Fowl play? Call in the feather forensics team…

Oh dear, feathers fly in the garden...

When I looked through the kitchen window yesterday morning I thought we must have had snow overnight and then it had melted, as there were blobs of white all over the ground.

Then I realised the blobs were white downy feathers. There had clearly been some kind of “incident” involving a garden bird.

Another view of the feathers - those long, banded feathers must be a clue...

There were so many feathers and their colour was mainly white and grey. The bird had been a big one – at least it wasn’t one of our wonderful little songbirds or even a medium-sized blackbird.

The colours were all wrong for a magpie or crow. That left a collared dove or a wood pigeon. By chance I caught a picture of a wood pigeon a bit later in the day.

Wood pigeon, Columba palumbus - look at the tail feathers...

I reckon those tail feathers are banded in three shades of grey just like the plucked ones fallen on the garden.

Those tell-tale tail feathers...

It’s possible the bird in the attack survived, as there was no blood, but there were lots of feathers and a trail of white down that led away from the scene, so probably it wasn’t so lucky.

The question remained, “who” was the perp (that’s perpetrator for those of you who don’t watch American crime shows)? I had my suspects.

Was it the neighbour’s cat?

The neighbour's cat trying to look mean...

I don’t think so. She is becoming chubby and complacent. The spirit is willing to chase birds, but the flesh is a bit weak.

There was a big beefy ginger cat next door once, a real bird killer. I once saw it leap five feet into the air to snatch a wood pigeon from the roof of the bird table. I was relieved when its owners took it with them when they moved away to London.

So that leaves the fox…

A fox in the garden, basking on a sunny day...

I think it must have been a fox. In a way I am pleased, as at least the fox would have eaten the bird and not just played with it. The urban foxes are struggling a bit lately, as we now have wheelie bins instead of flimsy refuse bags left on the street. Food waste also has its own sturdy caddies, so again the foxes are thwarted.

I can’t say I am sad about the wood pigeon – when it visits the bird table I have a tendency to shout at it through the window:”Pig!”

These birds are just so big and greedy and ruin it for the smaller birds.

Anyway, good for the fox. I say fox, but actually there are several around. I was about to arrange an identity parade and call for witnesses. But then this new evidence came to light…

Back for more? The fox today...

The killer returning to the scene of the crime?

More of my foxes here…