Some Tracks to ID.

[blacktimberwolf]

Right then, Here are some animal tracks I came across this afternoon...I've no idea what they are, prehaps you might.


first photo..

The animal was moving from left to right on the pic.As you can see there is quite a lot of body drag but no wider than the foot holes. the snow was about 3 inches deep in this area.

second photo

Again moving left to right. The foot holes are staggered so I've excluded the mustilidae, also the tracks came from a small field borded by a small wood, crossed a road & continued across a much larger field, apparently in a steady determined direction with an unchanging gait...the animal looked like it knew where it was going & there's no sign of it deviating from it's path.

Last photo

Again travelling left to right ( in fact the SAK remalned in the same position for all 3 photos)
Ths winding route taken by the animal is not that marked.

Because it's in the middle of the field I've taken rat off my list also the direction taken is too constant.
Unfortunately "it's the wrong kind of snow " for good track ID as there is no sign of pad prints at the bottom of the foot holes, just broken snow ( can't even make a imprint of a boot sole ) it's just too light & fluffy
I did think prehaps cat but the bottom of the foot holes are just too small. Because of the steady gait & long distance covered by the tracks I believe it to be mammal, we have both pheasants & partridges around but again the steps are too steady, widely spaced & regular for a bird.


I think that's it, any questions fire away.

 

[Bushwhacker]

Have you ruled out badger? They don't walk like the other mustelids.and you'd get the belly drag. Not sure if it looks wide enough or not.

Edit: Can see the pictures better now scrap that idea.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Haha ....Come to think of it, haven't had any badger activity since the snow fell last sunday morning.
I've just noticed that the critter has lifted each paw out of the snow with every step & not dragged them through it, though what I take for body drag could well be the paws scraping the surface of the snow as he walks which would explain why the marks are no wider than the foot holes.

 

[gabrielsdad]

not sure but i think it could be mink. there everywhere these days. they do look a bit wider, but it could just be mini cave ins around the track. they tend to follow there noses too.
looking again, the tracks look similar size too. it looks to me, and i could well be wrong,like most of the track size is made up up rear legs dragging snow as it moves into place of the previous track. making it larger. if its not that, id say a pheasant running across afield alarmed and the belly drag is infact tail drag, the more i think about it id go with the pheasant. but besides them two, i havent a clue

 

[blacktimberwolf]

There are no mink here & though the size is right, mink (like weasels, stoats martens etc.) tend to bob along leaving two tracks side by side at regular intervals...

 

[21st century pict]

It's kind of got that Badger zig zag look But. With body drag it could be Otter? But the track look a bit to narrow, Could it be foot drag from Roe deer , Fat lot of good I am, now I think its got that Fox look about it to! Have I missed anything?

The snow in this image was hard and only about 1 inch deep over ice so it wouldint show any drag.
PS no idea why its gone all blue?

Stride possibly to short for Roe even at a walk; Fox tend to go straight from A to B, Otter would probably show tail drag, and the occasional slid in the snow to. Badger Hmmmm I scratches me head.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Not badger, no otters around......I think the holes are too small for a fox, less than 2 square centimeters at the bottom of the holes I'd say......also foxes tend to trot over such distances though of course they can walk.

The Holes are very regular, & no foot hole falls outside of the edge of the trail left. & each hole is different in shape to the next, as can be seen the actual path is no wider than the SAK which is 9cm long.

Roe deer ( if we discount the size)is a possiblity as there was a group of 5 hanging around for a few weeks before the snow but I haven't seen either them or their tracks since.
Most of the holes do not go as deep as the ground even though the snow is very soft.

 

[gabrielsdad]

were running out of animals here, haha. any chance it could be a squirrel running? cant see the area around.

 

[gabrielsdad]

could be a lost puppy lol

 

[21st century pict]

Wouldn’t be a bird could it, stride to long perhaps? Probably not heavy enough to go that deep in the snow.

 

[Bushwhacker]

Muntjac? Shorter legs than roe.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

There are red squirrels & I have seen some in the snow but they tend to zig zag & jump all over the place & it's doubtful they would chance crossing an open field, they tend to dart between treed areas.
It's the regularity that stumps me but it's also what drew me to it. You could draw two long lines 9 cm wide & not one hole will fall outside of the lines.....but then you could say the same about the badger tracks in 21st century pict's photo.

 

[wildranger]

It could be a fox walking - A fox when walking has a stride length of about 30 centimetres. Also, the straddle is quite narrow, which is typical of foxes.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

I have to admit that the way the animal seemed to go in a definate direction without changing course except in slight curves does sugges fox but there are a lot of fox tracks around & none match this one either in size or stride.The actual foot marks are very irregular & the bottom of the holes are smaller than the tops,(which arn't big anyway) also they are only a couple of centimeters wide at the most,.....A fox on stilts maybe.

 

[shaggystu]

i put some photos of badger sign on the...erm...badger sign thread the other day, they looked very similar in pattern.

 

[Robbi]

i would tend towards pheasant, your second photo seems to show that the track to the left of the SAK has individual "toes" like a birds foot. The length of the stride could be our chap high stepping because of the snow.

 

[Bushwhacker]

i put some photos of badger sign on the...erm...badger sign thread the other day, they looked very similar in pattern.

It was my first instinct without reading into it too much. Then I just over complicated things by thinking.

 

[21st century pict]

Not ruling it out, but I think we can cross squirrel of the list.
Squirrel bounding on snow over ice.
.


Fox has a very narrow straddle, and a bit of that zig zag thing going on. Which could also account for the A2B trail.
.


With the snow at around 3 inches deep and showing that much disturbance to the surface snow, I’m thinking the animal has probably got very short legs.

 

[munkiboi182]

i havent seenmany tracks like this on here. can some one confirm this as an otter track please
http://www.flickr.com/photos/munkiboi182/6855968747/

 

[21st century pict]

i havent seenmany tracks like this on here. can some one confirm this as an otter track please

Almost certainly,Where did you find them?.
Also Have a look on the Links thread for tracks and sign, the very top post under Tracks.

Otter, Heron and Pheasant.
.
.
. ..Otter bounding on sand no visible tail drag.