Why is there a dead crab on my drive?

[Audhumla]

We are fairly close to the sea but too far for a crab to walk. Could a seagull have dropped it?

We once found a an entire dead fish on a pavement near our house as well - is somebody distributing marine creatures round the neighbourhood for a joke?

Seagull I bet!

I reckon the seagull theory sounds pretty plausible. Start worrying if it you find a shark😅

This was the fish. It was a while ago, though, so probably unconnected. I don't even know what kind of fish it is but I absolutely did not believe my children until they took my phone and came back with this photo.

Birds are dropping them.

I think the birds should come down and pick them back up, then. It's very untidy.

When I lived in London we found a headless pigeon on our terrace (5th floor). We assumed that it had to have been a bird, there were red kites in the area, because there was a bloody mark on the hand rail where it had hit on its way onto the terrace and there weren't any buildings in that direction.

If you end up with a dead whale on your drive .
You've got a problem🐋

Yep seagulls, they are buggers! We live quite near the sea and have a neighbour who feeds them 🤦‍♀️ we often find chicken bones in the garden that they've dropped!

The worst one was not long ago, DH was sitting having coffee on the decking in the morning, there was a brisk wind and a dead rat dropped out of our cherry tree and landed on the path 😂 he jumped out of his skin! We figured a seagull must have dropped it into the tree when flying over!

Seagull. They have learned to drop things in shells from a height on to concrete to smash the shell and allow them to pick out the flesh with minimal effort.

I'm still slightly freaked out by finding a single acorn on my drive a few weeks ago.

No oak trees nearby, and surely acorns are too large and hard for a bird to eat comfortably? Anyway why would a bird carry it so far from the tree? No chicks to feed at this time of year.

I looked up and I looked down. But no Totoro did I espy...

Squirrel?

@TressiliansStone It could have been a jay that dropped it. They are famous for collecting acorns.

The rat thing reminded me of something that I'd forgotten, probably because my brain was trying to protect me. I was driving and there was a seagull on the road trying to lift off with something in its beak. I wasn't going very fast because it was a city road so I had a clear view of it and the seagull had a clear view of me. It rose up in the air but it was struggling and obviously realised it might not clear my windscreen so it let go and flew off. A dead rat landed on my bonnet and slid slowly off. It had obviously been driven over a few times because it was a bit pulpy and left a horrible smear. I gagged the whole way home and then gagged a bit more when I had to wipe the mess off with some kitchen roll.

I am now delighted with the crab and so grateful it wasn't a smashed up rat 🤢

Sounds more like a peregrine falcon's MO.

Mind you I wouldn't have fancied picking up that fish either. I don't know what happened to it in the end. Probably some other animal ate it.

Does anyone recognise the species of fish? Just out of idle curiosity. We did wonder at the time if someone had bought it from the nearby fishmongers and dropped it, but it somehow doesn't look like an 'eating' fish.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I’m now giggling like an idiot on the train.

This exact thing happened to me except it was a sodden piece of pizza and I thought that was bad enough tbh, but now I have reassessed. 😳

Omg 😲 that is grim! 😂

I like by the sea. It’s seagulls. We also get starfish on the pavement.

At least it's not a dolphin. We all know what they're like.

I bet it was a seagull or other large bird (crow, magpie). It never ceases to surprise me what they are capable of picking up and flying off with. Back in the summer,I saw a seagull flying past with what looked like half a pizza!

What the OP said about someone distributing marine creatures around the neighbourhood for a joke,reminded me of something that I've seen near where I live. There's a particular part of the pavement,that I walk past frequently,just next to one of those electricity things that has a fence around it,that often has done sort of 'fruit arrangement' going on. One days it will be slices of apple,another day grapes and slices of banana,or melon. This has been going on for several months now. Most odd!

Aha I remember years ago we found a dead koi carp on our doorstep at work. We were thinking either a mob threat, cult initiation or witchcraft, but yes either heron or seagull makes more sense.

Ooh, possible. Can't remember seeing one but I'm in the right sort of territory.

We also have plentiful jackdaws and crows, so if large corvids do indeed like to have a crack at acorns that might be an explanation.

(Squirrel would have been an obvious explanation at some of my previous homes, but it would be a very lost squirrel indeed that found itself on my current drive.)