Snow - an opportunity?

[Cyclingrelf]

We've finally got our share of the white stuff down here on the Land's End penninsula, coinciding with one of my days off work (woo hoo!). I'm thinking it's a good opportunity for me to learn a bit more about tracking. Anyone got any tips?

[Adze]

Anyone got any tips?

If the snow is yellow... don't use it to make tea

[HillBill]

Follow the footprints

Nah, seriously it depends what you want to achieve. If you do it just for a bit of fun then take the above advice and see where it leads, see what they do.

I like it when you see rabbit tracks about the place and then see fox tracks following them, you can picture the fox hunting the rabbits and sometimes even find a kill site.

If you hunt then use them to locate quarry hotspots and warrens. Plenty of tracks about in the snow. Its a good way to find an animals habits or their homes

[Cyclingrelf]

If the snow is yellow... don't use it to make tea

Tea sounds a good plan, though. I've never melted snow for drinks before as Cornwall doesn't get snow very often and I grew up in the tropics (ditto). Be interested to see how much water you get from a billy of snow...

[Cyclingrelf]

Thanks Hill Bill! Since I posted, another 2 cm has fallen, so covering last night's tracks. But I reckon if I go tobogganing for an hour or two, that'll give the bunnies, badgers, foxes et c a chance to leave some more spore...and it'll be fresh!

[gowersponger]

print some tracks of on paper and take it with you. me and my boy done some tracking yesterday in the woods. didnt know that there were foxs that came within 2 meters from my back door

[Front Room Woodlander]

Binoculars and an awareness of wind direction will improve chances.

[Nigel]

Get yourself out nice and early take a camera sketch a plan of any tracks you see make a note on where the feeding grounds are and where they go to the toilet, go home and study your findings with a good book for reference. Then you can visit the same spot once the snow has gone and see what signs you can pick up on.

[Cyclingrelf]

I successfully tracked the feral cat from near the well to a patch of sheltered wall in the sunshine (miaow!) then followed the trail backwards to the barn full of hay...might have guessed!

More difficulty tracking the foxes. They keep disappearing onto patches of moor where the snow disappears under brush and thorns. At one point, they all clubbed together and had a meeting about the weather, rabbits and suchlike (I expect). Surprised at the lack of badger prints around the sett - am guessing they returned home a while ago and the prints have been covered by fresh snow? It's currently just finished snowing again.

Some pickies:
Terminator, the feral cat on the prowl


Not sure - is this a dog?


Is this a fox in deep snow - or a badger?


Three tracks converging


Bunny wabbit


Popular path


Badger sett or fox den?

[hammock monkey]

Great post - looks like you're having a great time there!

I cant quite pick up the details from the photos, sometimes its helpful to take them in such a way that you get the shadows to pick out the detail (if possible) but the fox/ badger question looks too narrow to be a badger, its fairly obvious from the snuffling and antics when you find their tracks

My favourite tracks I've seen this year are a Magpie's. At least I'm fairly sure they're Magpie. They almost look as though a snake has slithered along the ground, up onto a hedge, across to another hedge, into my garden and then up onto the bin and then porch. Finally there's errr...jumbo fish finger sized impressions in the snow the other side of the porch (all from the tail).

My wife woke me up to show me the light the snow had created and the wierd 'flying snake' tracks, loved it!

Everyone freaks out in the snow UK grinds to a halt mostly, but the tracking is great fun and the place looks beautiful, so enjoy it I say!

[Cyclingrelf]

Thanks Hammock monkey I was veering towards those prints being fox as well. I should maybe have taken a bright torch to highlight the prints for photographing. I shall know next time!

[Chinkapin]

Old tracking joke:

A cowboy was riding along a narrow trail and came upon a Native American, who was laying on the ground, with one ear pressed to the ground. The Native American looks up and says: " 27 buffalo, followed by three cowboys, one wearing a black hat, one a white hat, and the third one has a white hat and a bright yellow shirt. Two have Winchesters, one has a Sharps .45-120."

The cowboy says: My god, you can tell all of that just by putting your ear to the ground?

The Native American says: No, I was laying here preparing to take a nap and thats what ran over me!

[Adze]

one has a Sharps .45-120.

Loaded for T-Rex!

[Nyayo]

Old tracking joke:

A cowboy was riding along a narrow trail and came upon a Native American, who was laying on the ground, with one ear pressed to the ground. The Native American looks up and says: " 27 buffalo, followed by three cowboys, one wearing a black hat, one a white hat, and the third one has a white hat and a bright yellow shirt. Two have Winchesters, one has a Sharps .45-120."

The cowboy says: My god, you can tell all of that just by putting your ear to the ground?

The Native American says: No, I was laying here preparing to take a nap and thats what ran over me!

I played a similar trick on some unobservant friends while out biking; the group I was with were unaware that another group of my mates was on the trail just ahead. I looked at the tracks, then described the size and number of the party and even identified the colour of a shirt (from 'stray threads'). They were suitably amazed when we caught up with the front runners!

N
Loving the snow for tracking - hope to head up the hill for some Arctic Hare spotting soon!

[Cyclingrelf]

Crumbs - that is an old joke! It's just long enough since I last heard it that I'd forgotten the punch line

Old tracking joke:

A cowboy was riding along a narrow trail and came upon a Native American, who was laying on the ground, with one ear pressed to the ground. The Native American looks up and says: " 27 buffalo, followed by three cowboys, one wearing a black hat, one a white hat, and the third one has a white hat and a bright yellow shirt. Two have Winchesters, one has a Sharps .45-120."

The cowboy says: My god, you can tell all of that just by putting your ear to the ground?

The Native American says: No, I was laying here preparing to take a nap and thats what ran over me!

[taws6]

Nice pics, thanks for taking the time and shareing them, we need more pics like that!!

I keep seeing loads of fox tracks, it's one busy fox around here or there's a few fox's about...hmm.

Is it right that there are only 5 posts in the tracking section of the forum? That's all I see when here, but searching reveals more threads...?

And I keep meaning to ask, do badgers and fox's smell different, or do they both simular? Sorry for the thread hijack, but thought I could slip it in as it's related stuff.

[Cyclingrelf]

Hi taws, thanks for posting. I can only see 4 threads in the forum too...I guess the other tracking threads got posted in other forums.
No worries about the thread hijack - I'm interested to see the answers to your questions too.

And I keep meaning to ask, do badgers and fox's smell different, or do they both simular? Sorry for the thread hijack, but thought I could slip it in as it's related stuff.

[taws6]

"No worries about the thread hijack - I'm interested to see the answers " - Great.

The tracking section really should be much bigger with many more pics. I'll try and add some too.

I can't tell from your pic, but I know a badgers set is normally more oval in shape at the entrance. I can't say for sure I've seen any badger prints in the snow, but not been out much either. Do they hibernate through snowy conditions? I know a few humans that do.... hehe!

[Chinkapin]

Nyayo: I wish I had been there to see the look on your friends faces when they caught up with the other group. I'll bet it was priceless.

[hammock monkey]

And I keep meaning to ask, do badgers and fox's smell different, or do they both simular? Sorry for the thread hijack, but thought I could slip it in as it's related stuff.

hiya,
yes, they do smell different, a fox is quite musky, I cant really say that badgers have a particular smell thats very noticable. The fox wants everyone to know he's there, leaves his calling card on prominent places (up on fallen trees, anything 3ft-ish high), the badger changes his bedding very often, so you'll should find strewn bits of hay, ferns, foliage etc around the sett.

Obviously there are many exits/ entrances around, look for them, they may well tell you if the sett is actually active.

Several different animals might use the sett if the badgers have gone. Try to find prints, take photos and put them up here - love it

It could be that the hole there is inactive, i couldnt make out any clear tracks going in or out. There should be plenty of tell-tale signs about to indicate fox or badger. Look for feathers with blood on them etc for fox, discarded broken up foliage for badger.

Tracking is often called "the first science" which doesnt quite sit right with me (more likely behavioural studies!?) but its my favourite part of being out in the sticks, aside from actually seeing the animals.

even though it means a 10 mile round trip on foot everyday, i'm still lovin the snow!

[Cyclingrelf]

Several different animals might use the sett if the badgers have gone. Try to find prints, take photos and put them up here - love it

It could be that the hole there is inactive, i couldnt make out any clear tracks going in or out. There should be plenty of tell-tale signs about to indicate fox or badger. Look for feathers with blood on them etc for fox, discarded broken up foliage for badger.

Thanks! I'll go have another look today. Hooray for the w/e

[Pablo]

hiya,

Tracking is often called "the first science" which doesnt quite sit right with me (more likely behavioural studies!?) but its my favourite part of being out in the sticks, aside from actually seeing the animals.

The guy who first came up with that is a white African tracker. We were tracking (persitence hunting) before we invented any kind of hunting tools or weapons so I guess if you consider tracking similar to forensic science (the study of evidence to see what's happened in a particular environment) I guess the 'first science' is pretty close.

But who cares!! It's fun!

Badger's don't hibernate, but they do slow their metabolism down quite a bit so they don't have to go out every day. Many species use badger setts; even when the badger is still resident. They will use other areas of the sett complex.

You'll be surprised how many foxes there are. They will use the same trails and runs, but it's more likely that every set of fox tracks you find will be a different animal. One thing I've certainly learned from this years snow is just how many animals there are out there.

The tracks in your pics look like fox to me although it's difficult to tell.

Here's some pics from today:

Grey Squirrel trying to break through ice to get water


Pheasant running through the woods


Fox tracks aged from 24 hour to 1 hour


Ah! There he is!

[Cyclingrelf]

Hi Pablo - well caught with that fox! You must've been quieter crunching through the snow than I manage to be.
I went back out to that sett today, but there were no new footprints. Either empty or the badgers are lying low atm.
I did follow some other tracks, though. One fox made me smile - I followed fox tracks on Thursday and today Monsieur Renard had obviously followed my tracks. There was a neat little print or two in all my old footprints across 2.5 fields! Even when I had walked in a little loop, the fox followed. Guess he was showing me up! There I was, tracking the fox who was tracking me tracking him


I also saw an interesting wing print - you can see the feathers, but where are the feet in the middle of them? Incidentally, the track bottom right is where a sheep ambled by.


I was keeping an eye out for deer prints (we had some damage to our pine trees that looked very like deer, even though we've never seen any around here). I wondered about these:


But they could easily be rabbit paws, as in the left hand pair of prints here:


What do you all think?

I did get a nice little rabbit front paw, placed on a raised bit of snow adjacent to a Cornish hedge (stone wall with plants and bushes growing on it, for the uninitiated)


And that was about it for today! Tracks were everywhere - we could do with some more snow to hide them again, as it's starting to look like the sand on a busy beach out there at the moment. We've got an awful lot of little bunnies.

[Pablo]

I also saw an interesting wing print - you can see the feathers, but where are the feet in the middle of them? Incidentally, the track bottom right is where a sheep ambled by.

Snap!



I reckon it's a rook or a crow.(you have some rook or crow tracks at the top of your picture. They fly low without landing and then land somewhere else. Perhaps that's why there's no landing marks from the feet.

The rest of your pics are more than likely rabbit.

Great fox story. They will follow anything with an unusual scent.

[Cyclingrelf]

I reckon it's a rook or a crow.(you have some rook or crow tracks at the top of your picture. They fly low without landing and then land somewhere else. Perhaps that's why there's no landing marks from the feet.

I didn't know that about flying low! I was wondering if maybe the sheep had scared it and it had taken off suddenly and unexpectedly and hence took a moment to clear the ground.
Mine is most likely to be a Jackdaw, as they loiter around the sheep troughs at feeding time. Presumably they have similar behaviour to the rest of the crow family? If not, then rook is the second most likely.

[Pablo]

I didn't know that about flying low! I was wondering if maybe the sheep had scared it and it had taken off suddenly and unexpectedly and hence took a moment to clear the ground.
Mine is most likely to be a Jackdaw, as they loiter around the sheep troughs at feeding time. Presumably they have similar behaviour to the rest of the crow family? If not, then rook is the second most likely.

Right. It would be interesting to take some measurements (wing-span etc) for future reference. We'd get an idea of crow, rook , jackdaw and magpie. Were there any feet marks behind the wing marks out of picture then?

[hammock monkey]

I did follow some other tracks, though. One fox made me smile - I followed fox tracks on Thursday and today Monsieur Renard had obviously followed my tracks. There was a neat little print or two in all my old footprints across 2.5 fields! Even when I had walked in a little loop, the fox followed. Guess he was showing me up! There I was, tracking the fox who was tracking me tracking him

thats wonderful! well spotted, most would have missed that

....maybe you should get a little tiny dolls shoe and put a mini boot-print inside the fox print there? That oughta do it!



Thats a beautiful looking fox you found there Pablo, excellent stuff!!

[hammock monkey]

by the way, you may find this useful:

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/fo...es-needed.html

its a link to a sticky thread with lots of tracks and signs.

[Cyclingrelf]

Hi Pablo, I'm afraid it snowed again overnight, so the wing prints were covered and I couldn't measure them.
Thanks for the link Hammock monkey - I've bookmarked it

[superc0ntra]

We've had a month of snow now in the south of Sweden. Just above an inch and a degree or so below freezing. I've spent an hour a day tracking everything from people to dogs to deer to rabbits and have improved my skills considerably