Learning from roadkill

I HAVE a habit, perhaps a rather morbid habit, of stopping to examine birds and animals that have been killed on the roads around my home. 

Sadly it is quite an efficient way of estimating wildlife populations in an area. The other day I found a beautiful, long-legged fox cub dead on the verge. I estimated it was about three months old so it must have been born quite early in the year.

Monitoring roadkill can yield interesting results. I live in Co Kildare and about 20 years ago the first evidence that pine martins had returned after a long absence was provided by one that had been hit by a car.