Passionate Blog: New calendar is top of the plops for Christmas

A WILDLIFE group hopes to scoop the prize for the most wanted Christmas present this year after producing a calendar featuring the poop of 12 favourite countryside animals.

The publication, named the Crap Calendar, attempts to lift the lid on the whereabouts and habitat of some of our most loved animals, helping nature lovers identify species by their faeces.

Organisers hope the calendar will blow away the competition to corner the ever bulging market of fun Christmas presents and provide the ultimate solution for people stuck for gift ideas.

The calendar features the droppings of different animals each month, ranging from the fox and hedgehog to the Pipistrelle bat and the Fallow Deer, alongside more attractive pictures of the animals themselves. Each month features locations around Staffordshire where the animals can be found.

See after the break for some mucky pictures!

The publication is a by-product of the Staffordshire Mammal Group, made up of animal conservationists across the county, chaired by Derek Crawley, a lecturer in countryside management at Rodbaston College near Penkridge, Staffordshire.

Derek Crawley said the group had been digesting the reaction to the first crap calendar issued last year, which was bought mainly by professionals in the industry, and had decided to give the 2009 version greater public appeal.

“We really think there is no risk of this year’s crap calendar panning because it doesn’t fall between two stools. It’s been designed to really appeal to the secret Santa market and more seriously to those who have a professional interest in tracking animals,” he said.

“Let’s be honest how many calendars do we all receive at Christmas that we never put on our wall because they’re so pathetic, this is the ultimate crap calendar, it’s so crap it’s good.

“We’ve all got relatives who we don’t know what to buy for Christmas, and what do you get people for a secret Santa, if you’ve got the balls for it give them a crap calendar,” he said. “We thought of starting the calendar on the turd of January but decided to go with convention and start on the first,” he added. He said the droppings featured in the calendar where ones that many people would have come across in the countryside but they may not have seen the actual animals themselves.

“The droppings of Mr January, which is the common fox, are particularly impressive, the sheer size of the poo of the fox clearly beats all the other animals that are featured,” he said.

“From a professional point of view the droppings of the wood mouse, featured in March, and the hedgehog, Mr August, are particularly interesting because the type of food each animal digests can be clearly seen.”

The calendar does also have a serious intention.

“This is a bit of fun but does have an educational side in that many of these animals are nocturnal and so aren’t seen that often, but with the calendar people can identify them from their droppings," said Derek.

“People can also identify particular habitats of these animals with the pictures we’ve included where they can be seen.

“We’ve also highlighted particular times of year to see the animals, deer feature in October when the rut takes place and the polecat in February when they often seek protection from the cold in barns and other locations.”

The full list of the animals featured is: January, the fox, February, the polecat, March, wood mouse, April, Muntjac deer, May, otter, June, Pipistrelle bat, July, weasel, August, hedgehog, September badger, October, Fallow deer, November, stoat, December, grey squirrel.

The calendar, which costs ₤5, can be bought from the visitors' centre at the college or call 01785 710560 to order a copy. A ₤1 charge is added for postage. Proceeds from the sale of calendar will go to the Staffordshire Mammal Group.

Here's a couple of pictures from the calendar:

Badger and fox droppings as featured in the Crap Calendar: