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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Screaming from across the fields tonight..

133 replies

anaom · 21/07/2021 23:17

Hello,

So I'm currently in bed trying to get to sleep, but all I can hear is an awful, almost human like screaming coming from across the fields.
We live in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by fields.. only one immediate neighbour.

It sounds awful, like someone or something is in pain! I've never lived around so much open space before so totally not used to the sounds. It's really loud..

Would I be unreasonable to go out and see what it could be? I'm scared someone or something is in danger?

I cant exactly explain the sound.. it's just strange and weirdly haunting looking out the window trying to locate it, and my eye literally can't see past the fence at the end of the garden. It's SO dark.

OP posts:

PerciphonePuma · 22/07/2021 01:07

I really hope no poor woman is ever having to scream for her life around you lot on here!
You'll be calling her a horny Fox and popping your earplugs in!

youshallnotpass9 · 22/07/2021 01:12

[quote SmidgenofaPigeon]@youshallnotpass9 have you actually seen them at it then? Breeding season is January or February. Loads of other reasons why they make noise though. Unless they’re just shagging for fun [/quote]
unfortunatly yes I have, I walk past a park late at night and they are certainly still going at it.

I know some scream just for the fun of it

MegaCityOne · 22/07/2021 01:12

Once heard a hedgehog screaming. It has been hit by a car and we had an animal rescue person on their way to collect it. It was such a horrible sound. “spike” as he was named, was absolutely fine and made a full recovery, but I will never forget the sound. It was really distressing to hear.

Mamanyt · 22/07/2021 01:36

My guess would be, given the time of year, a barn owl. And yes, they sound very much like a woman being murdered. We have them in the US, as well, and I DID call the police on hearing one for the first time. The officer was very kind about it, and explained to me what it was. I must not have been the first call like that.

73kittycat73 · 22/07/2021 01:54

@Bananapuppy

Where we are the lambs have just been taken away and the sheep are crying out for their babies. It’s a loud, slightly wailing, sorrowful but alarming sound, very eerie- could it be that?

That is so sad.

If I wasn't a vegetarian already, I would be after reading that!

Sparklfairy · 22/07/2021 02:04

@PerciphonePuma that thought crossed my mind too

WrongWayApricot · 22/07/2021 02:23

@PerciphonePuma I was told to always scream fire if I need help because that's the only thing that's guaranteed to be taken seriously.

arcof · 22/07/2021 03:02

Could it be that lady with the migraines from the other thread? 😀

Twinkletwinklelittlecar · 22/07/2021 03:18

What happened to that thread?

Mintjulia · 22/07/2021 03:55

Sounds like a fox.

People always think of the country as quiet but it's really noisy at night. We've got deer barking, foxes screaming, owls hooting. Next door's cats hissing & spitting, something I haven't identified yet.....

Mintjulia · 22/07/2021 04:20

Urgh! and now the local cockerel. I can't sleep.

BarbaraofSeville · 22/07/2021 04:31

@HamsterHelp

Frogs…scream?

I learned this surprising fact when one of the cats I was fostering appeared through the cat flap accompanied by an awful noise.

My relief that he was not hurt was then replaced by uugh when I saw that the noise was being made by the frog in his mouth. I managed to free said frog and take it outside the garden where I hoped it would find it's way to the stream just outside the garden.

Bloody cat returned with (presumably) the same frog not long after and the process was repeated and thankfully the frog was never seen again.

We also have foxes around and they do indeed make a noise which makes you fear that someone is being tortured. At this time of year I assume that it is the young males having a 'who is the hardest' face off.

I did catch two foxes shagging in the garden once but, as the photo I took that often pops up on my FB memories attests, fox shagging season, if they're not up for it all year round, coincides with the time of year when there's snow on the ground.

CheekiBreeki · 22/07/2021 04:43

I'll never forget the first time I heard foxes. They were shagging right outside my bedroom window. Gave me nightmares.

Kinsters · 22/07/2021 04:43

@PerciphonePuma

I really hope no poor woman is ever having to scream for her life around you lot on here! You'll be calling her a horny Fox and popping your earplugs in!

If the screaming is ongoing it's probably not someone being murdered. The murderer would shut you up pretty quick. It's the one small scream in the night that would worry me.

I've heard to yell fire as well but personally would prefer to go for a Victorian-esque cry of murder (not sure why I think of that as Victorian but I do!)

PurpleSapphire · 22/07/2021 04:55

Foxes, (I live in a town) first time I heard it I thought someone was being murdered! Horrible noise!

FoolsAssassin · 22/07/2021 04:56

I came on to say most likely foxes. Having said that my neighbour’s DD screamed to attract help during a fight with her Brother and in my half asleep state I thought that was foxes too so best not listen to me.

bunnybuggs · 22/07/2021 06:40

Welcome to the countryside. I get that you are freaked out being new to it. But if you move there and do not know much about wildlife you will soon learn. This is why as a country person born and bred - I do feel that it is not the right environment for many people who seem to expect the rural idyll with no nasty things to stress them when leave city living

CounsellorTroi · 22/07/2021 06:51

[quote SmidgenofaPigeon]@AlmostSummer21 😂

Fox sex is awful for the female though, which might explain the noise. Barbed penis.[/quote]
Same is true of cats.

muddyford · 22/07/2021 07:02

Barn owl, I should say. It's too early in the year for mating foxes.

essentialhealing · 22/07/2021 07:03

If you think a fox call is disturbing you should hear a muntjac

Only ever heard it once, in a wood and on my own. It was awful. I recorded it and later found out what it was. If it had been dark I'd have been really scared

Woeismethischristmas · 22/07/2021 07:06

I once had some German tourists come to tell me they could hear screaming from the barn. I think they thought I was torturing the children in there😕 I took them across to point out the barn owls nesting there. They can sound very human.

Lockheart · 22/07/2021 07:19

@Bananapuppy

Where we are the lambs have just been taken away and the sheep are crying out for their babies. It’s a loud, slightly wailing, sorrowful but alarming sound, very eerie- could it be that?

Those "babies" will be 4-5 months old now and basically fully grown.

frostyfingers · 22/07/2021 07:21

No one has mentioned rabbits or badgers! Rabbits being killed make the most godawful noise and the racket badgers make when fighting is pretty grim too and goes on a bit.

ErrolTheDragon · 22/07/2021 07:27

Welcome to the countryside.

The noisiest foxes I've ever heard were in Edgbaston.

AtlasPine · 22/07/2021 07:34

If any third party poked me while I was shagging I’d damn well scream.

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