To be shocked at the amount of roadkill on the motorway

[Jobseeker19]

I don't know how I never noticed before but I can't believe how many animals are getting hit.

From squirrels to massive foxes and even deer if I drive outside of London.

There seems to be a lot more this year. Did they lose some 'road sense' when the roads were quieter last year?

Although with the big ones, like deers, I don't understand how it didn't cause an accident.

I see roadkill every day on my way to work, a couple of weeks back I had to slow right down (safety) to allow a rabbit to hop down the road.

What roadkill usually illustrates is an overabundance of particular species. At the moment I'm seeing a high number of dead foxes (and quite a few rabbits).

All it tells us is that there are currently a lot of those animals about. The ecosystem/natural selection usually sorts that out.

As for deer, they're everywhere, it's just that they're very shy animals and given there are so many of them they're surprisingly seldom seen. They don't have any natural predators, so are eating certain preferred food sources into oblivion. Where that one ends (i.e. human intervention in controlling numbers) I've no idea. But we are at our highest-level deer population in Britain for about 1000 years.

Badgers will have been shot on farmland and dumped on the road to try to prevent the spread of bovine TB on farms. Huge hit to farmers if they can't move their cattle when one tests positive and has to be culled, potentially losing a bloodline that has been improved for generations. That's my personal tin hat badger conspiracy theory.

I've noticed more recently. Populations have probably grown over 18m of quieter roads. Then traffic was pretty much normal from September. More vehicles. Less experienced animals. Plus driving standards seem to have been more ropey since the spring.

Seems to be a lot of fox, badger and squirrel around here.

It’s the clock change.

Squirrels is a combined issue. There was a boost year last year where the trees produced an abundance of nuts, so this meant more babies survived. This year there’s a leaner year combined with more adults from last year, so they are having to travel for food.

I drove from southern Spain to northern France and didn’t see a single one.
I think on some of the motorways there is a net beneath the barriers at the side to stop animals getting onto the road

Fox couples also separate at around the time of clock changes to survive the winter. They mate for life, so come spring you’ll hear them calling back for each other.
I always feel sad about the squished ones leaving it’s mate behind. How long do they call for them before realising?

@Kennykenkencat

I drove from southern Spain to northern France and didn’t see a single one. I think on some of the motorways there is a net beneath the barriers at the side to stop animals getting onto the road

I hate seeing the ones in the middle. It’s like they made it half way and then were fucked.

Where I am lots of the open type barriers have been replaced with concrete blocks, meaning any animal wandering onto the motorway is effectively stuck, I'm sure it must have an impact on numbers killed.

I’ve hit two pheasant this autumn. Not for lack of care as they’ve run out in front of my car & there’s been oncoming traffic so I couldn’t swerve.

There is a lot of woodland around some junctions, for example J5 of the M40. There are loads of muntjac deer (a non-native species) in the nearby woods so unfortunately it does mean that some will stray.

@ladyface69 yes that happens a lot round here (Somerset)

Although badger culls are ineffective against bovine tb. most cases are cattle to cattle transmission. I agree its a huge hit to farmers, but badgers aren't to blame.

As harsh as it sounds. Road kill and bug splatter on car windows is a good sign. It means wildlife is thriving in a round about way.

Not seeing dead hedgehogs for example isn’t because they are too smart but because there are few you barely see any at all. Dead foxes everywhere because there is a massive amount of foxes.

I am shocked only that the perfectly good deer weren't picked up by the next driver for dinner. (If safe to stop)

Where we live in France, there are motorway overpasses to ensure wildlife can cross safely.
I have heard of farmers putting antifreeze down badger’s setts in NI, and probably elsewhere. It came to light when a friend’s dog died and she had an autopsy done. Horrendous.

Can’t say I see that much on the motorways tbh, I do a fair amount of motorway driving.

I see far more on the back roads round here, certainly when you consider the much smaller amount of traffic they get.

I see lots of roadkill on my regular motorway commute. I noticed more roadkill though once people started going out again. And did wonder if it was inexperienced wildlife.
Spring is roadkill season!

Yes, I see it every time I drive on the motorway. It is a lot, I agree. But then, I use the motorway too. The fact I've never hit anything is probably more luck than judgement.

There may be more this year as more should have survived (and reproduced) last year while we were in lockdown.

We are terrible in this country for recognising our own wildlife is in peril.
We are raising money and criticising countries for the loss of tigers, rhinos etc.
Yet there’s less than 20 hedgehogs in london. There’s less than 1 million in the whole of the U.K (down from 350 million in the 1950’s).
Countless species of birds are heavily in decline and now on the red list. We can all do our bit to help them, yet it’s barely recognised.

We criticise the loss of the rainforest, yet happily chop our own ancient woodlands down for houses roads and HS2.

I love rurally, so roadkill is pretty common place. Recently I’d agree that I’ve noticed a lot more than usual, and much bigger creatures too! Rabbits, pheasants and squirrels are an every day sight on the roads around where I live. But recently I’ve noticed way more deer, foxes, badgers etc.
A few nights ago DH and I heard a huge boom and a whoosh and assumed it was a lorry suffering a blow out. DH went outside to investigate, and turns out it was a man in a car had hit a deer doing 50mph The deer was dead but not all that torn up. The guy’s car however was totalled

@Mouseonmychair

I am shocked only that the perfectly good deer weren't picked up by the next driver for dinner. (If safe to stop)

It’s never safe to stop on a motorway! It’s always a risk even if you break down.

@EvilPea

Fox couples also separate at around the time of clock changes to survive the winter. They mate for life, so come spring you’ll hear them calling back for each other. I always feel sad about the squished ones leaving it’s mate behind. How long do they call for them before realising?

I didn’t realise that. We often hear them calling here.

There is always a lot of roadkill here and it’s quite normal to see a deer on the side. Foxes, badgers and squirrels are daily occurrences. I do wonder when I see the size of some of the animals how people were able to keep on driving afterwards, especially the very big badgers and deer.

I haven't done any motorway journeys for a while, but I have noticed a lot more dead badgers at roadsides than there are normally.

We have deer in the woods near my house, but they appear to have developed road sense, as I haven't seen a dead one for years.

Can't say I've seen much. Very occasionally see a rabbit or even more rarely a fox thats been killed on the road.
This on A roads though not motorways.
My parents live rurally and never see any roadkill there and you'd think there would be as there's a huge wood behind them.