Scratches

So what could be causing this then?

I thought ‘cat’ until I saw the deeper scratches, the higher scratches and the fact that almost every one of the 40 trees in the apple orchard has been affected.

Most of the scratches are at knee to thigh height but some are up in the trees, even as high as 7 feet up.

A badger, mink or maybe a hugely strong tomcat maybe….but I’m thinking mink might be the favourite as we’re near a river

To add to the mystery, all five of our chickens vanished in one night last week adn there are no signs of even a stray feather….

A neighbour is convinced it’s a two legged pest arsing about…but could it be as Lia Leendertz wonders, something altogether spookier ?

Any suggestions welcome…..

  • Seeing as Mr Brock is having a rough time of it these days and that he'll b keeping a low profile…my money's on werewolf. Silver bullets in the post.

  • The scratches do look exactly like the ones our cat has left on the pear tree. Except for the 7 foot up bit that is. Scary stuff!

  • Thank you all wildlife sleuths…Im still not sure if i'm dealing with the Beast of Bodmin or the pussy from Primrose Avenue, so maybe a webcam is in order. Dave -I wodnered about deer but the stroke is definitely towards the ground, and I didnt think deer would necessarily do that, rather than upwards. And Cleve, thank you, I will use one on the twerp who posted the youtube link for sure…

  • Have they just happened? I have those marks on my trees too, and we don't know of any mink round here so I blame the badgers from the sett in the corner of the orchard – they happened one night in mid May and there've been no more since so I thought it was the boys showing off for the ladies. Seven foot's quite an achievement for a brock though, he'd have to have a long run up.
    Others said deer but it looks more claw than hoof, tooth or antler to me. We did clear out a family of muntjack from the next field soon after though.
    And oddly on one tree the cuts have fluffy white stuff surrounding them which I guess are woolly aphids – but why only on that tree and right on the cuts? Maybe the tasty sap's escaping.

  • A friend of mine lost all the pears on his tree to badgers who he witnessed climbing the tree to get at them. Could the higher scratches be attempts to scrabble up?

  • Thank you everyone – I've set up my large cat/werewolf/badger/deer/littlecat/DuranDuran trap in the hope of catching the little sod

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