Foxes: Why are they visiting?

We have at least two visiting foxes that trip the Trail Camera at least a couple of times a night. The question that I have started asking myself is why are they visiting? .

Fox checking out grassy area at 2:20 am, February 22nd

The foxes often snuffle round the grassy area shown in the image. Are they trying to smell out food, or checking to see if another fox has visited recently? I've had the camera out a number of nights but yet to capture any encounters between the foxes. This doesn't mean much as I think that they are most likely to meet at the entrance to the garden. One or twice they have moved very quickly across the screen but whether they are running towards or away from something, I don't know. I

They could be searching for food. According the the Collins Field Guide to Mammals, foxes are opportunistic feeders.  It says that their diet includes: rodents, birds, insects (especially beetles), eggs and earthworms. We have found odd holes in the ground after visits and they are likely to be digging for worms. The guide explains that they also scavenge at bird tables and compost heaps. We have both. So there is a certain amount of food they can find while in our garden.

I'm not sure why the foxes visit. I think that, at this time of year, they might be finding a small amount of food and that is the most likely reason. Maybe they have a regular route and we happen to be on it.

Listening to an Uckfield morning

I got the idea of really listening to my town as I walked to the station when I read Ian Mortimer's description of sounds in Medieval England ...

"It is very quiet.
Out on the open road, you can hear nothing but the wind in the trees, the streams trickling, occasional calls of voices, and birdsong"

6am I leave the house and hear the angry sounding pipping of a blackbird. Maybe the security light woke it.  Somewhere nearby is the sweet sound of a robin.  There is a swish as a car passes by and the occasional hum from the main road.

I pass through several robin territories as I walk through Manor Park

As I walk through the estate, I will pass through several robin territories. I hear a robin singing when I reach the top of the path that has brought me to Browns Lane. I hear another, then another as I turn into Downsview Crescent by Tesco Express. More sweet song as I pass by Woodland close, and then again at the little green near Tower View. There is more pipping from the blackbirds and a deeper, melodious song drifting behind it. An early blackbird? Maybe a thrush?

There is a pause in the birdsong as a dog walker appears. Greetings are exchanged, the dog pants slightly and wags its tail. Then past the big old lime tree at Lamach Close. Unlike the ones in Lime Tree Avenue, the growths around its base have not been trimmed back, and it has formed its own mini jungle. As I walk past two more robins come into focus one just after the other.  As I move into Southview Close the hum from the main road becomes more insistent.  Another robin as I walked past Streatfield House. There are definitely blackbirds singing now. Is it the brighter lights in the high street that has started them off? Their melodies follow me as I pass the shops at the top of the town.

The song tails off and is replaced by growling cars, stopping and starting at the lights. I hail another dogwalker but she can hardly hear me. As I approach the station a sudden burst of song. The blackbirds are singing loudly in this lighted, busy place.

6.25 am I am buying my ticket and hearing conversations. The birds will sing on without me.

Lime Aid and a Geocache

I spent most of today in the company of 100 magnificent limes.  These wonderful trees form Lime Tree Avenue in Uckfield and I was one of a group of volunteers who were giving them some TLC. We trimmed back epicormic growth, or suckers, from the bottom of each tree. Trimming the unwanted growth not only keeps the trees tidy but prevents energy that is needed to keep the whole trunk healthy from being diverted into unwanted growth. 

Lime tree, before and after epicormic growth (suckers) removed.

It is rather wonderful to get up close and personal with trees that are so old and so big. It allows me to appreciate the craggy old bark, the smooth, olive coloured twigs and buds that look as if they could start bursting any day.

Fresh green leaves of cow parsley, wild arum (cuckoo pint) and ivy seem to swirl round these old giants. The cuckoo pint flowers will be first to appear, then the white froth of cow parsley and finally ivy flowers provide a late summer nectar bar.

All day birds flitted and chattered round us while we worked. Male blackbirds seemed to be chasing each other from perch to perch while a blue tit gave us shrill abuse for daring to step into its territory. A robin paused on a nearby fence post and inspected work in progress. 

As we wound down, there was one last surprise. I found a plastic box. At first I thought it was some litter, or maybe a child's lunchbox hidden by a less than friendly school mate. When I opened it I found a charming little collection of gifts and a notebook. It seems that someone had left a geocache. I wrote my name in the book and put it back.

Geocache, which I found hidden at the foot of a lime tree.

The Lime Aid group, led by Martyn Stenning, does this twice a year, in October and February. So if you fancy having a go, look out for notices in the local press, social media and in Lime Tree Avenue itself.

Bird song

I usually work at home 3 days a week. However, for the last month I've been working at home all the time. I haven't missed the mega commute, crawling out of bed at 5:30 am, or the transport version of Russian roulette known as the Uckfield line. One thing I do regret is not hearing the early morning birds. At this time of year, at about 6:00 am, I can expect to hear a number of robins as I walk through Manor Park. each seems to come into focus as I walk into and then through its territory.

That said, as the days lengthen, I've been hearing more birds, albeit at a more civilized hour. At 7:30 this morning, I scurried out to grab a picture of the sky just before the sun rose.  The scene was like something out of of a Hitchcock movie. Birds were flitting almost furtively about. The rather sinister silhouettes of starlings were all around me on wires and branches.

Starlings are perched in the tree as well as on the wire.

Then there was the noise. More of a dawn shout up than a dawn chorus. Fortunately we have more melodious visitors. One of my favourites right now is a coal tit, which sits about half way up the birch tree and sings it's see-saw sing. It seems unbelievable that such a small bird can sing so loudly. I'm not an expert on bird song but I've been able to match our garden birds to the sounds they make by watching them while they sing or looking them up in the RSPB's Bird Guide, which has a short recording for each species.

Two foxes

I've had the Bushnell trail camera out again. This time we had a very foxy night.  I believe we have two different foxes here. The first, in the top picture, is quite compact and fluffy looking, with dark ears and a thick, straight brush. It first appeared at 6:37 on Friday evening and sniffed round the grassy area, before disappearing 10 minutes later. The second, a somewhat leggier animal with a small downward dip at the end of its brush triggered the camera at :7:03 pm and again at just after 3 the next morning.

Foxes at Feb, 1 at 6.47 pm and Feb 2 at 3:05 am.

I don't know anything about the relationship between these two animals. They both spent some time sniffing round the same area but at different times. I can't even guess the genders. Male and female foxes are very similar except for size, the male being about 5 cm (2 inches) longer nose to tail tip than the female. It is possible that the more compact fox is one of last year's litter. 

This is the time of year when foxes mate. A few years ago I had the incredible experience of seeing two males wrestling on our front path while the female they were competing for looked on. They were on their hind legs with front paws on each others' shoulders. It looked exactly like they were waltzing.

So are my two foxes potential mates, rivals, or parent and cub? I can't guess at this point but I can keep watching.