# Garden Mystery



## Roger (May 17, 2003)

This relates to my late Father in Laws garden.

As can be seen in the first shot, its stony ground.

recently we have noticed that in random places the small surface stones have been carefully arranged into neat little heaps surrounded by a small circular cleared area as I have tried to show in the second shot.

There are no footprints anywhere and the isolated village location is bereft of local kids.

Anyone have any plausible explanation? animals? birds?

Roger


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Thats so wiered...

I was going to suggest dust baths made by birds but Its not that...


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## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

Moles


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## JTW (Jun 14, 2007)

Had there been ice or snow, just wondering if the melting phase might have been responsible.


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## Mutley (Apr 17, 2007)

Druid field mouse burial mound


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## Russ (Feb 7, 2006)

I wonder if you might find a cat turd under the stones, they like to cover it up.


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## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

In my part of the world, I would suspect turtles. They dig in, lay eggs for awhile and then cover up. Their flippery feet gather the bigger stuff easier than the finer stuff. :huh:

Later,

William


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Better send a pic to the daily mail ASAP Roger. Bound to be of interest to them h34r:

It's got to be animal behaviour of some sort, hasn't it?

Worms! I kid you not, check the link

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/724985


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## nursegladys (Aug 4, 2006)

lol when i saw this i said cats but they must have heavy duty equipment in or it really is sh*t that deserves burying pmsl


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## JTW (Jun 14, 2007)

If you don't get an answer here send it to New Scientist's Last word column. They publish "mysteries" like this one weekly. I'm half convinced that they've already done something like this.


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## thorpey69 (Feb 8, 2006)

Probably those UFO's in the other thread,but seriously i havent a clue h34r:


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## Roger (May 17, 2003)

Its got the 710 really spooked,

Griff said Moles...which was my first thought, but on looking, the soil beneath the stones has not been disturbed, I guess that also rules out cat turds....and they wouldnt go to the trouble of clearing a circle around the stones.

Beats the hell outta us anyway.

roger


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## James (Jul 17, 2006)

I have to chirp in 

Most likely an animal burying its food, maybe a lost squirrel or raccoon

How many piles are there and do they form any kind of larger pattern or message?

Is the garden on top an old cemetery?

Or maybe wee little migratory Inuits leaving behind poorly built Inukshuk's


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## Roger (May 17, 2003)

Most likely an animal burying its food, maybe a lost squirrel or raccoon

Could be....but we,re a bit light on racoons over here :lol:

How many piles..... 10 to 15

Not a cemetry, at least not after 1750 (as far back as we can trace)


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## Robert (Jul 26, 2006)

pg tips said:


> Worms! I kid you not, check the link
> 
> http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/724985


I was watching a Darwin thing last night and I'm sure it said worms raise the soil therefore take the stones into the ground.

At this time of year could it be some sort of nesting thing? Some type of ground-nesting bird maybe?

My money would be on cats I think.


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## James (Jul 17, 2006)

Robert said:


> pg tips said:
> 
> 
> > Worms! I kid you not, check the link
> ...


I don't know thats either one demented and busy cat at 10-15 piles or a whack of cats

I like the idea of ground nesting animals.

The worms thing is cool but lived on a farm and been around agriculture and not seen that from our worms here but CAD worms would not want to create anything disturbing 

I am still going with it forming a message from somewhere or a connect the dots picture type message, or some giant worm like from the movie Tremor


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## minkle (Mar 17, 2008)

Odd, i'll keep an eye on my gravel..

What village are you in?


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## Roger (May 17, 2003)

What village are you in? France Lynch


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## foztex (Nov 6, 2005)

Rogue wandering Japanese gardeners?

seriously I've not a clue, the animal ideas sound feasible. Is the ground totally flat? are the stones sliding into the middle when its wet. Strong winds perhaps? wet ground, mini-twisters?

Andy


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## Who. Me? (Jan 12, 2007)

Sailing Stones (cue the XFiles music) h34r:


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

Russ said:


> I wonder if you might find a cat turd under the stones, they like to cover it up.


+1 :lol:


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## BondandBigM (Apr 4, 2007)

Most likely some sort of animal but I'm not sure about cats, the last M and my daughter loved them and we had a house full 7 or 8 at any one time, we had a big gravel drive and I never saw them doing anything like that. My money would be on squirrels or something like that, out of curiosity have you had a look to see if anything is under the piles of stones.


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## sssammm (Oct 7, 2003)

Obvious, Its a lesser Spotted Stone Gatherer

sam


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## catch21 (Feb 9, 2009)

Interesting one. It aint moles, thats fer sure. I dont reckon on ground nesting birds either. None in their right mind would nest that close to civilisation and inhabitation. I dont reckon its worms, which is kind of leaving squirrels or cats. I'm going for cats as squirrels tend to dig down and leave little cups in the ground whereas cats do indeed pile things up after they've crapped.


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## djacks42 (Nov 21, 2005)

Roger said:


> Anyone have any plausible explanation? animals? birds?


err.. Bigfoot?


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## Roger (May 17, 2003)

err.. Bigfoot?

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Good one...like it!!

I'll take a closer look on thursday when I go there again

Roger


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

set up CCTV and catch dem pesky critters!

I'm still banking on worms!


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## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

pg tips said:


> I'm still banking on worms!


Probably safer than the banks.  :lol:

Later,

William


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## Guest (Mar 25, 2009)

pg tips said:


> set up CCTV and catch dem pesky critters!
> 
> I'm still banking on worms!


i wouldnt like to see the worms that can do that! mind you they might be good for fishing...


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## johnbaz (Jan 30, 2005)

a few weeks ago i watched a cat enter our garden and under the hedge, it dug a small hole, squatted over it and and took a dump in the hole then carefully covered it up- i've never seen anything like it before 

john....


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## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

In the warm weather, our wretched cat goes out each morning and drops a steamer in the front flowerbed and covers it up. Later the stupid dog comes along and digs it up and eats it.  I hate animals. :lol:

Later,

William


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## Mutley (Apr 17, 2007)

William_Wilson said:


> In the warm weather, our wretched cat goes out each morning and drops a steamer in the front flowerbed and covers it up. Later the stupid dog comes along and digs it up and eats it.  I hate animals. :lol:
> 
> Later,
> 
> William


Thanks for that William, I was just eating my tea :bad:

:lol:


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

mutley said:


> William_Wilson said:
> 
> 
> > In the warm weather, our wretched cat goes out each morning and drops a steamer in the front flowerbed and covers it up. Later the stupid dog comes along and digs it up and eats it.  I hate animals. :lol:
> ...


I hope it was something more appetizing than cat pooh. :lol:


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## Alas (Jun 18, 2006)

William_Wilson said:


> In the warm weather, our wretched cat goes out each morning and drops a steamer in the front flowerbed and covers it up. Later the stupid dog comes along and digs it up and eats it.  I hate animals. :lol:
> 
> Later,
> 
> William


I just wasted a mouthful of top class ground coffee. I'll be wiping it off my computer for hours :lol: :lol:

Alasdair


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

avidfan said:


> pg tips said:
> 
> 
> > set up CCTV and catch dem pesky critters!
> ...


Have you never seen Tremors? :fear:


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## Roger (May 17, 2003)

We managed to contact a couple of local wildlife experts through our local Library, and it seems very probable that it was earthworms.

Thanks to all who took an interest and offered such a selection of interesting ideas.

Roger and (an almost convinced) 710


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## JTW (Jun 14, 2007)

Roger said:


> We managed to contact a couple of local wildlife experts through our local Library, and it seems very probable that it was earthworms.
> 
> Thanks to all who took an interest and offered such a selection of interesting ideas.
> 
> Roger and (an almost convinced) 710


Nah! That's eco-bo**ocks, my money's still on a climate effect


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

:clap: TOLD YOU!!!! :tongue2:


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## Roger (May 17, 2003)

TOLD YOU!!!!

There'll be no living with him now!! :lol:


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