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Cat or fox?? Carnage in our front garden ??

(64 Posts)
Witzend Sun 04-Jul-21 12:01:31

For the second time in just over a week, one or the other has shredded a pigeon on our front lawn. Most has been eaten, but there’s a huge, horrible mess to clean up, inc. bloody bits with bluebottles already getting stuck in. And so many feathers - I used the leaf vacuum last time.
Dh is clearing this lot up, thank goodness - he was away last week.
The fact that it mostly seems to have been eaten makes me think Brer Fox is the guilty party, but we do have a couple of neighbourhood cats.

Craftycat Tue 06-Jul-21 12:03:58

Domestic cats rarely eat what they kill. They may play with the body for a while but soon get bored with it. I have 4 cats & only one hunts. Her latest trick is to catch frogs out of our pond but they make such a loud scream type noise that she brings them indoors & looks hopefully for me to get rid of them. They are never hurt & I am pretty sure it is the same frog every time! You think he'd move home.

Deedaa Tue 06-Jul-21 10:04:58

I once found one of my cats in the garden with a pigeon. Feathers everywhere and he was covered in blood (he's mainly white!) and he ate all the breast meat before I removed the body.

I think a fox would probably take it away rather than eat it in the garden.

Hetty58 Tue 06-Jul-21 09:54:29

A fox and kestrel regularly take birds here - but it's nature and they have babies of their own to feed. Pigeons often fly into windows and break their necks too. I get the feathers up with the garage vac and put them in the compost bin.

Shropshirelass Tue 06-Jul-21 09:37:29

Foxes usually bite off the head and hide the rest for later. Sparrow hawks leave quite a mess with feathers and bits everywhere.

tictacnana Mon 05-Jul-21 18:08:21

We’ve had the same problem with a kestrel so have stopped feeding the birds and squirrels. I think the kestrel saw our garden as a take away outlet. There are foxes in our area but they are only occasionally seen near the bins. Even the spoilt fat moggies around here take bird but not to eat. Cats are killers.

GoldenAge Mon 05-Jul-21 16:24:02

My money is on the sparrowhawk - and can I say what a great thread this is - loved every read and learnt a few things.

4allweknow Mon 05-Jul-21 15:27:02

I regularly have sparrowhawks downing birds. The smaller ones taken from the large shrubs are usually taken away by the birds to be devoured. The larger ones caught in the trees, or on the ground in the garden are also usually taken away but occasionally ripped apart on the ground. Think you may have a fox if happening overnight. Vultures usually hunt in daylight.

blondenana Mon 05-Jul-21 15:15:39

We have a lot of magpies around here and a few months ago i looked out of the window to see a magpie stood on a pigeon pecking at it,and about 3 other magpies just stood around watching,
I dashed outside to see if i could scare them off, which i did but it took the poor pigeon with it
Also once saw a kestrel with a pigeon tried to save that too, but it took it with it
I have 2 cats,[Ragdolls] and they just sit around and watch the birds, and a squirrel, never attempt to chase,too lazy i think

jocork Mon 05-Jul-21 14:42:42

Cats don't usually finish off larger birds - too big a meal. Many years ago our cat killed a pigeon while we were away on holiday. He brought it in the house and left it half finished under the sofa. When we returned it was just starting to decompose. I kept noticing a smell whenever I entered the lounge and as my DS was still in nappies kept checking if it was him! Eventually I found the offending carcass, removed it and cleaned up the carpet with deodorising powder. Be grateful whatever is killing birds is leaving them outside!

Caro57 Mon 05-Jul-21 14:27:13

Pigeons do drop their feathers for the fun of it so a huge amount would have come out before the carnage was created

glammagran Mon 05-Jul-21 14:14:42

We often get sparrow hawks in the garden and occasionally see piles of features. Never seen an actual catch. This one is sitting on a hedge with loads of sparrows hiding in the very thorny hedge underneath. Wish they’d take out all the extremely irritating wood pigeons.

kevincharley Mon 05-Jul-21 14:09:53

Oops! That wasn't the quote I meant to attach!
Someone had mentioned that cats kill for pleasure...
Sorry Redhead 56!

kevincharley Mon 05-Jul-21 14:07:46

Redhead56

Sounds like a cat a fox would have taken the carcass away.

Cats don't kill for pleasure. It's something that's hard wired into them. Same as dogs.

Lulubelle500 Mon 05-Jul-21 13:46:32

The neighbourhood cats regularly kill birds in our garden (not for food; they just play with/torture them for a while and leave them in bits). Its usually too late by the time I get there. My cats always wore collars with bells, but this doesn't seem to happen now, I don't know why. None of them ever hanged themselves climbing trees either, which I've heard used for an excuse not to use them! We have foxes living under the shed at the end of our garden, but they always take their 'kills' back to the den to eat apparently. The only thing they leave in our garden are various toys they pinch that my neighbours leave on their swingseats at night!

lemongrove Mon 05-Jul-21 13:44:27

Yes, a sparrowhawk, I have seen one at work on a pigeon, several times, the garden was awash with feathers.

Greyduster Mon 05-Jul-21 13:34:02

I would put my money on a sparrowhawk. We had one visit recently. Blood and feathers all over the garden table, prime cuts neatly excised and the head deposited in one of the chairs! I love them but they try me sorely sometimes.

keeno Mon 05-Jul-21 13:28:35

Sounds like a sparrowhawk.
If you leave any carcass about you will encourage rats.
We throw any dead bits on the garage roof. Within seconds - or minutes at most the red kites swoop and take them. The magpies are always on alert too for bits.

Wendy Mon 05-Jul-21 13:25:38

I have the remains of a sparrow hawk which a crow was eating. I can’t think what killed it.

GrammarGrandma Mon 05-Jul-21 13:03:04

Could it be a sparrowhawk?

coastalgran Mon 05-Jul-21 12:53:11

I suppose it is the down-side of nature and the food chain. The one that annoys me is when the neighbours big ginger cat gets one of the little blue tits or yellow hammers that come into the garden. I don't really mind if he picks off the odd wood pigeon, mind you ours are so fat that they are almost the size of the cat.

nipsmum Mon 05-Jul-21 12:27:26

It could be crows, they frequently kill other birds. I saw a bunch of them killing another crow in the park.

JBones Mon 05-Jul-21 12:21:10

I saw a terrible sight at the weekend on our small lawn. A Herring Gull had a Blackbird half way down its gullet. The adult Blackbird's legs were still paddling away - it was awful. I opened the window but the Gull just took off with it. Guess that's 'Nature red in tooth and claw'.

Yammy Mon 05-Jul-21 12:01:10

Next doors cats kill and leaves us a present.
Foxes don't always take their kill away. One very bad winter in our other house we had what I kept saying was a dead rosemary bush in a pot, come spring there was an awful smell, we realised there were pheasant tail feathers sticking up. It had been buried by the resident fox that stalked our gardens for squirrels and buried then covered in snow.

Jillybird Mon 05-Jul-21 11:47:27

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MawBe Mon 05-Jul-21 11:45:06

Sparrowhawk