Cat or fox?? Carnage in our front garden ??

Do you have red kites about? I ve seen them go for smaller birds but don’t know if they would kill a pigeon. Redkites are intimidatingly large birds! I’ve seen the local cat stalk pigeons but it’s better at catching mice!
Callistermon- agree sounds like young starlings- they are dull brown and peck and chatter together in groups. We had lots in our garden pecking away this morning.

Margiknot it was just so unusual to see them after all these years, I did say 10 years but it's probably much longer than that and it's interesting that they're back.

We invariably see so many red kites on the way to dd’s in Oxford - often drifting on thermals above the M40, presumably with an eye open for roadkill - that I was astonished to see a TV prog not long ago, about how they had been so scarce or endangered.

I think a sparrow hawk is responsible. They always leave feathers everywhere in a large circle. A fox would carry its prey away.

Sparrowhawk. They make a terrible mess like that. I don't know about foxes really but cats generally drag their kill away to eat it in a more private place, behind bushes or something.

Round here, if a fox gets into a chicken run, they just bite the heads off the birds and leave them, bar 1 or 2 which they carry away

Could be a sparrowhawk doing the pigeon shredding.

Sparrowhawks pluck the feathers from their prey and they scatter in a complete state around the kill. Whereas foxes and cats tear at prey with teeth so, if it's messy with many broken feathers, I would say that it's likely a cat or fox. If a lot of the carcass is left, it is probably a well-fed cat; cats are disastrous for wild life.

I used to work at a premises in central Bath, an area which has a large number of pigeons and also sparrowhawks. We often found small amounts of Pigeon remains in the grounds, and one morning a member of staff came in rather shaken, as a sparrowhawk had literally swooped in on a Pigeon at her feet in the car park, and carried the unfortunate victim off! So I am guessing, comparing the OP's post with the remains we used to find, that her instance was a bird of prey.

Possibly a Sparrow Hawk. I saw one take a big fat wood pigeon on our back lawn. Looked like someone had burst a pillow - feathers everywhere.

Whatever it is its nature for one creature to hunt another. Even cats. Even dogs given free roaming. Cats don't kill for fun, they don't have that instinct. They will kill for food but then realise they are not hungry enough to eat it.

Callistemon your brown birds are young starlings probably which are quite pretty but not black and fool many people.
The carnage sounds more like fox than cat as we have both come to our garden and in the past once had 6 cats of our own. But I agree a sparrowhawk is a definite possible and we also have had a peregrine here.

Yes, they were young starlings, they didn't have the shiny feathers yet

Sparrowhawk

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Next doors cats kill and leaves us a present.
Foxes don't always take their kill away. One very bad winter in our other house we had what I kept saying was a dead rosemary bush in a pot, come spring there was an awful smell, we realised there were pheasant tail feathers sticking up. It had been buried by the resident fox that stalked our gardens for squirrels and buried then covered in snow.

I saw a terrible sight at the weekend on our small lawn. A Herring Gull had a Blackbird half way down its gullet. The adult Blackbird's legs were still paddling away - it was awful. I opened the window but the Gull just took off with it. Guess that's 'Nature red in tooth and claw'.

It could be crows, they frequently kill other birds. I saw a bunch of them killing another crow in the park.

I suppose it is the down-side of nature and the food chain. The one that annoys me is when the neighbours big ginger cat gets one of the little blue tits or yellow hammers that come into the garden. I don't really mind if he picks off the odd wood pigeon, mind you ours are so fat that they are almost the size of the cat.

Could it be a sparrowhawk?

I have the remains of a sparrow hawk which a crow was eating. I can’t think what killed it.

Sounds like a sparrowhawk.
If you leave any carcass about you will encourage rats.
We throw any dead bits on the garage roof. Within seconds - or minutes at most the red kites swoop and take them. The magpies are always on alert too for bits.

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I would put my money on a sparrowhawk. We had one visit recently. Blood and feathers all over the garden table, prime cuts neatly excised and the head deposited in one of the chairs! I love them but they try me sorely sometimes.

Yes, a sparrowhawk, I have seen one at work on a pigeon, several times, the garden was awash with feathers.

The neighbourhood cats regularly kill birds in our garden (not for food; they just play with/torture them for a while and leave them in bits). Its usually too late by the time I get there. My cats always wore collars with bells, but this doesn't seem to happen now, I don't know why. None of them ever hanged themselves climbing trees either, which I've heard used for an excuse not to use them! We have foxes living under the shed at the end of our garden, but they always take their 'kills' back to the den to eat apparently. The only thing they leave in our garden are various toys they pinch that my neighbours leave on their swingseats at night!