Foxes

[smokingboot]

Late last night larians and I heard a fox bark so insistent and nearby, we checked to see if it was in the garden. We were staring out of our bedroom window. I saw nothing at first, then larians told me to look on our garage roof a few feet away. There he was, a real christmas card portrait, strong and well built, all white down his muzzle and bushy tailed. I didn't know they climbed. He just sat there under the pear tree commanding the garden, turning back to check us out every now and then. But he wasn't the one barking.

The culprit was a half-lit shadow glimpsed against the fence two doors down, where a poultry enthusiast named 'Chicken Jerry' keeps his coop.

Our neighbours on the other side are convinced that the broken down sheds and fences just beyond the back of our garden mark the den of a dog fox. I wouldn't be surprised if our resident garage sitter and his coop stalking chum made a home there. It's 6.13 now, and I am awake for no reason. The cats are clamouring to go out. They can stay put until sunrise or when I'm sure young Master Vulpes has gone to bed. They say foxes won't go for cats, but he's a very big boy.

Comments

[cat-that-walks.livejournal.com]

My back garden runs up against the farm on the edge of (what`s left of) the greenbelt between Lisburn and Belfast. Foxes are often round my neck of the woods as, the odd time are badgers.
It`s always nice to see them.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

I've never seen a wild badger in my life. Evidence of them, yes, and once, a badger in a wildlife sanctuary but that's it. It was lankier than I expected, with very respectable claws!

Nice to know the Wild is still right at the door...

[cat-that-walks.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, in some places it is literally just outside the window.

[hybridartifacts.livejournal.com]

We get foxes from time to time running along the hedge just outside our window and often hear them barking - last year there was a whole family with cubs as well, but we didn't get to see much of them as the cubs were very timid.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

South East London is so full of foxes, we hear them bark a lot, strange, rusty-can sound that it is! Most of them are bin rummagers and runners by the road, scruffy, small, brown and dainty!

This gentleman was so fit and full and strong, a real prince among thieves, even down to his black stockings and white tipped tail. Magical!

[hybridartifacts.livejournal.com]

Being in a town amidst countryside, we get the country foxes that are slumming it a bit in practice for a move to the big city one day. They rummage in dustbins but also chase chickens and run around in fields and I'm sure they all talk like toffs and vote Tory as well when they take human shape.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Had Tony Blair known, I'm sure the ban on fox hunting would never have happened:-)

[hybridartifacts.livejournal.com]

I suspect he would have used the ban to encourage the Foxes to vote Labour instead, pointing out that they had been following Thatcherite policies since they first got into power anyway.

[lucyas.livejournal.com]

Foxes are so lovely. We have a fox den at the end of our garden, and have had several foxes in residence. My cats regularly attack the foxes, and the foxes usually run away after they get swiped across the nose. I would only worry about foxes attacking cats if the cats are particularly old, young or ill.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

I've really enjoyed reading your accounts of the foxes in your garden, I seem to recall descriptions of cubs? Sorry if I'm wrong, I'm so full of flu medicine it's like a trip without the fun...

Most of the foxes round here are so dainty they look as though a cat could teach them manners nice and quick. But this character was so big and confident, a real candidate for John-john-the-grey-goose-has-gone, I can't help being uncertain!

[lucyas.livejournal.com]

Hi

Sorry to hear you have flu. Hope you get better soon.

We have had fox cubs every year for about a decade. There is a fox den at the end of my garden and we get all sorts of foxes using it. Foxes tend to move around from year to year, so we get to see a variety. Your fox sounds a real character.

love

Lucya