What leaves these little red berry's?

gigidygigidy

Well-Known Member
Hi all,
I'm new to stalking so this may seem like a stupid question. As I'm getting to know my new permissions I'm following deer tracks and working out there paths in and out of plantations when I find what looks like regurgitated red berry's from nearby trees.
As there is a lot of wildlife in the are I'm wondering if any of these may have picked them up and got sick or is this something deer do that I was not aware of.
This is a pick of how I find them I the middle of a run
9baf0834ce1d364ab38257ff4da7694a.jpg
9baf0834ce1d364ab38257ff4da7694a.jpg
 
So from your photo they look like rowan, if so deer sheep horses etc eat them before frosts, they cause reflux and the animal often regurgitates them, hope that helps.
As an after thought, 25-06 states- pine martens eat them, well like rhubarb, rowan and whitebeam berries are often eaten by pregnant Mustelid group of mammals.
 
Except that ruminants and horses don't vomit (some exception , but not rowan) I'm inclined to think its young foxes, as I saw some in droppings that also had a lot of beetle cases. I guess rowan is not that digestible to a carnivore.
 
There is plenty of foxes and badgers around this area. but with berries also gone from the lower branches I was thinking deer as no cattle are there at the min. Thanks for the info guys.
 
Thanks for raising this question gigidy, I saw exactly the same small piles of berries, albeit with the slime washed off by rain, on a forestry track used by deer in Argyll a few weeks back and was wondering exactly the same thing myself.
 
Except that ruminants and horses don't vomit (some exception , but not rowan) I'm inclined to think its young foxes, as I saw some in droppings that also had a lot of beetle cases. I guess rowan is not that digestible to a carnivore.

I was going to suggest fox or possibly Badgers?

You often see piles of badger crap comprised entirely of Yew berries so I was wondering if Rowan would have the same effect on them.
 
Some of SD at its best in my personal ( Andy ) view ( paul O' already got his coat so that's ok :D)

See them up here quite a bit around this time and for this spot it is Pine Marten - we get chance to see them stuffing on Whitebeam and Rowan out the living room window ( Disney 'aaaawwww' from visitors ) and then in the quiet of evening listening to and at other times watching the furry blighters honking the lot back up ( Disney 'eeeeew# from visitors ). As weeks pass the vomit reduces and the berries appear in reducing 'solidity' in the PMP ( Pine Marten Poop ).

I often wonder how come something that a critter does annually - so it seems - doesnt over time assimiliate. IE how come their body chemistry doesn't adapt to process these berries? Be genuinely interested in the answer/ theories.

More than happy to accept not a Pine M 'thing' and other Mustalids and assorted animals/ birds do the same. Only writing of the experience here :tiphat:
 
Rowans have never made me vomit Andy,love them not in their natural state though Apple and Rowan jelly the Rowan adds something to the app!es for sure,and Rowan jelly as an accompaniment to venison or other red meat as opposed to red currant Jelly is superb.


We have Pine Martens around here and I can't say I have seen any Rowans regurgitated , though I have seen them in fox droppings along with blae berries and strangely enough lots of plum stones, which means they must come down into the gardens around here and feast on the wind blown fruit.

Some useless information Rowans are very high in pectin which may well be what makes the Martens vomit, in the past when country people all made their own jams and jellies, a few Rowans were often added which because of their high pectin content helped the jams and jellies to set.

My Granny who was a real country Woman and gathered many plants and fruits that grew wild. Today if you were being kind you would call her a forager, if less kind then a witch, Rowans featured in many of her concoctions.
 
With help from SD the more I think about it there is a lot of badgers and foxes about there. So with how tight the little piles of berries are they prob came from an animal fairly low to the ground.
Deer are probably eating them from the excess-able branches but it's probably a smaller animal vomiting?
 
BT - of course not - once its down your neck - gin, whisky, antifreeze.... its stays down; I suspect you're the one that led John astray all those years back! :D

Or are you implying you are a Mustalid.... I thought it was just your aftershave :D

Sorry not up to standard - long day out with clients ( great guys thankfully ) but cold, wet and windy; the deer had the right idea andstayed in deep cover!
 
Some of SD at its best in my personal ( Andy ) view ( paul O' already got his coat so that's ok :D)

See them up here quite a bit around this time and for this spot it is Pine Marten - we get chance to see them stuffing on Whitebeam and Rowan out the living room window ( Disney 'aaaawwww' from visitors ) and then in the quiet of evening listening to and at other times watching the furry blighters honking the lot back up ( Disney 'eeeeew# from visitors ). As weeks pass the vomit reduces and the berries appear in reducing 'solidity' in the PMP ( Pine Marten Poop ).

I often wonder how come something that a critter does annually - so it seems - doesnt over time assimiliate. IE how come their body chemistry doesn't adapt to process these berries? Be genuinely interested in the answer/ theories.

More than happy to accept not a Pine M 'thing' and other Mustalids and assorted animals/ birds do the same. Only writing of the experience here :tiphat:
maybe the martens only go for them because of oppertunity rather than an historical food item ,so no need to change phisiogamy ,,or they could be giving theirselves a seasonal colonic!!,,,NURSE!!MY MEDS ARE WEARING OFF AGAIN,:eek:
 
its a form of meditation in the highlands:cool:you stand on one leg and blow flies off a cowpat ,or so i,m told,to be honest i think someones yanking my chain,aaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhh!!its fizzy summat,:tiphat:
 
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Except that ruminants and horses don't vomit (some exception , but not rowan) I'm inclined to think its young foxes, as I saw some in droppings that also had a lot of beetle cases. I guess rowan is not that digestible to a carnivore.
Not meaning to disregard your statement, but surely Sheep and Deer are ruminants? if so I have watched them bring Rowan berries up with my own eyes, the same with reed canary grass. I have watched them eat them, start coughing and then either look and drink water or bring them up. I have observed this on more that one occasion starting when I was a teenager and the Keeper said it was Indigestion, In Germany I was told it was reflux[same lines].
In much the same way as Carnivores bringing up star snot, I was poo hood for saying I knew that it was the remains of dead frogs etc brought up by Foxes, Badgers, Buzzards etc, then finally by the use of DNA I was proved right .
 
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OK, that's the first I've heard of rowan doing that. A ruminant can regurgitate - part of the normal digestion - but not vomit. Rhododendron poisoning being a peculiar exception. They might just be spitting it out. However, I'll check my databases!!
 
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