for about 5 years now every year between april and may a mystery animal visits our garden every night next to our ivy on our patio.
they leave droppings of different sizes and shape, slightly oval.
we got the council in when we first discovered the droppings and they were uncertain.
they put down rat traps but caught nothing.
the droppings were still coming AROUND the traps..
nothing gets gnawed on our wooden fence or patio furniture.
and also the ivy leaves on the fence get ripped off, never seen a nibbled one.
could it be hedgehogs looking for snails?
it couldn’t be rats or mice because they would be there all year long if they liked it, not just at a certain short amount of time.
also we had the droppings tested and they went rats or mice.
what sort of animal could it be?
also the droppings are small, so cant be a foxes lol
and no claw marks
Do the droppings look like this? http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qu8NjKCT2Uc/SJ2E_gYtvII/AAAAAAAAC1M/pXES_1pvOus/s400/Trellis,+Summer+2008+issue.bmp
Its visits sound very much like a hedgehog, you could leave some tinned cat/dog food out on your patio and check every so often to check out who your visitor is. Turn the lights out in the room you will be viewing from but leave another light on in another room on the same side of the house so your patio is lit up just enough to see.
You never know you may even be rewarded with a visit from mom n babies later on in the season.