What caused this mysterious wet patch?

[EggBoxes]

As for most of us, yesterday was very hot and dry, so I was surprised to notice a wet patch in the front garden, almost but not quite, a puddle. This was about 5pm. It had a bit of an oily glaze to it, and was about the area of a plastic bag. The leaves on the side of the privet hedge near the patch were also visible wet. The liquid was odourless and tasteless, but felt a bit oily.

Can anyone explain what this was?

Sorry if you have covered this OP, but what sort of ground was the almost-puddle on - concrete, earth, grass? I have read your posts but couldn't see it mentioned. Maybe someone empties their drink bottle over your wall/hedge when they finish for the day and get out their vehicle.

If it's the 2nd time it's happened perhaps get a video door bell and train it on the area!

Maybe a slug exploded in the heat? Or a bird nabbed a manky rubbish bag and it was bin juice?

Seriously though, don’t taste random liquid you find outside! Get some ph strips and test it that way if you’re inspired to investigate - at least you can rule out acid before you start making pavement cocktails!

This thread is hilarious, OP you’re brilliant 😂

Any chance of a diagram/photo of the area as it is now?

Clearly your neighbour had a visit from Brian from Hull for a Yoni massage 😬

@EggBoxes

Antifreeze has a very sweet taste and is generally brightly coloured. Neat glycol is colourless but has the sweet taste.

YES! SEE! That's why tasting it tentatively was a wise move.

No, because then you would have ingested antifreeze!

Another thought though - when did you last clear your guttering? Ours seems to propel moss and standing water quite far (Well farther than you’d think) if it’s getting clogged up and the birds knock it about or the wind gets up.

I was going to ask the same as Single Hand Sue. Can we get a photo of the area with an indication of where the wet patch was?

Maybe your path was in the mood 😉

@Confusedaboutrules

Clearly your neighbour had a visit from Brian from Hull for a Yoni massage 😬

OMG!!! The Sacred Feminine Waters!!!! Bleurghhh!

Was it the damp patch that Mr. Badger leaves Mrs. Badger in after badger coitus?

Could a well hydrated jogger have weed through the hedge? If the jogger had loaded up on water, the wee may have been dilute, so you wouldn't have tasted it, and if they weed through the hedge, the camera wouldn't have picked them up. Joggers, if chubby, often gel up with vaseline, hence the oily appearance.

If it was foxes, the stuff they smear around (that some dogs like to roll on) absolutely stinks.

Would a cat definitely trigger the Blink? Are you sure?

How does the patch appear on the footage - does it appear gradually slowly spreading over time? Or does it suddenly appear like it’s not there one frame, then it’s there the next a split second later?

Apparently cats can spray oily stuff to mark territory and they can do it up a vertical surface. There’s quite a comprehensive comparison table here under Differentiating Between Elimination and Marking:

en.wikivet.net/Housesoiling_-_Cat

Thoughts?

Also, the camera would have recorded a cat there
You’re so focused on the culprit being by the hedge you’ve overlooked the possibility they were in the hedge, spraying out! Huh!

(Who or what I don’t know, but I feel very Sherlock now 😀)

Is it a boundary hedge OP? Could your neighbour have thrown their old washing up water over the hedge in attempt to reuse it and control the aphids. A portion of this travelling through the hedge and hitting the ground? Pretty cool if if you know what your neighbours used washing up bowl water tastes like - not many people could say that!

Remember the old joke - I was walking along the street when I saw a strange brown lump on the ground. Looked like shit, smelled like shit, tasted like shit- thank god I never stepped on it.

I asked DH. He says burst pipe, as the pipes are under pressure you could get upward spray.

"Start a thread on Mumsnet" they said.
"They're wise and helpful and will solve this mystery" they said.

And you believed them?🤣🤣🤣 No idea what it is OP, but I would have tasted it too.

There are pelicans in Regents Park. Or it might be Green Park. Given that it is summer holidays, they have probably decided to take their hollibobs in Yorkshire. I expect your DH doesn't usually see them as they generally go to Spain but have had their trip cancelled. Ties in perfectly with quarantine being announced.

Hollibobs? Is your spell checker on drugs?

100% agree with newjez, it should be ‘holibobs’ with one ‘l’.

Ghosts having afternoon delight bin your garden. Ectoplasmic jizz.

Probably some ejected form of waste or another from an aircraft.

That said, my (rather unlikely) alternative scenario:

A parent has entertained their child/ren with making rheoscopic fluid, having got the idea from youtube or facebook or something in the desperate early days of the lockdown (arts and crafts AND science - multitasking!). The little darlings have then filled a water pistol with the stuff and tested their range into OP's front garden. (Possibly it was a water balloon; the remnants of which are yet to be found... Though, given OP's heretofore vigorous investigations into the mystery puddle - kudos - said remnants going undiscovered seems unlikely).

... My scenario accounts for the following facts: the presence of the fluid on the upper aspect of leaves and the adjacent path, the oily texture, the nacreous appearance, the odourlessness, and, dare I say it even the lack of taste. Accounts for the camera failing to pick up any trespassing culprits.

My apologies. The pellicans are on their holibobs.

And I googled and it's St James Park. So I was wrong about that as well.

Aircrafts don’t eject their toilet waste I think that’s a myth.

Also why would this happen twice in the same place? Leaking pipe or cat I reckon.

Probably guttering water that a bird flapped in. Decomposing plants make water look oily