Pellet contents (1 Viewer)

[InternetMan]

Hello

My son brought a bag of bird pellet(s) back from a camping trip in the Cuckmere valley in East Sussex, UK.

From the pale grey colour, I assume they're quite old. They were apparently found in a field, some distance from the nearest obvious perch. The habitat is wet meadow.

Aside from a large number of robberfly remains, there were all these bones. At first I took them to be small mammal but a couple of them look perforated on the inside so I'm not 100% sure now.

Possible species in the area would include sparrowhawk, kestrel, buzzard, carrion crow, rook, jackdaw, various gull species, and quite possibly barn and short-eared owls.

Can anyone shed any light on what kind of bones these are, or what kind of bird might have left the pellets?

Thanks.

 

[InternetMan]

Is there a better forum to post under? Wasn't sure where to put this question.

 

[Julie50]

Hi,
Have you considered Tawny owls?

 

[InternetMan]

Good question. It’s quite an open sort of landscape, river mouth with meadows, so I’m sure there must be tawnies about but it wouldn’t be my first thought. The only owl I’m certain hunts there is short-eared.

 

[Julie50]

Hi,

what sort of scale on the bones? Some look a bit chunky to be voles?

 

[InternetMan]

The card they're on measures 7.5cm x 4.5cm (so a bit smaller than a business card)

 

[Julie50]

Is this any help? https://www.barnowlsurvey.org.uk/portal/p/Identification+Guide+-+Owl+Pellets

 

[InternetMan]

Is this any help? https://www.barnowlsurvey.org.uk/portal/p/Identification+Guide+-+Owl+Pellets

Thank you — I did look at that page but I couldn’t really identify these bones against the images. It’s the first time I’ve done this, though, so good to hear any and all thoughts.

 

[InternetMan]

Does anyone think they might be rabbit bones? Dropped by a buzzard?