Without a doubt, it's a lot of fun to watch tits and sparrows at the feeding station in the garden. However, you almost never see other residents directly. However, they leave behind characteristic traces that reveal their presence. Walk through the greenery with your children with alert eyes and you will be amazed at how many animal tracks you come across.
What animal tracks can be found in the garden?
In the garden you can discover animal tracks such as paw prints of foxes, rabbits, mice and birds, as well as feeding tracks from squirrels and dormouses. Further indications of animal presence include droppings, feathers or nibble marks on plants and trees.
Learn to read tracks
You can find traces in the freshly fallen snow or in the soft garden soil. A frequent visitor to rural green spaces, for example, is the fox, whose paw prints are lined up like beads on a string. Also the typical prints of
- Rabbit,
- Mice and
- Birds
occasionally roam the garden.
Discover feeding marks
If a squirrel has made itself comfortable in your area, you will find bare cone spindles under trees. If you discover fruit broken in two under the walnut tree, these also indicate the nimble little animals. However, if the fallen nuts have gnawed round holes, bank mice and dormice have feasted on them.
The larvae of the hazelnut borer live in hazelnuts with a small, round hole. This pest belongs to the weevil family and should be combated in an environmentally friendly way, for example with glue rings (€9.00 on Amazon).
Traces also show up in a completely different way
You're probably familiar with the droppings that indicate that parent birds are raising their children under a rafter. During the moulting season you can find feathers in the garden, for example
- Blackbird,
- Tit,
- Sparrow or
- bullfinch
let it be assigned.
Small, cylindrical, odorless droppings that can even be found on the balcony may come from a squirrel.
Occasionally, shy brown hares escape to gardens where they are safe from hungry predators. Nibble marks on the bark of trees and bushes indicate them, as do firm, round pellets that are about two centimeters large.
Tip
The neighbor's cat may have left behind sausages that are two centimeters thick and up to ten centimeters long. However, if the end is very pointed and the residue is covered in food residue or hair, it probably comes from a fox. In this case, you should dispose of the feces immediately because it could be infected with fox tapeworm.
