It's always a pleasure to visit Robert. Quite apart from the copious amounts of tea and Mcvitie's plain chocolate digestives, we always find plenty to chat about, from the activities of the local poachers, to the regional accents of great tits, to the curious habits of foxes.
Today I was taking photos for our next issue, so we went out as the light was fading and I snapped away with this lovely sky for a background - perfect!
The last week or so has been the peak of the fox mating season - so if you've been woken up by eerie screams the past few nights, that's why. Cubs conceived now will be born in around 52 days time - around mid- to late-March. The vixen will stay in the den with the new cubs for the first week or two, while the dog fox (usually) will hunt and bring food to her.
The urge to mate was the downfall of four foxes shot by one of Robert's friends this morning. All dog foxes, they had come in search of a local vixen who was making her presence known.
3 comments:
So I am guessing you don't have coyotes there. Can't see any real reason to shoot a fox, but then I don't own chickens...
No coyotes here, although there's been some talk about reintroducing wolves. Foxes have no natural predators here, and are a real problem for smallholders, farmers and gamekeepers, plus they take a good many pet rabbits etc. No-one would want to see them wiped out, but it's necessary to keep numbers in check at a local level. Even the RSPB has now publicly accepted the need for fox control - I'm told that privately they've been shooting foxes on certain bird reserves for years.
Fascinating. Here they are almost universally well-liked because they cause no harm. Why? The coyotes attack the foxes and then do all the damage...We Americans alway like an underdog. Ahem. Sorry about the pun.
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