We have been hearing news about a family of foxes with mum and her cubs playing on the back lawn of one of the Blue i Team. We now have photos to prove that the family is doing very well, as you might expect on a diet of roast chicken and nuts, obviously for protein and bits of bread for energy! A number of people dream of this sort of square meal and here the foxes have it all laid on.
We used to have foxes in out garden a few years ago but the vixen “mum” never brought her cubs to eat the dog food that we left out for her. This family have all the benefits of cubs as well, which on the one hand means more chicken but on the other one has the pleasure of seeing wildlife at play close up to the back door.
The story began at the end of 2019 with just the mother visiting during the winter and being fed the occasional titbit of food. This continued with more and more visits as she became more trusting until during the Spring of 2020, she visited with her male partner. Soon afterwards she became pregnant, but also developed a limp with her paw at the same time. A decision was made to increase the amount of food to help her so she didn’t have to travel so far.
Throughout the “lockdown” the feeding continued and this Spring 2021, she became pregnant again and is now visiting with one of the adolescent males from the litter of 2020! It is thought that she comes over from the local golf course and has to scale a number of fences, so is forced to leave the cubs behind and feeds them on her return by regurgitating the chicken she eats.
Thank goodness for nature lovers keeping wild life alive, as in this particular case their home has been disturbed by local house building works. It is very apparent that it is not only in Africa and Indonesia where human construction is pushing out wildlife, it is happening in our own backyard.
