Wildlife Spotting

It's a bit difficult to tell from your photos what this is, but I'm going to venture a guess that it is one of the burdocks (Arctium spp.). By spring the leaves have been mostly stripped from the plant stems leaving only the brown seedheads on the stems and branches. These can stick to the fur of animals, or your clothing, and be transported to another location before the animal or person finds them. In pulling them off, the seadhead often breaks apart scattering the seed. The "sticky" nature of burdock seedheads inspired the development of Velcro!