Signs of Spring

Ash Wednesday, and I was not having a very good day. First to the osteopath, left a bit more mobile but very tender. Then to the dentist, discover a recent tooth casualty cannot be saved. Then got boxed in a parking space in front of Blackrock Town Hall. (Never park there!) Home with my dear, supportive husband, groggy and emotional.

Getting ready for a well-deserved nap, looked out at window, and saw a fox! About 3 o'clock in the afternoon, a pleasant dry day. Out it walked from Martins overgrown corner and crossed the lawn. I only had a chance to register a big white snowball of a tail tip on a stocky, biggish fox, and stamp my foot and call "Fox!" to summon my husband from downstairs. Alas, fox did not pause but walked away out of sight down to the old den corner.

Couldn't tell the sex, or if it was the same one I spotted last week crossing the road late one evening by the laneway. (Tail tip looks right, though) Some time later, glancing out again, I saw it passing back along the fox-path, now completely overgrown so I could barely see, but I know the signs.

There has been an increase of night noises, yikkering and yelping, sometimes sounding like two voices: and the food left out reliably vanishes. All this is encouraging, but I don't see any of the affectionate company-keeping that we saw in other years between mated couples. And there have been many fine warm afternoons when you'd be likely to find sunbathing foxes having their afternoon snooze, and especially if the vixen is pregnant as she usually is at this time.

Wednesday's visitor had not so much the air of a landlord, as of a local sussing out possible boltholes. But it was my first daytime sighting for a long time and it lifted my sad spirits wonderfully. We may see cubs yet.

Just three screams

Last night I was lying wakeful and heard a fox's scream, then some high-pitched yelping. Then a triple scream, like a triple bark but very yelpy.
I looked out window, nothing to see. Sigh.
If I was a fox I wouldn't den in any of the surrounding gardens because of the noise and drilling. Big sigh. I hope we don't have another year without cubs!

Slim Pickings

Landscape gardeners and builders have been busy at a neighbours house. In the garden just two houses away a large concrete outbuilding was being demolished last week and the air echoed with drilling as barrowloads of rubble were trundled out to a huge skip. Large bushes and small trees were piled on too.

Foxes must have used that garden because it is the next one after my next-door-neighbour: but they made themselves very scarce while the disturbance went on. Once we heard a loud screaming at night, but saw nothing. Just tonight, about 10 o'clock, a fox ran across our path as we drove in, just the other end of this road. It was quite short-legged, plenty of white on front legs, and a big white snowball of a tail tip. I did not recognise this individual animal.

At least something or someone is still eating the occasional dinner leftovers that I put out at night. Last night's offering was bits and ends of raw offal, liver and kidney, from making the haggis for Burns Night celebrations. A nice feast for a wild dog!

The building work seems to be over for the moment so maybe we will see some action one of these days.

A little night music.

I guess things are hotting up on the mating scene. About five nights ago we were woken up by a fox's scream about 5 a.m. I ran to the window but could only see a neighbour's motion-sensor lights coming on. Nothing very unusual about any of that.

Two nights later, one of my sons was woken by screaming and scuffling. Fox courtship seems to include a lot of chasing, I've seen them race pell-mell through bushes and around streets. Never could figure out who was chasing who, or why. Pursuing a coy female? seeing off a rival?

Lastly, night before last, my husband heard "yikkering", a sort of clicking or tapping noise that foxes make. It's more typically a cubs, or talking-to-cubs, sound, but you can hear it any time. There are no cubs yet of course, this is mating season. If the vixen gets pregnant now, she will give birth in the spring, say late March or April.

So there, our nights are musical with foxes again after the long silence.

Dog Days in December

Things have been very quiet on the fox front...while correspondingly lively on the domestic front. I have been too busy baking and shopping to spend much time watching back gardens. But we usually don't see much action in December. This month I saw a fox by daylight only once. Mid-afternoon, about the 15th, a tight coil of amber fur under my neighbour's "palm" tree.

I was surprised to see it, because that is a favouirite spot for summer sunbathing, but on the day in question the weather was very cold. I would have thought it would be warmer underground. Anyway it never moved so I could not make any ID.

That night, and again several nights later, I heard the distinctive triple barking of a fox. Actually, the "triple" is the most distinctive part - otherwise it just sounds like a dog barking but in a slightly gruffer voice. Think of a wuff-wuff-wuff uttered hoarsely, repeated several times.

Several times, too, we have heard a ruction of protest from magpies, the furious chattering they used to greet foxes with. Nothing to see, and they do the same to cats, so not much help there.

Even though they have been careful to stay out of sight, this is peak mating season for foxes. If they mate around New Year, they will have cubs around St Patrick's Day (typical time-frame) and we may see baby foxes at last in late April.

Sometimes courtship is noisy - one may hear screaming or snarling: or one may see furious chases through bushes and gardens. I hope some of our local foxes are doing the necessary, even though they are quiet about it!

Another sighting

This was on Friday afternoon, the 23rd November. Just saw one next door in the early afternoon, gazing up at my neighbour's kitchen window. I know she watches them too.
I grabbed for binoculars but it wandered away behind her house so I didn't get a good look. I have really rotten eyesight so can never see well without binoculars. Thus, I can't be sure if it was Notch, the new one from last Tuesday, or even Chubby, (who may turn out to be the same as Notch!).
I'm glad to still see them, they raise my spirits. Other years, we went for months seeing none at this time of year.

New Fox!

Things have been quiet on the foxwatching front...and then a sighting last Tuesday. About 4.15 in the afternoon, a fine mild day after the end of the wet weather. I glanced into Martin's as I was tidying upstairs and saw a large handsome fox sitting and grooming on the lawn.
I have definitely never seen this one before! The white edges of the face were wide and very white, with a distinctive 'point' going into the cheeks. Front legs black to the knee, back legs black on feet only. The tail - had a separated double tip with a ragged bit of white showing and a large patch of dark fur on the underside near the base. (Perhaps he had been in a scrap, or his grooming wasn't very expert!)
Anyway, he squatted on the grass for a long pee, quite a stream. Then he sat and rubbed his bottom along the ground, always a very graceless performance. (Years ago, we had a cat that did this when she was constipated: we used to call it "doing the Lambeth Walk")
The fox was clearly scent marking the garden, very abundantly. He was certainly a male, by the way, I had a crystal clear look at the fixings as he raised his tail.
He went away and I went on working. About 20 minutes later I looked out again and was astonished to see a fox in my own garden. By now, it was almost dusk on a dull November evening and I couldn't be sure if it was the same one! But this one went all around: the frog-pond, the Rowan, the gap in the hedge. Hmmm. Frustrating that I could hardly see his tawny fur in the dusk. But I could see that it was stocky. Too much rich food from humans? You don't often see a fat fox!
Well, well. Where are the former residents of this territory? The new guy seems very possessive. We'll see what happens!