Bark stripping & deer ID

stig

Well-Known Member
Hi,

I'm fairly new to all this, so bear with me... without a mentor I'm just trying to learn from the signs on the ground and hopefully you guys can share some of your knowledge:

Whilst out surveying my new land I've observed various bark stripping and damage to low levels of trees & ivy.

Most notably the damage is to ivy (leaves and stalks eaten/stripped) and also to willow (bark stripped) - pictures attached.

I know there are munties on the land, but if you look at the willow pic the damage reaches up nearly has high as my armpit which seems high for a munty (no?).
Also, would you associate these trees/plants with that of munties?
There are sheep in an adjoining field, but I don't believe they've ever had access to the areas photographed.
I've not seem roe on the land but that's not to say there aren't any around.

Many thanks for your help.

Stig

(if I've incorrectly identified my trees then :rolleyes:)

ivy_strip..jpg

willow%20strip..jpg
 
Quite a bit of damage there in that first pic. I'm no expert but could the second pic be caused by Roe fraying? Were there any scrapes on the ground nearby?

ATB
mick

Looking again it looks like it's been torn off in long strips horizontally aswell:-|
 
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The willow does look like deer damage, but the top pic to me looks like rabbit or maybe hare how high of the ground does it go, l see lots of identical damage certainly done by rabbits in my travels, especially this time of year.
 
Didn't notice any scrapes nearby, but didn't overly look for them & yes, strips seemed to be torn off horizontally as well as vertically.
As for the damage to the ivy I spent a long time pondering whether it was just rabbits (there's hundreds of them on the land), that is until I begun to find identical damage at about 3 - 4 feet off the ground...
(I'd like to meet that rabbit ;) )

Some more pics:

IMG_0517..jpgIMG_0520..jpgIMG_0518..jpg
 
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Did you have deep snow recently that could have allowed the smaller critters to get above their normal browsing height?
 
Well b*gger me! Climbing rabbits... you know I'd have bet far too much money there was no such thing, but that thread... well...!

I'm still bemused why a rabbit would climb a tree when there is perfectly good grazing/bark to be eaten at ground level (no deep snow near us).
 
Well b*gger me! Climbing rabbits... you know I'd have bet far too much money there was no such thing, but that thread... well...!

I'm still bemused why a rabbit would climb a tree when there is perfectly good grazing/bark to be eaten at ground level (no deep snow near us).

Don't forget squirrels - any signs of teethmarks/gnawing? Second one looks a bit too substantial and high for Roe to me.
 
The bark damage on trees around here is spectacular this year. Everything seems to be having a go because of the hard weather. Fallen branches are stripped clean and there are trees upto 10" diameter completely stripped of bark up to 2 or 3 ft up. I agree rabbits and hares will climb. I suspect munties might be more inventive when theres snow on the ground as well
 
I agree - munties have been out in force here too (Bedfordshire). In the immature woods behind my house has a line of Rowans which have had all the bark stripped from ground level to about two-three feet, all the way round. Curiously, they have left all the other tree species alone.
 
The first pic looks like rabbit damage, the second possibly a mix of rabbit and squirrel though I wouldn't rule out fallow without being able to look at it properly. Too high for roe or muntjac.

Roe prefer something smaller and whippier for fraying and cleaning - if you have them you'll start seeing this sort of thing in a month or two. They won't be making scrapes at the base of the sapling they are fraying until they start to get territorial again.

Munties somtimes get higher than you would expect by bearing a a small sapling down with their chests and walking along it to get at the new growth on top. It springs back upright when they move on and you'd swear that a taller deer had done the damage.

Hope this helps

Mole
 
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