Mystery animal in my garden

[Spaghettio]

For the last few weeks we've been discovering small piles of animal poo in our garden. Mostly on the grass.

We have no pets! Neighbours on one side are pet-less, other side have guinea pigs. Neighbours over the back have (what sounds like) a big dog. We've got pretty secure fencing - except with the Guinea Pig neighbours. We've got a rickety fence on that side with some hedges as well.

Occasionally we've seen a cat wandering through our garden, but it doesn't stay long. We've never really see foxes here, despite there being some urban ones in the area. We put that down to the previous owner having dogs, and thinking that maybe the local foxes had blacklisted our garden? 🤷🏻‍♀️ We have squirrels visit us regularly but they don't really leave any evidence (apart from eating my roses)!

While out gardening today I've discovered something has been digging in the garden as well.

Whatever it is, I suspect it's nocturnal as we never see anything. I took a photo of some of the poo and the holes. Can anyone help identify it?

Apart from having to pick up poo it's not bothering us - I'd just really like to identify it!

I can't tell from the picture but if it's slightly shiny then it's hedgehog poo. I

I'd agree with @Enb76, hedgehog would be shiny. It's always sloppy too when they leave it in my garden

@Enb76 it is slightly shiny. It's also usually on the grass (the one in the photo is on the bricks that border the grass from my flower beds).

As it always has seeds in it I thought it's not likely to be fox. If it had a chicken carcass from my food bin on the other hand...... 🙄

Muntjac? We get them in the garden

We have a squirrel that digs in our garden so I reckon the digging is a squirrel. Fox poo is normally twisted so that looks like hedgehog to me, but a large hedgehog!

@pistolknight I just had to google what a Muntjac was! Are they found in Surrey? I've never seen one before!

I've seen a Muntjac in Surrey - it's possible.

Could be badger poo. They dog under paths like that too. My Dad has one at the moment and it's driving him nuts.

Doesn’t look like fox.

Are you prepared to give it a good sniff? In the interests of scientific identification. You’ll know if it’s fox.

Then hedgehog - I also had mystery poo in my garden and did masses of research to find out what it was. I'm a sad individual!

@ChardonnaysDistantCousin it's not stinky like fox poo. It didn't have much of an obvious aroma - not that if had a really good sniff! More that nothing comes off it when I'm clearing it off the grass. 😳

Who knew I'd have so much info about mystery poo! 🦔😂

You’re a most fearless explorer, OP.

Such dedication to the cause of mystery poo is only to be admired.

I am far too invested in this thread and had to google animal poo. Here is the wildlife equivalent of the Bristol Stool Chart for you

www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife/how-identify/identify-poo

It's your neighbour dropping spite shites....

It looks like badgers to me.

@CandiceSucksCandy I'm pretty sure our neighbours like us.... they babysit and drop birthday cards round to our DCs.

They're also semi retired and very very Surrey dahhhhling! 😂😂

Looks a lot like badger poo to me. What are your fences or hedges like? Badgers can climb low walls too.

@Marigold101 we have good fences on one side. The back and the other side are a bit hit and miss. There is definitely space in places for an animal to dig around or beneath a fence or hedge.

I'm going to see if the GoPro has a night vision feature as surely we won't see anything if it's a nocturnal animal?

Badgers can climb, Spaghettio, as can hedgehogs. Foxes can squeeze through tiny gaps and also jump.

It's practically impossible to fence wildlife out of a garden. Particularly shit-filled wildlife.

It does look like it could be badger poo, especially the colour.

Ack, I have looked at too many google animal-poo images.

I dont know if they’re in Surrey - I assumed they were uk wide I’m not near Surrey...

Dissolve it in water and see if it has bones in it, or insect exoskeletons... fun project.

Hedgehog poo is black and like tar. They like gardens, preferably neglected overgrown ones and roam widely.
They’re not scared of our dogs, just roll up until dogs gone.

I posted the exact same thread last year op!

Still haven't solved the mystery! It was actually in dm's garden and the weird thing was, there was loads along the path under the washing line or under a window so made me think it was maybe bird poo (still not convinced on a bird though) as the bird perched on the line or window sill.