can’t tell what happened – is it dead or what? some sort of beetle?
Another victim of a stag do gone wrong.
live by the sword, die by the sword
Snag beetle
Looks like a shrike. Triggering my PTSD of Animals of Farthing Wood 🙁
Where did you find this? The only way this could happen is by a Shrike, and they are quite rare in the UK.
That’s how they got Lennon
Oh wow if this is the work of a shrike you are lucky! The beetle, not so much. I have never seen either a shrike or their brutal handiwork.
Life as a beetle is tough, no second chances. One shrike and you’re out.
As other commenters have mentioned this is probably the act of a shrike – a Red-backed Shrike to be specific.
A handful breed in the UK, but most are seen from late August to October when a few hundred pass down from northern Europe to Africa via the Mediterranean.
A few stay for a few days if the weather is good. They store excess prey like this on barbed wire and thorns. They also often leave insects like this because distasteful or toxic chemicals break down over time, and they leave them until they’re more palatable.
Is this near the east coast OP? That’s where most of them hang around when they pass down from Scandinavia and Russia. It would be much more likely to be one if that was the case.
Fuck me, after reading these comments I had to Google what a Shrike is. Now I’m radicalised against birds and believe now more than ever that we need to take the fight to them. Fucking stab or be stabbed.
11 comments
can’t tell what happened – is it dead or what? some sort of beetle?
Another victim of a stag do gone wrong.
live by the sword, die by the sword
Snag beetle
Looks like a shrike. Triggering my PTSD of Animals of Farthing Wood 🙁
Where did you find this? The only way this could happen is by a Shrike, and they are quite rare in the UK.
That’s how they got Lennon
Oh wow if this is the work of a shrike you are lucky! The beetle, not so much. I have never seen either a shrike or their brutal handiwork.
Life as a beetle is tough, no second chances. One shrike and you’re out.
As other commenters have mentioned this is probably the act of a shrike – a Red-backed Shrike to be specific.
A handful breed in the UK, but most are seen from late August to October when a few hundred pass down from northern Europe to Africa via the Mediterranean.
A few stay for a few days if the weather is good. They store excess prey like this on barbed wire and thorns. They also often leave insects like this because distasteful or toxic chemicals break down over time, and they leave them until they’re more palatable.
Is this near the east coast OP? That’s where most of them hang around when they pass down from Scandinavia and Russia. It would be much more likely to be one if that was the case.
Fuck me, after reading these comments I had to Google what a Shrike is. Now I’m radicalised against birds and believe now more than ever that we need to take the fight to them. Fucking stab or be stabbed.