy]

There is no evidence that such a thing exists

Well I have a Bat Soul and Lizard Memory Necklace...

 

[mountainm]

As long as it isn't a Great Crested Newt.

Looks like we'll have to put a disclaimer on the potions label. I'll let the coven know.

*cackle*

 

[JonathanD]

Well I have a Bat Soul and Lizard Memory Necklace...

Prove it! Hah!

 

[hobbes]

On the subject of bats. It is illegal to posses ANY part of a dead bat.

Really? That surprises me.

What about the soul??

lol

 

[Samon]

maybe we should open up a an eco friendly potion shop, with all powders, snippings and noses only aquired from sustainable and fair trade sources?

'Samon & Hobbes Alchemical Wonders!' haha!

I bet the powdered talon and rat skin snuff pouches would sell like hot cakes!

 

[Bowlander]

No way, that's fantastic. They must be pretty sure of themselves to do that! Be something to see.

And Eagle Owls take Gos/Buzzards. Its a tough world out there.

 

[Harvestman]

On the subject of goshawks taking owls, I got this lovely close-up picture of a barn owl last year, from about 6 feet away.


About a month later, close by, I found the wing feathers of a barn owl, from both wings, in a wood where goshawks are known to nest.

My barn owl has not been seen or heard since


As for it being illegal to keep dead bits of certain animals, I have a palp (male reproductive structure) of a Fen Raft Spider, schedule 5 protected species. Highly illegal if it comes down to it, but the part was collected because without the part as evidence no-one could prove the existance of the species at the site where I found it in the first place. Better just a palp than the whole spider, especially given that where I found it is only the third site for the species in the UK.

Within the spider recording community it is known that I have this, but no-one raises it as an issue because you have to have proof when claiming to have found an exceptionally rare species.

 

[hobbes]

barn owl ... Fen Raft Spider...

Wow, that's really interesting. Poor spider losing his palp though Took one for the team I guess. Bloody good job mate - that's a hell of thing to have done.

 

[Harvestman]

Wow, that's really interesting. Poor spider losing his palp though Took one for the team I guess. Bloody good job mate - that's a hell of thing to have done.

He has two (or he did) and they grow back anyway.

 

[hobbes]

rat skin snuff pouches...

lol

How about a snuff tube made from the hollow wingbone of a goshawk?

Gentlmen: Is your palp not what is used to be? Trust to S&H Hedgehog Noses. Guaranteed to give you a 'sniffy'.

 

[hobbes]

He has two (or he did) and they grow back anyway.

Bonus! So presumably the site has some level of protection now?

 

[Harvestman]

Gentlmen: Is your palp not what is used to be? Trust to S&H Hedgehog Noses. Guaranteed to give you a 'sniffy'.

Don't make me laugh when I'm drinking things please. Keyboards are a bu**er to clean.

 

[Harvestman]

Bonus! So presumably the site has some level of protection now?

National Nature Reserve I think, although it was that already.