Murder in the Garden

There were two pigeon slaughters recently and in both cases, it didn't take much detective work to find out who the killer was. I stumbled on the first scene as I went down to replenish the bird feeders. There at my feet were a tail...

... and the wings.

These were sure signs of a sparrow hawk strike. This was so fresh that the blood was still wet and the flies had begun buzzing around. (Sorry if I've put you off your breakfast!) The bird of prey swoops in, grabs the bird, wrenches off the inedible wings and tail and carries off the meaty body back to the nest.

The second kill was made by the fox. No doubt about that.

No bits were neatly severed here. She just leaped up, caught it in mid-air and carried the whole carcase off to the cub. Yes, sadly it is cub in the singular. For the past three weeks, we have only seen her with one. Both cubs had seemed big and healthy, so I can only assume one of them was killed by another fox, or died of some kind of illness. It certainly didn't starve to death. She is a very successful mum. Once she has stopped feeding the cub, I shall recommence her anti-mange fox drops. At the moment, I don't know who is eating the food I put out, her or the cub.