Spooky sounds in garden at night- which animal? Also now a "voice"

[daughterof]

For a while I have been hearing unsettling animal noises at night in my back garden, it's hard to describe them but I haven't been able to identify them online by listening to recordings of British wildlife. We have hedgehogs visit sometimes and there are loads of cats....

I haven't been too fussed but last night in addition to the noises, there was a "voice" on and off over and hour or so sounding like it was saying "hello" really clearly but not quite saying the word properly. It came from outside our house and didn't sound human.

Rational me really hopes for an explanation as DH works away more than he is home and its just me and DC here.

Woo me is adding that according to maps, a ley line passes through the house 10 doors down from us and DD1 had experiences when she was a toddler here which she now doesn't remember.

My cat has a certain call that sounds like he’s saying hello - freaked my sister out when she stayed over!

There was an awful noise around 3 the other morning, sounded like something being tortured. I used my Merlin Bird ID app to record it, was advised that it was a Jay.

Theres a website where you can listen to recordings of birds (some have a few recordings - normal call, flight call, distress call, etc) so I often double check what the Merlin app has told me. It was definitely a Jay’s alarm call. I’ll try to find out the name of the site.

Muntjac deer can sound a bit freaky at night. And foxes are an whole other level of thinking that someone is being sadistically tortured!

This is the website I use for checking bird calls

https://www.british-birdsongs.uk/jay/

Round here, it’s the foxes, muntjac deer and tawny owls that make the worst freaky noises

Thanks for replies. I think it's mating cats and cats saying hello.. there are videos of both on Youtube,. had no idea some cats could say hello. The hellos I heard sounded so terifying and nearly human, and also sounded right beside patio doors on floor below so I assume a cat was hoping to come in

Get out👻⚰️🪦

Hedgehogs are v noisy shaggers

January is peak fox mating season, so it's probably that. They'll shut up around the end of the month when they calm down and stop shagging.

@daughterof I'm all for the woo, but when male cats are searching for a mate, they make sounds like they're saying hello! We have two visiting male cats in the garden who do this! On a night it can sound a bit spooky! Both foxes and hedgehogs can make some very weird noises too!
Our house doesn't really overlook anyone at the back and I don't close the curtains until I go to bed. Our security lights show up anything coming into the garden, which is quite handy!

@daughterof Sorry OP but you reminded me of this thread
People keep having sex in my hedge... | Mumsnet

Foxes

This time of year, the options are foxes, cats, four types of deer, hedgehogs, badgers, three or four kinds of owls, assorted other nocturnal birds

Plus the local drunks, amorous kids and out of control tech.

And ghosts. Don’t forget ghosts.

Of my two previous cats, one said ‘hello’ a lot. The other in old age would walk upstairs at 1am making sounds that would have caused me to absolutely shit myself I’d I didn’t have a cat. Really, really creepy.

Trail cam. I’d also be curious to find out the culprit, probably a cat though.

Unfettered Tom cats can sound like crying babies when they get the scent of a female in heat.
Foxes sometimes sound a bit similar

Foxes
Screech owls
Cats

years ago a friend of mine heard some weird sounds in their garden in the middle of the night and in the middle of a housing estate. When they looked out of their windows they saw their garden full of druids celebrating something! Apparently their garden was on a set of laylines!!! They left peacefully when challenged but her parents had said that if they had been asked beforehand they would have totally given them their permission for their ceremony. It just freaked them out at the time 🥴

My cat yells "hell-O" up the stairs every bloody morning. Repeatedly, until he is fed.

It's either a cat or a fox. They are noisy gits too. Foxes having sex is a sound I never want to hear again as long as I live.

Ooooooh I love this!

Probably is just animals sounds, and you may be hearing a nightjar, (bird) if there are strange low-pitched warbling sounds.

Cool and exciting to think it may be something to do with something woo though!

My dog sometimes makes a sound like he’s saying “I know”

This is probably foxes. I once heard a really eerie noise like a baby crying in the garden and that was a fox. They sound particularly creepy when they’re fighting with one another.

Failing that, I’m going to say it’s a parrot. Has it ever asked for a cracker?

Another vote for foxes. I love nature and wildlife and having them in our gardens but I swear to god if these randy fuckers keep it up much longer I'm going to perch at the window with a catapult and some water balloons and put a damper on their night time activities so I can get some sleep!!

I mean, she could have meant a ladybird or anything. My dd was also speaking in full sentences at that age but she still often got words mixed up. You can read Woo into anything if you want to, but why would you want to? Living with that kind of vague fear is no way to live

We live right by the woods and a new family moved in next door. They had moved from a very noisy busy place that also had trouble with teenagers hanging around. I remember seeing them after their first week and I asked them how they were liking the area. The neighbor said that it was quite quiet which they weren’t used to but loved and their only concern was a kid playing in the woods late at night pretending to be an owl. I had to say, that no that was actually a real owl who lived there and that in the Spring a woodpecker also lives there. They were amazed that you could actually hear a real owl. It makes me smile every time I hear it. By the way we live in the middle of a town but just happen to luckily have a small wood outside our front door.

Foxes, noisy and very human sounding.