Whats eating my trees?

Oldtree

I have noticed some damage lately on my trees. Initially I thought it was a hare, but now I am not so sure. Could it be deer?

The damage has been done to hawthorn, ash and hazel with only a little nip from a cherry. The damage to hawthorn was extensive, with the ash and hazel being munched at up to about 1.10m but only for an area of about 10cm down and across.

The attached photos are of the stripped hawthorn with the damage going up to 1.05m, I have also attached photos of droppings close by, just over 1cm in length.

reilig

Oldtree wrote: »

I have noticed some damage lately on my trees. Initially I thought it was a hare, but now I am not so sure. Could it be deer?

The damage has been done to hawthorn, ash and hazel with only a little nip from a cherry. The damage to hawthorn was extensive, with the ash and hazel being munched at up to about 1.10m but only for an area of about 10cm down and across.

The attached photos are of the stripped hawthorn with the damage going up to 1.05m, I have also attached photos of droppings close by, just over 1cm in length.

€10 says its a goat!!

We had an old nanny years ago and she was deficient in something. She stripped the bark off trees in the same way. She did every hawthorn tree on the land, but didn't bother too much with the others. She would sometimes even raise her 2 front feet onto the tree so that she could eat highter

Oldtree

you could be right. I have seen horse/pony damage before and the teeth marks were bigger. The indentations here were about 5-6mm but were bigger on the hazel.

reilig

Oldtree wrote: »

you could be right. I have seen horse/pony damage before and the teeth marks were bigger. The indentations here were about 5-6mm but were bigger on the hazel.

What sort of country are you in?

Around here there are a number of wild goats that were dumped. Further north towards mountain areas, there are loads of goats close to commonage areas.
I have seen horses nip trees too, but the droppings suggest that its a goat!

Oldtree

south mayo, scrubby limestone pavements, cant see the wood for the trees! I dont think that anyone locally has goats. The nearest wild ones are up near mulranny/newport i think. But the droppings must tell the story, but i dont know what deer droppings or hare droppings look like.

greenfingers89

reilig wrote: »

€10 says its a goat!!

wouldnt dare back against it

Oldtree

Its a goat. Havn't seen it yet but found a cloven hoof print. Little bugger did for a birch today.

Traonach

You better get somebody to cull those goats otherwise you won't have any trees left.

bluespruce

it could just be grazing animals such as rabbits hares etc just sharpening their teeth i would recommend spraying them with "grazers" spray! it can be sourced in garden centres etc.. i got some from a crowd in roscommon, think they called hedges.ie

No6

It could be deer, what part of south mayo are you in, theres a good few around partry I believe!!.

greenfingers89

bluespruce wrote: »

it could just be grazing animals such as rabbits hares etc just sharpening their teeth

dont think rabbits or hares sharpen their teeth 1.1m above the ground.....:rolleyes:

Oldtree

Kinda managing the place in an organic fashion so no sprays.

Deer strip bark with bottom teeth but the damage here is both top and bottom.

Bit aways from partry.

Will get a photo of the hoof print to be sure to be sure!!:D

slowburner

By and large, a pointed hoof print indicates a deer, and a rounded one indicates a sheep or goat.
I see a fair bit of similar damage around wild Wicklow, especially during the rutting season.

Oldtree

Its official, its goats. I spoke to a neighbour yesterday and he tells me that there have been a herd of 15 or so goats around the area for the last 2 years or so.

Still I havnt managed to find a hoofprint just lots of droppings and further damage.

Saw a pair of horses in a field yday and they had done a very severe job of stripping a mature ash tree up to quite a height.

Rovi

While we're looking at hoof prints, anyone care to hazard a go at what made this?:


I found it at one end of my forestry this afternoon.

It looks to me to be too long and narrow to be a cattle print, and the pointed tips would appear to rule out sheep or goats.
It's about 3 inches long by 2 inches wide.

slowburner

Most likely deer, but big - very big. A 4 inch long print is massive for deer imho.
That rules out Sika unless it's an unusually large stag. Are there Red Deer around? If not, then there's a moose, loose, aboot the hoose!

Rovi

There's a bit of 'slippage' on the print in that picture, the hoof that made it appears to be about 3 inches long by 2 inches wide. Still biggish by Irish deer standards.
There's a big reservoir of Fallow about 10-12km away as the crow flies (or as the deer travels ), so I'd be amazed if it was any other species.
To the best of my knowledge, there are no Red within two counties of here.


More evidence

Droppings:


Willow damage:


Norway Spruce damage:


Disturbed moss (don't know if this was done by my visitors, but it was suspiciously close to the above tree damage):


Two more prints (the Leatherman is 8 inches long):

Oldtree

That looks very similar to mine, the droppings seem the same as does the damage, although your damage seems to have been made by bigger teeth.

I finally found hoofprints, about 6cm long, although not great ones and another photo of damage.

can you tell me how to get photos into the posts please?

garyc007

is there nobody with a rifle in your area that would get rid of the goats?

Oldtree

Funnily enough I have had pm's offering such a service but they are wild goats and I wouldn't want them harmed. I'll just have to learn to live with them.

Its deffo goats. I saw them yesterday, they are long haired some white and some black and there was a kid there too.

Figerty

Has to be a Yeti......

Oldtree

Yeti's dont have horns...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/abominablesnowmen/detail.shtml

(always wanted one of those spheres)