The Sitting Fox

Yes, migration!

2006-10-14T15:22:00.000Z

I've moved my blog to the Opera Community. Please visit me there - it's very active and friendly!

Wounds, Bugs, Migration

2006-10-09T19:48:00.000Z

The Fringe Vixen has acquired another nasty wound - this time on her flank. A bite from another fox or a gouge from a barbed wire fence or a hedge?

I suspect she is chewing it, regardless of its origin, as it seems to be expanding. It is clearly visible in this picture.

The Old Dogfox came earlier this evening and looked fine. No sign of the Survivor Vixen so far tonight.

On a smaller note (though huge by British insect standards) I was surprised by a devil's coach horse when out walking my dog yesterday. I'm a mite puzzled as they're supposed to be about 28mm in length, and this fellow was nearer 2.8 inches. When it detected me, it flipped the tip of its abdomen over, a warning not to disturb further.

Apparently their wider family is known as cocktails for this trait, and they can expel a nasty brown liquid as well as give a good bite. But I was careful not to upset it, and no harm done to me or my dog...

The migration part of this post title involves my move to an Opera blog. I've nothing against Blogspot, except that loading pictures can be rather slow, but Opera seem to offer a better all round blogging package. So, starting from this post (which is on there in an amended form!) I am officially migrating. My main site shall, of course, remain at www.thesittingfox.co.uk.

The Sittingfox Opera Blog

Some migrating wildebeest in the Serengeti, back in 1996.

That page didn't last long

2006-10-07T11:37:00.000Z

This morning appeared perfect - sunny, AND a Saturday! Unfortunately camera's battery went flat, which delayed my hunt for autumn yet again, but everything worked out just fine in the end. But the upshot is that I've moved my Autumn Photo Network album to here, for easier viewing.

Now, time for some fox updates.

In truth it's been pretty quiet, with just the Fringe Vixen and the Old Dogfox attending most nights. However, the Survivor Vixen paid us a welcome visit late last week. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a photo of her but she looks amazing. All her fur has grown back. It shows how fur gives the illusion of increased size. We know she is tiny - probably the runt of her litter - but she looks a much more respectable bulk now!

There's been no sign of the Interloper, or of the kits / cubs whom I occasionally meet in a nearby residential road. The weather has not been very charitable and I've seen few mammals either in the garden or in the wider area. Forests are so rich in food during the autumn that there's little incentive to forage elsewhere.

Autumn Colours, Strange Colours

2006-10-04T19:32:00.000Z

A number of bloggers from Opera have started the Autumn Photo Network. This excellent idea asks bloggers from all over the world to chronicle the changing seasons. Unfortunately, the weather here in the North Downs hasn't been particularly kind to photography lately so I haven't yet contributed much, just some pictures from previous, sunnier autumns. I felt distinctly New England-ish when taking this one.

You can find my own autumn page (strictly a work in progress!) here.

I've also put my photo of an albino squirrel gathering conkers (nuts of the horse chestnut tree) on there, but because white squirrels often excite interest I thought it perhaps worth a little extra explanation. In October 2005, a magnificent albino squirrel began to be sighted frequently in a local wooded lane. I duly went down there with my heavy tripod and my Canon DSLR, and waited, and waited, and then some...

I saw the squirrel without any trouble at all. But wildlife photography isn't simply a matter of turning up and point-and-click (well, not usually anyhow). The squirrel, albino or not, liked scaling trees, and persuading a camera to focus on the animal and not a branch in the foreground is no mean feat when you have only a few seconds before said animal decides to move again. Also, the shady environment meant slow shutter speeds, unless I compensated, which meant a huge risk of camera shake.

To cut the story short, I eventually saw the squirrel perched on a fence with a conker in his mouth, and was able to take advantage. Curiously I saw a grey squirrel in a near-identical pose on the same day. There was no aggression towards the albino from his normal-coloured kin, at least no more than is usual for this, well, high-spirited species.

What causes albinism? It is, of course, the lack of pigment; the squirrel did not technically have white fur, just no colour at all. Melanism is the opposite and is commonly found in wolves, like this female I saw in the Rockies in 2003.

To produce offspring with either of these pigment variations, both parents must carry the relevent gene. A squirrel can carry the albinism gene and still be grey, but if it mates with another carrier, then the kit might be white. Sadly, in zoos this leads to some very unethical practices (for example, mating closely related tigers in the hope of producing the hugely popular - if meaningless to conservation - white cubs).

But colour phases occur all over the wild quite naturally, though some populations show more tendencies than others. And seeing a natural colour phase is always exciting. Foxes are very rarely albino, but in some parts of the world are quite often melanistic. They can even be red with black chests - I did see one of those locally, many years ago. I hope I will dig up the video footage soon. In the meantime, here's another picture of the squirrel.

Mr and Mrs?

2006-09-30T20:30:00.000Z

This could be a case of inferring unwarranted conclusions from a dubious photo. The Fringe Vixen and the Old Dogfox sitting side by side under the conifer tree look very like an established pair, until you realise that both were simply making use of the best shelter from rain the garden provides!

In fact I'm sure that they will be the breeding pair next season. Takahe hasn't visited in a couple of months and the Interloper seems in no state to challenge the Old Dogfox. Nevertheless, I'm somewhat grateful to the rain for cordoning them into a good spot for photos.

And here's another picture of Leila the Leonberger eyeing the foxes. Yes, she is as big as all that. I met a Newfoundland on a station platform last week who seemed positively normal-sized in comparison.

Kitting out for Winter

2006-09-29T19:36:00.000Z

Although frost has yet to bite and frogs are still hopping about (even if the daddy-long-legs plague has finally subsided!) the foxes are well advanced in growing their winter coats. They are a fine sight now; it's a shame, in some respects, that we haven't got any snow to frame them against.

I took this picture of the Fringe Vixen this evening. Apart from a wound of unknown origin on her back, she is looking absolutely splendid.

See how thick her brush is! Presumably, if climate change does involve Britain developing painfully cold winters (by upsetting the gulf stream, as some have suggested) foxes will be one of the species least affected. They are supremely adaptable. As for the butterflies, migratory birds and sensitive mammals like caribou - well, their outlook is not quite so attractive.

In other fox news, I had a fascinating little encounter on a nearby residential road earlier this week. A fox (quite possibly one of Takahe's cubs) sauntered out from a garden, closely followed by an animal of similar size. Naturally, I thought at first that it was another fox, but on closer inspection it was a rather rotund moggy. For a few seconds fox and cat stood in the road together, the cat eying up the fox but the latter not reacting at all. Then the cat retreated back to its garden, and the fox trotted after it.

I've seen many fox / cat interactions over the years, and supreme indifference seems the order of the day. Although cats can inflict fatal injuries on foxes, and to be honest I'm not a fan of letting them loose without proper supervision (for the sake of more vulnerable wildlife, and for the cat itself - cars, dogs, thugs with airguns, and feline HIV are all out there), a passive truce seems to exist between the feline and vulpine worlds. Sometimes they can even be seen foraging together!

Hiding from the Night

2006-09-23T09:25:00.000Z

The Interloper is appearing more and more often in the mornings, sometimes staying as late as 10am. It is almost certainly a strategy to avoid the Old Dogfox, and raises some interesting questions of the behavioural ecology kind. Is territory temporal as well as spatial?

Presumably, not all hours are equal when it comes to avoiding humans and finding food. As the most dominant fox, the Old Dogfox would have first choice - as we know, he comes principally 8pm - 9pm.

There must be significant survival advantages to the Interloper avoiding the Old Dogfox if he is making an effort, day after day, to come during daylight. This short video gives a clue as to his motivation (there's also a few seconds of the Fringe Vixen right at the very end):

What amazed me was the sheer length of time that the Interloper spent crouching in submission. He seems afraid to relax at all in the Old Dogfox's presence. In contrast, these photos from this morning show him sitting up straight and calm.

All very quiet...

2006-09-22T19:20:00.000Z

Sorry for the paucity of posts lately; the foxes have been coming but I haven't managed to take any photos worth sharing. Visits have generally been brief and uneventful.

With one exception: the Old Dogfox and the Interloper had a small altercation about three nights ago. The Interloper reacted with desperate submission to his nemesis, who rolled about in the hedge and scent marked the reeds by the pond.

I caught some of the tension on camera, which will be posted on here shortly (probably tomorrow). In the meantime, I offer more Canadian photos as an interlude.

Top of the world: Carthew Lakes

Grasslands to the Sky

Peter Lougheed Provincial Park

Sunrise in the Rockies

Back on the Prowl

2006-09-16T08:58:00.000Z

The Interloper is sitting on the mound in the garden as I type this, just before 10am. Last night all four regular foxes visited but numerous chatters and clicks in the darkness suggested that the Interloper was not entirely welcome.

By deduction it must have been the Fringe Vixen who was showing her displeasure at the intruder (apparently in the dark front garden, from the direction of the rumpus).

But the good news is that the Interloper has now completely thrown off his limp, the cause of which is still a mystery. It's not impossible that he had the misfortune to tread on a sharp object. Years ago I saw a fox in a nearby lane trying to pull some glass, presumably from a car smash, out of its paw - another victim of our wildlife-unfriendly roads. It hardly needs to be said that litter in general, and glass in particular, is extremely dangerous for wildlife (and pets and children).

Regardless, the Interloper is looking in relatively good shape now. I took these photos this morning (apologies as always for the fence interfering in the view, but without it we'd have Leila the Leonberger loose in the garden and the foxes would probably excuse themselves elsewhere).

American Vulpes

2006-09-13T19:48:00.000Z

I still haven't got the expected photo of the Old Dogfox sporting his new dark look. The weather has been quite, well, Lowestoft-ish if I may use the expression. Autumn in the Suffolk port of Lowestoft is a mind-blowing experience. In fact it may even make mid-winter Alaska look charitable.

I lived in Suffolk for a year when I was a student, close to England's most easterly beach. Though foxes are thought of as woodland wildlife, they adapt readily to beach life.

I found fox sign in Lowestoft, but never saw any East Anglian foxes closer than the wild expanses of the Broads National Park (for the uninitiated, the Broads are a large area of marshes, lakes and rivers in Norfolk and Suffolk, famous for boats, birds and big skies).

The idea of foxes living on the coast has long intrigued me and I am glad that Judi Gibson from the US has kindly been sharing some fantastic photos and observations of her local beach-combing foxes with me.

Sand, a tennis ball, a rival sibling to challenge you for said ball - a small piece of vulpine paradise!

On a more academic note, compare these foxes' smooth, light coats to the heavy mottled fur of the British ones elsewhere on the blog. According to those who measure such things, British foxes are heavier but shorter than the US subspecies.

Interloper Update

2006-09-11T21:52:00.000Z

He may be our resident bad boy but the Interloper still has a surprise or two up his sleeve. He disappeared altogether not long after my previous post, leaving me concerned that his injured leg had overwhelmed him.

But there's good news. He's back and looking rather better, putting weight on his injured limb. This shows that it definitely isn't broken.

Even so, he's aged visibly since he lost his eye back in the spring. The big question for now is whether he can elude the Old Dogfox once the territory ante is upped as autumn rolls in. And, in spite of some unseasonably hot weather, the year is definitely feeling now as though it's in its final quarter.

If he is expelled, will he simply return in late spring once the mating season is over? Time will tell.

I will try to get a photo of the Old Dogfox tomorrow. He's developing a handsome blackish sheen over his chest, quite distinct from his white colour of yesteryear. Foxes are eccentric in so many ways that it wouldn't surprise me if he is losing white hair with age, rather than the reverse!

Here he is back in the winter of 04/05.

Back to some fox news

2006-09-07T18:07:00.000Z

Yes, that's definitely fox news, *not* Fox News, thankyou very much.

The chief point of note is that the Interloper has developed a bad limp in his right hind leg. He was sighted during the daytime in the garden looking wet and miserable a few days back. As I write this, he is curled up beside the conifer tree.

I wonder if he has finally been clipped by a car. An attack by another fox or a cat would not explain the wetness of his fur and his latest injuries do not seem consistant with a fight anyway. He is still mobile, but I hope it is just a strain. A broken leg on top of blindness in one eye would be tough to cope with.

The Fringe Vixen has grown the most enormous brush. She has taken to stretching herself out on her chest in the long grass on the mound. Maybe she likes the feel of fresh grass on her stomach, who knows. She looks well, as do the Old Dogfox and the Survivor Vixen.

I will get some more photos of them online soon.

One other point - I saw a fox from the train tonight while travelling home from my job in London. It wasn't a particularly remarkable sighting but it does go to show that wildlife can be seen in any situation, as long as you're prepared to look for it. A few years back, I was on a Greyhound bus in rural Canada and saw a wolf - but almost everyone else missed it, because they were dozing or buried in a book!

Alberta Wildlife Medley

2006-09-04T18:58:00.000Z

Here we go: some footage of coyotes in Alberta. Both the puppy and a very large male hunting a vole are on this film. Also included are a simply enormous elk herd in full rut (listen for their bugles) and some other wildlife. I've even included a few seconds of our most surprising sighting - a stoat, or, in Canadian language, a long-tailed weasel.

Thoughts on Steve Irwin

2006-09-04T10:34:00.000Z

There's a lot in the news this morning about the death of Steve Irwin, killed by a stingray which evidently stabbed him in self-defence. I extend my condolences to his family - they must be going through hell.

But there are people who love wildlife, and then there are people who love interacting with wildlife. Irwin stood firmly in the latter camp and I am frankly horrified that he is being called an "environmentalist".

Our planet's wild places are dying a death of a thousand cuts. Some injuries are obvious - we all know, or should know, what highways, climate change and mining can do.

There are other, more intractable problems. People who think it's cool to walk up to wild bears, causing the bear to become habituated and eventually shot as a safety risk. People who ignore wildlife safety regulations, because, after all, they must know far more than the wardens who spend their whole lives alongside those animals. People who toss donuts from their car for a passing wolf. People who scare wild goats into the path of oncoming cars. People who call out to wild bison, wanting them to lift their heads nicely for a photo, and end up being gored or worse.

Wilderness is not a game. Animals are not toys. It is not funny, smart or macho to bully and encroach upon wildlife. In fact it looks downright weak compared to the actions of real men (and women) who courageously rescue victims of fires and sea storms. There are those who think it doesn't matter if they endanger their lives interfering with wildlife, but whether they die or not, the animal is almost certain to be harmed. Other, innocent people may be injured too. The little boy on Fraser Island who was killed by dingoes, fed by others, is but one example.

It is absolutely impossible for an individual person to judge that it's safe to break the rules. In 2004 I monitored tourists in a national park in Canada. Two thirds went closer to large wildlife than Parks Canada permits them to do. Sure, there was no malice - they all thought that they were having innocent fun. They came, disturbed the animals and left. I stayed all day, watching the wildlife being harassed from one side of the valley to another. It wasn't a pleasant experience.

That's the end product of the behaviour that Irwin, deliberately or not, encouraged. It is completely unacceptable. Disrespect has no place in the wild. The best maxim for wildlife watching is, "If the animal changes its behaviour, you're too close." The natural thrill of seeing a grizzly bear powerfully strolling up an avalanche slope or mighty bull elk roaring at dawn is more than enough.

Coyotes and Jetlag

2006-09-03T15:28:00.000Z

I must be back in the UK as the people talk funny and the prairie wind and the high grey-tinted mountains are missing...

Alberta's foxes continue to elude me. I've seen many in Ontario, but the ones out west seem amazingly secretive. Still, I had some excellent coyote sightings and the bears are very active at this season.

Footage of an adult male coyote hunting in the grasslands will be posted a little later. For now, here's a picture of a four month old coyote pup exploring the world by himself. This is the youngest coyote that I've ever seen away from its parents. Unlike wolves, coyotes can breed in their first year which makes packs break up easily but still, this fellow was a little audacious in going it alone.

Other wildlife? Well, here's a Swainson's hawk:

Cougar track!!

And, naturally, no visit to Canada is complete without seeing a moose.

This is true wolf country, alas now largely lacking its wolves due to cattle ranchers. Contrary to popular belief, wolves, like grizzlies and golden eagles, historically thrived in the prairies. Thanks to some mind-boggling policies, these charismatic species disappeared from the plains, and, with bitter irony, we've come to think of mountains (poor quality habitat on the edge of their ranges) as ideal landscape for them. There are less than 100 wolves in the entire Canadian Rockies parks system (Banff, Jasper, Kooteney, Yoho and Waterton). There might have been 1.5 million in the prairies before the "wolfers" arrived.

On a less depressing note, I saw five black bears and a grizzly on this trip. That's the first griz I've ever seen outside of the US (heck, there's only 500 left in the whole of Alberta). No picture, as it was on an avalanche slope about 4km away (yes, I have a very powerful spotting scope!) Roadside bears have poor survival prospects in the heavily touristed parks of Banff and Jasper, partly from car accidents but also from people feeding them. Once a bear gets into human food, it's almost impossible to make it "wild" again and it can become dangerously aggressive. Hence, it will likely be shot as a safety precaution. Feeding wild bears (or coyotes or wolves, for that matter) is unbelievably cruel.

Thankfully there are places in the Rockies that haven't been so badly damaged and it was refreshing to see these bears simply being bears. Here's a black bear (okay, poor light = eyeshine).

And, finally, a red squirrel on the zoom.

And I've just this minute seen the Old Dogfox in the back garden. I wonder what he's been up to in my absence...

Cubs! (Kits, pups?)

2006-08-25T22:27:00.000Z

One last quick post before I leave for Alberta: tonight I saw two half-grown fox kits (or cubs) exploring the golf course almost opposite the house!

They must be Takahe's kits but there was no sign of her, not that it was a very lengthy sighting. They certainly looked an independent age though not ready to take on the world completely alone. Pre-teens, perhaps.

In honesty this was not absolutely my first sighting. I have caught occasional glimpses of kits racing across the residental road where I sometimes see the Survivor Vixen. However, tonight was the best viewing by far, and I would have dashed back out with my camera - except it's already been packed.

Nevertheless, sometimes the best camera is the memory, and it was good to see that, in spite of their tender age, at least one of the kits knows how to behave like a proper fox. Upon noticing its spectators, it sat down. The Sitting FoxCub.

Eating a...Something

2006-08-24T17:59:00.000Z

This evening the Old Dogfox arrived at the back of the garden chomping hard. In his mouth was the carcass of a fairly large rodent (or possibly a squirrel?) which he consumed at great speed.

It could have been a rat, or perhaps a very large yellow-necked mouse. I've no idea whether he killed it or simply scavenged it.

Foxes are unable to chew as they cannot move their jaws sideways. Instead, they use their molars to bite food into sizeable chunks which they then swallow one by one. Considering the size of the prey, the Old Dogfox certainly took his time in consuming it. At the end of this short video clip, he noses about at the roots of the birch tree - a likely spot for caching surplus food for future use, but I inspected it just now and found no trace. I assume he was hungry enough to eat the whole carcass in one sitting.

(Apologies for the slight wobbling - I had to take this handheld at 12x zoom).

I'm going to Alberta on Monday for a few days. I hope to see some coyotes and maybe even a Canadian red fox. Wolves, of course, are much harder, particularly at this time of year. But any interesting footage will be posted on here after I get back!

War Weary

2006-08-22T16:16:00.000Z

We've had another early morning visit from the Interloper. No rain this time but he looks rather battered, with fresh scabs on his neck and lower jaw. It could just be a case of too much scratching, but I wonder sometimes whether his blind eye causes him to bump into objects such as fences. Though surely his whiskers should alert him to danger?

You can see some of the marks in the photo below, together with a scratch on his shoulder that's been there for several days. Could he have been attacked by a cat, perhaps? Unless the Old Dogfox is radically more aggressive when outside of the garden (and that's not likely) I cannot see that these were inflicted by another fox.

One matter to ponder over: in the days before I knew better than to let cats roam outside, I had a tiny terror of a feline named Chad. He often ended up in a scrap with some bad boy alleycats and the wounds he incurred were fairly similar to those now visible on the Interloper.

For all his scars, he is a magnificent fox, though he lacks the "seasoned with age" look of the Old Dogfox. Opportunities to photograph him in daylight are fairly rare so I made the most of this morning.

I've updated several pages on the site lately. About Foxes now contains a Fox Physics page. This shows the size of foxes compared to common dog breeds and has a few interesting facts and figures. Fox Behaviour has been redone to include photos of common fox "talk" (e.g. what a fox holding a brush high is saying). And the Games page now has a fox crossword!

Slugging, Fox-style

2006-08-20T21:55:00.000Z

I understand that "slugging" is a term used in American baseball, but, being a European who finds that sport incomprehensible, I've temporarily hijacked it to describe a hunting episode with the foxes.

This short video shows the Survivor Vixen curiously watching the grass, followed by the Interloper actively eating something - most probably slugs.

I've also included some clips taken over the past few nights which show a variety of garden fox scenes. Of particular interest is the first scene by the conifer tree. Watch how the Fringe Vixen (left) stares hard at the Survivor Vixen. I find it difficult to think of the little Survivor Vixen as a serious rival to the Fringe Vixen, but evidently she is taking no chances.

Right at the end, the Interloper and the Survivor Vixen move their heads in perfect unison!

The Guardian of the Fence

2006-08-18T18:24:00.000Z

The fence around the patio, fearlessly surmounted by the Interloper back on the 10th, had a curious effect on the foxes when it was first put up. They know precisely how to use new garden objects for their benefit, but the instant trust placed in the fence to prevent dogs entering the garden was striking and quite humorous.

The fence was built to stop the dogs ripping the garden to pieces in wet weather, and also to provide security to the visiting wildlife (not just foxes) from being chased, poked or otherwise interfered with. But the dogs don't always get things their own way.

Back in 2005, in the days before the fence, we were caring for a very elderly rough collie who had arthritis. She was barely able to walk but retained her strong anti-fox beliefs, barking and even gingerly chasing when given the opportunity. The Old Dogfox, though, rather cheekily took advantage when her back was blissfully turned:

Obviously, patriarch or not, the Old Dogfox does have something of a rebellious streak, though these days he is too busy keeping vixens in line and warning the Interloper to readily show it.

Though the collie viewed foxes as intruders, our Leonberger puppy bounds towards them in hope of play. She treats all four-legged creatures as Leonbergers - she's the most pack-orientated dog I've ever met. The foxes, emboldened by the fence, do not seem to mind her curiosity, though I'm sure it would be a different matter if she were actually loose.

Sleepin' in the Sun

2006-08-16T20:51:00.000Z

The rear half of the garden is left unmown for nature to take its course. This afternoon, nature was principally comprised of the Fringe Vixen settling down for a scratch and then blissfully stretching out in the sun.

It is a refreshing change to see the foxes so peaceful. The tranquility is unlikely to last; the Fringe Vixen is continuing to mark the garden with her urine, probably signalling to the other vixens (especially Takahe) that she considers this prime territory. Nevertheless, for a long while this afternoon it was only herself and the Old Dogfox present, and peace reigned.

The Old Dogfox is looking absolutely magnificent at the moment. His brush is fully regrown with handsome black fur. Here's a couple of pictures of him taken today. The contrast between his masculine bulk and the dainty little vixens couldn't be more marked.

Sleepin' in the Rain

2006-08-15T19:57:00.000Z

Whatever happened to the traditional summer afternoon thunderstorm?

So much heat, so little rain, so few healthy plants; a wilted brown weariness has seeped into the life of the countryside as trees droop, wrinkled leaves falling before their time, and meadow grass dies. But yesterday was a novelty in this summer of sun: a full-blooded rainstorm burst upon us like a welcome messenger of the coming autumn.

Welcome to us, surely, and to the vegetation and invertebrates that, in a paradoxical pun, form the backbone of the wild world. The Interloper seemed less at ease with the cascades of rain buffeting him. He spent a good part of yesterday evening huddled in a ball near the conifer tree, dozing, glancing about in fits of anxiety, and then dozing some more.

It's no secret that foxes enjoy their comforts. However, for a species that has conquered almost every extreme on the planet, from the jarringly cold ridges of the Himalaya to the uncompromising deserts of Australia, they seem to have a remarkably precise (even British) idea of what constitutes appropriate weather. Their visits to the garden almost stopped during the days of 30C and high humidity, while they noticeably retreat under bushes during any serious amount of rain. (The Ginger Vixen was an exception of course, with her quaint perchant for sitting on top of things but sadly she's long since gone.)

Up with the larks

2006-08-10T17:57:00.000Z

If there was one thing to take from the webcam experiment before it was sadly terminated by an overly-curious Leonberger puppy, it is that foxes have routines. Overwhelmingly, it seems, they visit our garden in the late afternoon and evening. After midnight, sightings do not such much decline as grind to a halt.

Bearing that in mind, what does a morning visit mean? Especially when the morning is a cold, rainy one.

Over the past few months I have sometimes seen the Old Dogfox, and more rarely the Fringe Vixen, prowl about well after dawn. But never has the Survivor Vixen emerged at such an hour, nor Takahe, nor - until two mornings ago - the Interloper.

He was a pitiful sight, sitting alone half way down the garden as rain poured mercilessly upon him. I was dashing out the door for an important appointment and had to deny my first instinct to reach for my camera. A relative was duly commissioned instead, and reported, with great astonishment, that he was no longer in the garden but on the patio.

There are three unwritten rules in the matter of the fence which protects the patio area. The first is that dogs stay one side and foxes stay another. The second is that each party will attempt to intrude as frequently as possible. The third is that they seldom succeed.

For sure, holes have been dug (by the dogs) and scats have been tellingly left (by the foxes) but never has there been such an audacious act of trespass. However, the Interloper's bound into the unknown probably explains his insomnia, as he must have been hoping that the dog bowls on the patio contained a few morsels. Hunger does strange things.

Anyway he appeared last night at a more respectable hour looking quite normal. I grabbed a photo or two of him. Later he lay down under the conifer tree as I trained my camera towards the glistening moon.

Once I master the technique of photographing through my spotting scope, I'll use it to get closeups of wild animals too. It gives me the equivilent of about 28x optical.

Sherlock Holmes, Vulpes-style

2006-08-08T19:50:00.000Z

The Old Dogfox and the Fringe Vixen have been the only visitors to the garden so far tonight. I suspect that the Survivor Vixen and the Interloper are not far away, but as for Takahe - who knows. Come the autumn, though, when her cubs will likely disperse, questions that have been quietly humming for months will force resolutions. Will she challenge the Fringe Vixen's new-found dominance, or simply submissively give up?

With respect to her (and indeed the Interloper, who is likely to find the Old Dogfox an even more unwilling lodger come the breeding season) I am personally looking forward to summer ending. This year it has just been too hot for my taste. I am happy ice-hiking on glaciers, and while southern England is hardly the place to be for that, a cool breeze wouldn't go amiss.

In some respects, the foxes are already demonstrating signs of the autumn dawning. On my walk this afternoon, I saw quite a few fox droppings brimming with stones from wild cherries. By the end of the month, scats will be full to bursting with blackberry seeds.

To the uninitiated, peering over an animal's droppings must seem a bizarre way to learn about its life, but there are few better methods of distinguishing how an animal uses its environment. The composition of the scat, its location and frequency all say something important. In the US, droppings of wolf-like creatures in North Carolina are even DNA tested to determine whether the territory is occupied by coyotes or red wolves. (Of course handling scat of any animal, domestic or wild, is not recommended unless you thoroughly know what you're doing.)

So, at the moment, in early August, at least some of the foxes are eating wild cherries - amongst other provisions of the wild, I'm sure. Although they can climb trees to a degree I suspect that they're mainly feeding on windblown fruit, or perhaps cherries dropped by an over-eager bird. Applying a little detective work when finding a wild animal scat is always a useful exercise.

Talking of birds, my walk was interrupted several times by loud, tropical squawks, hailing from the ring-necked parakeets which are now well established in southern Britain. Okay, they're an exotic and shouldn't be here, but since they are, they make attractive photography targets. :-)

A Health Bloom

2006-08-03T18:55:00.000Z

There is one disadvantage of the Survivor Vixen's incredible recovery from mange: it's becoming more difficult to distinguish her!

In close-up, she will always stick out as both the cutest and the most awkwardly built fox in the group. Her head seems too large, her neck too small, and her rather plump stomach is carried uneasily by stocky, short legs.

But her sandy-coloured fur has hidden the old bald spots on her flanks, neck and face. Overall, she is looking in excellent condition - as is the Old Dogfox, whose brush is now the finest of any of them.

This little sequence shows closeups of the three most regular visitors. It really is amazing how different their faces actually are.

As for the little rabbit, sadly, as was almost inevitable, it died in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

A Myxi Rabbit

2006-07-31T21:25:00.000Z

The past week has thrown up an unpleasant amount of man-made suffering in my local countryside. We've had no less than three hedgehogs killed by cars - considering that I haven't seen a live hedgehog here for several years, that may account for a large proportion of the local population.

This evening we were driving down a country lane and saw a very tiny rabbit frozen motionless in the road. I went to investigate. It turned out to be a kit suffering from myxomatosis, that ghastly virus introduced from South America in the hope of ridding Europe of rabbits. Although the UK rabbit population recovered, in their native Spain, ironically, the species has become dangerously rare - and so has the Pardal Lynx, the world's rarest cat, which needs rabbits to survive.

Anyway, I carried the kit to a nearby bush. It was blind and listless and it seemed that nothing could be done but let the disease take its course. But London Wildcare informed me that they would be willing to take the kit to their wildlife hospital, although warning that there is only a 5% chance that it will survive.

So I caught it again (while wearing plastic gloves, I hasten to add) and was encouraged by how strongly it struggled. It's just been taken off to the wildlife hospital by a volunteer. I'll post any news of its status.

Holding High

2006-07-30T19:11:00.000Z

The Fringe Vixen is continuing to assume an all-powerful air of dominance. There is still no sign of Takahe and I wonder now whether she will ever come back.

This evening, the Fringe Vixen is again walking closely in the steps of the Old Dogfox. He may not be entirely at ease about this; last night, there was a brief standoff where both foxes arched their backs and opened their mouths at each other.

Tonight, however, there have been no squabbles. Instead, the Fringe Vixen twice scent marked where the Old Dogfox had left his own personal scent - firstly where he had been resting on the lawn, and secondly on a bush where he had cocked his leg. She cocked hers, also, which may make dog owners scratch their heads but is well known in alpha female wolves.

Of course, I must be a little careful about assigning wolf behaviour to foxes, but this all makes intuitive sense and there is just something different about the Fringe Vixen now. Watch in this footage how she strides about the neighbour's garden, brush held high. The film starts with the Old Dogfox resting peacefully in what's left of the afternoon sun:

Who's Alpha now?

2006-07-28T06:46:00.000Z

Politics is a near-sighted affair. Brown vs Blair, for example, fixates the papers, and yet real movement in power (like the consumer electing for fair trade goods and forcing changes in business practice) takes place quietly, softly, and behind the scenes.

The Interloper and the Old Dogfox have been arguing for months now. Their squabbles continue; last night, truce seemingly curtailed by a welcome drop in temperature, the Old Dogfox gnawed at the conifer tree and stalked aggressively around the garden, cocking his leg repeatedly and holding his tail high.

And yet, my attention is increasingly drawn not to the dogfoxes but to the vixens. I think that it is the Fringe Vixen, not the Interloper, who has won her coup.

A month and two days ago, she flung Takahe, the breeding female, over on her back when a foxtrot turned very nasty. Takahe has only returned once (eight days ago) and was hounded out of the garden again. That was the culmination of months of little warnings, Takahe whining at the sight of another fox, the Fringe Vixen backing down before no one.

Last night, something curious happened. The Old Dogfox was marking the territory as I said but then the Fringe Vixen joined him, urinating where he had done. In wolves, double-marking is done only by the alpha pair. Further, when the Old Dogfox was gesturing at the Interloper, she brazenly approached him from the far side. He left promptly, probably feeling himself overwhelmed.

Does the Fringe Vixen really believe that she is the dominant female now? It is a long time to the breeding season when we will find out.

As for the mange, maybe it was a false alarm because she is obviously feeling strong at the moment.

About the Stream

2006-07-27T12:20:00.000Z

Around about six years ago, we decided to add an artificial stream to the garden. This comprises a channel about 20 feet long and a foot wide, carpeted by stones and bordered by grass, that flows from a header pool under a bush into the pond proper, forming a (very) little waterfall at the end. A pump then carries the water back up through a pipe to the header pool.

The magnetic effect on wildlife has been astonishing; our garden birdlist almost doubled once the water started flowing. Celebrity visitors include a couple of firecrests (one of the rarest birds in the country), fieldfares, chiffchaffs and blackcaps.

Why should flowing water prove so emphatically more popular than the traditional pond? Certainly, in the wild, stagant water may harbour unwelcome bacteria but also the shallow nature of the stream makes for easier bathing. (Other species, especially amphibians, prefer deep ponds, though, so it's best to have both.)

And what about the foxes? They drink from the stream, too, as kindly demonstrated by the always photo-friendly Old Dogfox here. I believe that it is a major reason they spend so much time in our garden, actually, because this is a dry part of the UK and reliable water sources are worth protecting.

All flopped out

2006-07-22T19:49:00.000Z

I would like to officially recant my earlier remark that England's "heatwave" was paltry compared to Kenyan weather. The last week has been almost unbearable as temperatures approach 100F - and, to any Californians reading this, *we* don't have home air conditioning.

The Old Dogfox has been visibly feeling the heat. A couple of nights ago he lay down Interloper-style on the mound, an aura of immobility about him. The other foxes have not been particularly active either. Except for Thursday night, when a chorus of howling screams arose from the bushes. It had to be Takahe and the Fringe Vixen facing off - all the others were accounted for - but I didn't actually glimpse our increasingly elusive alpha female.

As for me, my internet connection is still haywire. We've rigged up a temporary dial-up connection so I have now (finally!) updated my main site, but it's less than ideal. I've found that I can receive emails but not send them, so apologies to everyone who hasn't heard back from me lately.

But the good news is that during my "down-time" I did extensive work on the EcoWeb which now documents almost 160 local species. I had a pang of scientific conscience about the random nature of the arrangement, too, so they are now nicely slotted into taxonomic groups. Feedback is welcomed.

Whimpers in the Darkness

2006-07-17T14:56:00.000Z

Hey, I'm online...albeit in slow motion. Dial-up is an amazing thing.

Is it possible to distinguish between the voices of different foxes? Any dog owner knows that dogs possess particular barks and whimpers, and wolf researchers say that certain wolves howl in characteristic ways. Maybe the trained ear can detect individual foxes from their calls too.

A couple of nights back, the Survivor Vixen and the Fringe Vixen were sitting remarkably peacefully in the garden. The Old Dogfox joined them briefly and then exited through the hedge. A thin, pitiful whimper whispered from the undergrowth towards the back of the garden.

Takahe? I wondered only for a moment, as the Fringe Vixen trotted up the path with a couple of chirps. The Interloper arose from the shadow of the rhodedrendron. It is amazing that such a high-pitched noise could be uttered by so large a fox. Maybe, in time, if he carries on fretting about the presence of the Old Dogfox, I will be able to distinguish his calls from those of Takahe.

A little later he somewhat gingerly approached the house. The Fringe Vixen was relaxed enough in his company to sit nearby and yawn. Over the weeks since the Interloper's return, relations have thawed remarkably between him and the vixens.

The Old Dogfox, however, is still showing territorial behaviour. He stalked about the garden refusing to look at his rival, which he appears to do only when in the most aggressive mood.

But check out his brush in this picture - how it has filled out! Pale yellow fur is expanding the orange clumps:

The Interloper is usually tricky to photograph because he is almost constantly looking about for the other foxes, so excuse the flash. Notice the black stripes on his muzzle, though - they are far more distant that those on the other foxes, and clearly visible even at a distance.

Brief update

2006-07-16T19:55:00.000Z

I'm having to keep this brief as my internet connection is down again. Although I can access blogspot from any computer, obviously I cannot currently update my main site. A week or so more, and everything should be back to normal.

In the meantime, the Old Dogfox turned up a couple of nights back with a nasty scratch on one side of his rump and a deep cut on the other. Bite? Tangle in a piece of barbed wire? Not certain, but he seems to be coping well enough. The only fox likely to bite him is, of course, the Interloper, and he is still donning submissive poses. It would be a major turn around for him to exert himself that forcefully.

You can just see the cut in this photo.

Querying

2006-07-12T20:36:00.000Z

I'm becoming more convinced that the Fringe Vixen does have mange, which is unwelcome news to say the least. This latest picture of her shows a bare patch on her left hindleg. While it is still too early to state "mange" categorically, it may be prudent to contact the rescue organisation and get some ivermectin into her as a precaution. Then, hopefully, we can finally bid adiou to medicine.

The good news is that the Old Dogfox (below) is still looking very healthy - as, ironically, is the Survivor Vixen. As I write this, she is standing under the conifer tree with the Interloper sitting bolt upright in a patch of daisies nearby. He is such a tall fox, at least compared to the rest of them. Sometimes, when lying in the grass with his legs tucked under his chest like a cat, as is his fashion, he could almost be mistaken for a deer fawn. He has remarkably long legs.

The Old Dogfox came earlier in the evening, long before the Interloper emerged from the shadows. This seems to be a consistent pattern, born out by what limited data the webcam was able to provide...

I've abandoned the webcam project until further notice after it was again terminated by our Leonberger. This is not a dog blog but after her unexpected contribution I feel justified in posting a picture of her, complete with the soft toy piglet that she was given as a birthday present. One year old today!

(Maybe I should have looked for a soft toy webcam instead?)

Leonbergered

2006-07-11T06:28:00.000Z

The webcam has met an unfortunate fate. Despite all the possible thieves in the local rogues' gallery, from the foxes to magpies to squirrels, it was "relocated" not by wildlife but by a dog!

Our Leonberger, now one day short of her first birthday, discovered the webcam yesterday morning while it was still running. The footage shows it shaking madly, followed by views of a broad sweep of the patio as teeth wrench it from the bluetack that was its erstwhile resting place. Then the image goes black.

Fortunately, it was not damaged but, after another night with almost five hours of fox-less footage, I've decided to adjust the times of the project from 7pm - midnight. It seems clear that the foxes are overwhelmingly choosing to visit the garden in the first quarter of the night. I'll just make sure that the dogs are well furnished with toys before setting it going!

News from the Webcam

2006-07-09T09:40:00.000Z

The webcam finally started rolling last night (only eight days later than planned!) I've just finished whizzing through seven hours worth of footage (11pm - 6am) and it's already throwing up some interesting data.

The Old Dogfox, so unavoidable in the early evening, didn't come at all during the night. Perhaps we are first on his nightly round? The Interloper and the Survivor Vixen, on the other hand, were present for several hours, but sightings dropped off completely after about 2am. No scientist would dream of leaping to conclusions based on a sample size of one night, so I will keep the webcam running for another couple of weeks to see if last night was typical. Nevertheless, here's the graph from last night. When the fortnight is up I'll post it again with all data points added.

And here are some video highlights, including the Survivor Vixen chasing a rodent! Right at the end, a bat swoops across the field of view.

Tale of a tail (or a brush)

2006-07-08T11:51:00.000Z

Has full moon come early this month? I'm having a spell of the most bizarre wildlife sightings. Having recovered from the astonishment of seeing a huge male badger walking up a road in daylight on Thursday (only the second daytime badger I've seen in twenty years), I went exploring with my dog this morning for a magnificent roe buck to bolt out from almost under my feet as a sparrowhawk circled overhead nearby. I then returned home to see a squirrel drinking from the gutter!

I've got so many photos of all a sudden that I hardly know what to do with them.

On top of which, the Old Dogfox was evidently lured out by the sunshine this morning. Admittedly I was less surprised to see him than the other creatures but I'm watching his brush with interest. It's gone through a Bare stage, then a Black stage (as the underfur regrew) and, now, a Ginger Clump stage. As you can see from this photo, the red fur is appearing in tufts down the spine of the tail. I wonder how long it will take to restore itself to its former splendour.

Fringe Vixen: Yes or No?

2006-07-07T07:55:00.000Z

I still can't make up my mind whether the Fringe Vixen is suffering from mange or is just worn down at the moment from all the social tensions. The fur on her face looks a bit tousled but what is concerning me more is the appearance of two small bare patches on her chest.

You can see them in this picture. Of course, foxes do lose fur for other reasons and the Old Dogfox suffered worse hair loss during the spring moult than from the disease itself, but still, I'm keeping a close watch on her. Checking back on my photos of the Survivor Vixen from May, I can see that she lost fur on her chest before the much more obvious loss on her rump.

Mange or not, she has not sweetened her relationships with the other foxes. Last night she had a ritualised screaming match with the Survivor Vixen, who flattened herself on the grass and slunk towards her almost like a snake. Both vixens lay close to the ground, chirping and screaming.

Come to think of it, I haven't seen Takahe at all since the much more vicious fight on June 25th. Maybe she has conceded this corner of the territory - perhaps concluded that nothing in our garden is worth the battles with the Fringe Vixen.

Later in the evening, the Survivor Vixen resumed her pose under the walnut tree. She has a curious expression; her lower lip seems just a little too big, and makes it appear that her mouth is never fully closed. I've put the full-sized version of this picture in the gallery.

Survivor Vixen Update

2006-07-05T20:59:00.000Z

Five days after her final dose of ivermectin, the Survivor Vixen is looking in excellent shape. I'm thrilled with her recovery - the bare patches on her face and chest have gone, although her neck fur is yet to regrow, and she's madly zipping about the garden once more.

Which also means, of course, that she's resumed her rightful role as Most Challenging Photography target. As I've mentioned before, I don't like using flash as the resulting picture tends to be poor. I took the "picture" to the left some years back and trust me, there is a fox behind there. Somewhere.

When I put my Canon 300d on nighttime mode, the image is fine quality - as long as the subject remains stationary! Shutter speed slows to a couple of seconds. Any movement in that time will result in a blurred picture. Most photographers probably use that function for shooting cityscapes at night, which are a good deal less mobile than vixens.

Still, tonight, things did work out. This is the Survivor Vixen sitting under the walnut tree, taken using night mode. Compare her now to how she looked in May.

Truce

2006-07-05T07:55:00.000Z

Humid heat, immobilising, stifling, presses upon the land like a blanket of heavy sand that must be waded through whenever movement is desired. Away from fans and air conditioning, the impact on people is paralysing.

For the foxes, endurance has been achieved by travelling as little as possible, it seems.

Late last night, long after dark had fallen but with still no respite from the heat, the Old Dogfox was padding slowly about near the patio. I watched him, wondering where the Survivor Vixen was, and noticed a daunting shape rise from the grass near the conifer.

Interloper!

But - no fight? No gesturing? Hardly a glance passed between them.

Heat-mediated truce; neither of them would gain from sapping their energy by arguing right now.

The Old Dogfox did not stay long. The Interloper lay down under the hedge, obviously keen to rest. I took this photo through switching the flash off and vastly reducing the shutter speed. The camera then compensates for the dark, which is why it looks as if he were resting in a ray of sunshine. Actually, it was almost 11pm.

All heatwaves die the same way, and this one shattered in the small hours with thunder. As I write this, at 9am, rain is falling heavily on the parched ground. A blackbird is singing. A woodpigeon is perched in the top of the tall conifer in front of my window, occasionally holding its wings out like a cormorant. What a relief it must be to these small creatures to feel water on their bodies again.

A wilting fox

2006-07-03T20:49:00.000Z

Southern England is in the grip of a "heat wave". I put that in quotation marks because it pales somewhat compared to the tyrannical midday sun that I recall from walking in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya, long ago, but still, for us, this has been a stifling few days.

I've commented before that we get far fewer fox visits during hot weather. Today only the Old Dogfox and the Fringe Vixen have called in, the latter very briefly.

The Old Dogfox was moving slowly; wise in such conditions. He pottered about the garden for a few minutes and then lay down on the neighbours' lawn on a blanket of daisies. Lethegy is a positive character trait today.

I've been interested to see how his poor brush is recovering from mange. The fur is finally regrowing, beginning with the short black undercoat. Ginger hairs are only just starting to emerge but some can be seen in the second photo.

Time for some science

2006-07-03T20:42:00.000Z

So the Survivor Vixen got her medicine and Thickbrush doesn't seem to be coming back for more. June was an astonishing month altogether, what with the Interloper returning in the midst of the rescue attempt and the Old Dogfox displaying aggression by biting the conifer tree. Who knows what will happen next?

In any case, now that the ivermectin drama seems to be over, I want to proceed with a little experiment. I'm going to leave the webcam rolling all night (half killing my hard disk in the process, no doubt) and record fox movements in and out of the garden. At the end of the month, or possibly a fortnight if it gets too difficult, I'll analyse the data and see if they show a definite pattern of a) times of arrival and b) who turns up with whom. I should say that the webcam won't be live on the net, as I don't have the resources. A trial run back in March turned up a file 24GB in size. But any interesting footage garnered will, of course, be put on here.

In the meantime, here's a little clip of the Old Dogfox that was taken in May 2005. Long before the arrival of the Interloper, he was worrying about...magpies!