Hi Jon,
The
two-days-per-week job I'm doing at the moment means I can go for a lunchtime
walk round the Winfrith nature reserve, where I saw the mysterious
"cryptozoological turd" a few years ago (Animals & Men issue 47 page 72). I
saw something similar yesterday, in almost the identical location (photo
attached). It was similar in size and had the same regular striations, but this
one appeared to be fresher (less dried out). I would say that it's fairly
clearly a fox dropping, particularly with the distinctive pinched end. What do
you think? The scat was surrounded by downy feathers (a few of which are visible
in the photo), which again is suggestive of a fox. So if this one is a fox, then
the previous one probably was too.
Another
question -- is there a way of distinguishing at a glance between a newt and a
baby lizard? Both species are supposed to be common in that area, but usually
when you see them it's only for a fraction of a second as they scuttle under
cover. Is there anything about time of year, location, colouring, way of moving
etc that would allow you to tell from a momentary glimpse whether it's a newt or
a small lizard?
Andrew
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