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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Mumsnet can find an explanation for this as I am stumped?

53 replies

nicslackey1 · 27/08/2023 09:20

Woken up by my Yorkie this morning and went to let them into the back garden. Usual routine is he has a wee sniff round the garden and does his business and I feed the birds, some on the grass, bird table and refill hanging feeders. Except this morning I went to the table where I keep the tub holding my 3-4 litres of bird food and it wasn't there. I just stood there going what, where is the bird food? It was gone! Then I spotted it about 20 metres away upside down with a broken lid. So my question to you is what type of bird could carry a box of 3 litres of bird food across the garden and up turn it? Also noticed a few gouges in the grass near where I found the box and stones from the path on the grass. No entry point for a dog for example, except the side gate which is still closed. @ refill bags were untouched on the table which surely would have been easier picking for for example a seagull. Just to be clear the box started on a table, so about 3 foot off the ground and if a dog had moved it it would have landed on the path not the other side of the garden. Wondered as it happened Saturday night,, it was a drunk prank but gate very hard to close and you really need to hammer home the bolt and my dog didn't stir. This dog barks at a leaf blowing past the house!! So not exactly worried but would really like suggestions as to what has happened. Thanks to anyone who bothered to read and respond! Photo shows distance from table to box destination centre background.

Mumsnet can find an explanation for this as I am stumped?
OP posts:
NeverDropYourMooncup · 27/08/2023 09:36

Gouges in the grass = badgers

Hestia2023 · 27/08/2023 09:36

Foxes. There are lots near us and they are pretty clever, and strong - the Council provided food waste containers for every household, supposedly fox-proof, but the foxes soon learned how to get into them and you’d find them dragged down the road with the lids off. The Council had to get new bins designed with stronger clips.

nicslackey1 · 27/08/2023 09:37

Lucy, my first thought was just wtf? Then seagulls, then I had nothing because I have never seen or heard of a fox here so that didn't occur to me. It immediately made me think of something that happened over 30 years ago which will make me sound as if I have lost it but no explanation ever found for that

OP posts:
usernother · 27/08/2023 09:42

Rats. They eat anything we put out for birds and are really good at jumping from branches onto the bird table or climbing up the base. I can quite imagine them being able to knock a container over then carry it a distance.

nicslackey1 · 27/08/2023 09:43

Raininsummer, happy to entertain woo! It did cross my mind but felt embarrassed but I just cannot picture any creature that could carry 3 litres of bird food and not drop a single seed when the lid clips on loosely!!

OP posts:
dankfarrik · 27/08/2023 09:44

I was also thinking badger.

HeatherMoores · 27/08/2023 09:46

Large rats can and do drag food containers.

I don’t know if you have foxes in your garden or if they can get on the table.

Could the wind have blown it off and then an animal could have moved it?

nancy75 · 27/08/2023 09:48

I’m intrigued where do you live that you don’t have foxes?

SummerSazz · 27/08/2023 09:52

nicslackey1 · 27/08/2023 09:43

Raininsummer, happy to entertain woo! It did cross my mind but felt embarrassed but I just cannot picture any creature that could carry 3 litres of bird food and not drop a single seed when the lid clips on loosely!!

They would have eaten any spilled bits! And I vote for foxes or badgers too

pictoosh · 27/08/2023 09:53

Foxes and badgers will drag things quite far. They are pretty strong.
I don't think it's that much of a mystery.

We occasionally have photos put up on the local residents' forum of rubbish bags 'dumped' in a local beauty spot and they often cite the wrongdoing of 'teenagers' as being the cause, which causes a flurry of replies about kids having no respect these days etc.
You can tell by the scattering of the contents and the torn bag that it has been dragged by a fox from a nearby home and taken there to explore in safety. They're very resourceful and will eat anything.

pictoosh · 27/08/2023 09:55

I also agree that it could be rats. They are smart and will work as a team. They'd love your bird food.

RJnomore1 · 27/08/2023 09:55

A team of squirrels

nicslackey1 · 27/08/2023 09:56

Nancy, not sure that we don't have foxes but have never seen one in the 30 years I have lived here or heard anyone mention there are foxes. So happy to believe we might. I live in a seaside town about 15 mins walk from the beach and a mile from the nearest pub

OP posts:
PonyPatter44 · 27/08/2023 09:57

Vultures?

MrsDBaddiel · 27/08/2023 09:58

It’ll be a fox for sure, the ones in our garden are unbelievably bold, I opened my back door one tea time to put some recycling out and one was just sitting in my back steps staring at me. We had countless bottles of milk and egg cartons nicked by them until I found a box secure enough to deter them. They also move shoes and gloves around the garden for reasons known only to themselves.

nicslackey1 · 27/08/2023 09:58

Right, going to order metal bins as the thought of a team of rats is too much for me. Actually feel totally freaked out about that 😱

OP posts:
nicslackey1 · 27/08/2023 10:00

PonyPatter44 · 27/08/2023 09:57

Vultures?

lol. Although some of the seagulls here are like vultures

OP posts:
Hibiscrubbed · 27/08/2023 10:00

nicslackey1 · 27/08/2023 09:25

Hadn't thought of foxes. So do you think it jumped onto the table carried it across the garden and then upturned it breaking the lid? That is what puzzles me, it would take some strength😐

Yes. Almost certainly.

LBFseBrom · 27/08/2023 10:03

Foxes, squirrels, rats.

HamishTheCamel · 27/08/2023 10:05

A bear

ssd · 27/08/2023 10:15

I'd say foxes too

Sueveneers · 27/08/2023 10:26

Do you perhaps have any neighbours who might resent you feeding the birds/encouraging the birds to congregate/shit on their fence/things etc? Just a thought, as I have heard that neighbours feeding birds causes many neighbourly frictions. So much so they've been lawsuits.

Maddy70 · 27/08/2023 10:37

Squirrel, rat is more likely

nicslackey1 · 27/08/2023 10:38

Sueveneers · 27/08/2023 10:26

Do you perhaps have any neighbours who might resent you feeding the birds/encouraging the birds to congregate/shit on their fence/things etc? Just a thought, as I have heard that neighbours feeding birds causes many neighbourly frictions. So much so they've been lawsuits.

I don't think so, in fact the only neighbour with a bordering fence gave me the tub for storing the fat balls in when my last one gave up the ghost.

OP posts:
Toomuchfruitandnut · 27/08/2023 10:55

I'm curious now, what happened 30 years ago?! (If you don't mind me asking 🙂)

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