Traditional measures of productivity

[David Martin]

How to let the gaffer knowyou are getting on with the job.
Not for the squeamish.

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A fence with all the pests caught hung on it to rot. Not for the squeamish.

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You were warned..
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[Mrs Pingu]

No need.

[Wowbagger]

I haven't seen that sort of thing for about 40 years.

[geraldc]

I've seen it done with moles

[pcolbeck]

I've seen those before. Gamekeepers gibbet.

[David Martin]

I've seen it done with moles

Some of the older ones on there are moles.

[Tourist Tony]

Are there stoats on there?

[David Martin]

Are there stoats on there?

I don't think so - not unless they are very big ones. There may be squirrels as well as rats. The bodies were fairly 'old' but not old enough IYSWIM (The S is not See but another sense)

..d

[Cudzoziemiec]

Why are the moles on there? In what way are they a pest - to gamebirds, I presume the idea is?

[pcolbeck]

Moles is more usually to do with horses. A horse can strain or break a leg if the ground collapses under their hooves into a mole hole.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Last I cycled past a farm with load of crows and other rotting bits hung on the fence.

Wierd/creepy farm name - 'Fairy Cross Plain'.

[marcusjb]

Great photos. I remember seeing this all the time when I was young. My grandfather was a farmer and would always point them out and pass comment on the gamekeeper's handiwork.

[RJ]

Are there stoats on there?

I don't think so - not unless they are very big ones. There may be squirrels as well as rats. The bodies were fairly 'old' but not old enough IYSWIM (The S is not See but another sense)

..d

Some of those look like mustelids to me (particularly the paler animals in pic 3, also visible in 6). Collins guide says stoat and rat head/body length about the same.

I'm afraid my nasty, suspicious semi-professional mind wonders what's been getting blootered that's *not* on the gibbet ...

[David Martin]

Could possibly be. I'll take the SLR next time I am passing that way and see whether I can get any better pics.

..d

[Cudzoziemiec]

Moles is more usually to do with horses. A horse can strain or break a leg if the ground collapses under their hooves into a mole hole.

I see, thanks.

[robbo6]

There's also a problem with bacteria from the molehill soil contaminating silage.

[RJ]

Like molehills are the only source of soil in a silage field 

[Arch]

Moles is more usually to do with horses. A horse can strain or break a leg if the ground collapses under their hooves into a mole hole.

Indeed, the cause of death of William III - complications from a broken collarbone sustained when his horse stumbled in a molehill.

From Wiki:

Because his horse had stumbled into a mole's burrow, many Jacobites toasted "the little gentleman in the black velvet waistcoat."