Riverside Cold Case

[JonathanD]

Here's one for you. Deliberately left out scale as that would make things too easy. Who is the predator and who was the victim?

Location...

..and exit stage right:

There was this fella too. Left flipping about after I disturbed the predator. I ate him, shame to let it go to waste.

Nom nom....

 

[British Red]

Okay time for me to show my ignorance

Foxes crush eggs in the mouth so not fox

Rats eat in the nest - so not rat

Corvids pierce and drink so not corvid

I'm going for a mustelid - as evidenced by the canine puncture mark

The fish indicates not stoat or weasel...so mink or otter

...hmmm otter? the egg I have no real idea but I'll go for moorhen.

Red

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Nice one jonathonD........the predator was either an otter or a mink, I'm sure the clue is in the passage in the vegatation, the egg stumps me as both coot & moorhen have slightly speckled eggs & this looks plain white,( but the egg(s) are not necessarly those of a water bird )......I would say mink but the puncture holes on the egg shell appear too wide for a mink.......The way the fish has been scaled & fileted should give the game away but helas, I'm none the wiser.

 

[Galemys]

another vote for mink and moorhen egg

Cheers,

Tom

 

[JonathanD]

The fish was caught by something different to the creature that raided the eggs.

 

[British Red]

Hmm tricky

I'll go stoat and moorhen for the egg then

Red

 

[JonathanD]

Hmm tricky

I'll go stoat and moorhen for the egg then

Red

Stick with your first instinct. It was otter. But the bird was not a Moorhen.

 

[British Red]

ooookayyy

Hmm too greeny white for coot and not speckled enough

I'm thinking water bird dues to the river proximity and trying for a ground nester as it was predated by otter.

It looks far too small for duck to me

I'm going to go a bit off piste and say, to me it looks like a partridge egg

 

[Bushwhacker]

coot egg and mink on the gudgeon, I think it's a gudgeon from my phone anyhoo.