Country File

[Leon]

Our whole garden is still pretty trashed while we're doing work on it but we're getting a steady supply of birds still.  There's a squirrel who comes to visit occasionally and we found a field mouse was living in one of our piles of turf/debris/dirt.  Once we've got everything done we'd like to encourage hedgehogs if we can, but there's quite a healthy fox population in the area that we'll need to keep an eye on.

[Heedless Horseman]

Foxes.
Must be 30yrs ago, Ma was Overjoyed to see a mam and cubs trooping down the drive to gobble the small plate of Hedgehog stuff... so she started feeding for BOTH! Over the years, there have been generations... and sometimes you could recognise... 'Fat Face', 'Pretty Fox', 'Silver Fox', etc.... from cub to adult... to 'gone'. 'Silver Fox' turned up for a few nights with a severely mangled rear foot... sticking up in the air... (Fight, trap, other cause?)... then didn't. Thought 'dead' from infection or other cause. Three months later, reappeared, just able to put foot to ground. Improved until could 'sort of' run . Visits became very occasional... but a young 'un with same colouring appeared..?      Watching a Vixen, on 'overwatch' whlle cubs play fought on the lawn... safe... was a real pleasure!  

I am rather 'ambivalent' about Foxes! I Love to see them and continue to feed... but I don't 'Trust' them... they are Foxes!   Too many cats just go 'missing'... though SO many possible causes. too often Human!   That said... most cats will 'see off' a Fox if healthy and awake. Current Cat used to 'stalk', 'chase' and generally 'scare'  the half grown cubs . Now, he just sits and watches them feed... from a couple of feet away... and they, as adults, are Wary!   Maybe a food source reduces risk to cats, poultry, etc.? Don't know, but,  Foxes are a useful 'disposal' service for cat-kill Pigeon carcases! lol.

The Hunting Ban is a subject BEST LEFT ALONE... TOO contentious!
(For the record, I am 'ambivalent'... never hunted, but know lasses who do. My attitude 'gradually' changing, but a 'fight' would push me back into defence. SO PLEASE DON'T GO THERE!).

I can very well understand that many who have Poultry, or lambs, etc. will HATE foxes. Well, fair enough. But, please do not set snares or such... and NO POISON BAIT! A German Shepherd Dog breeder from whom we got a pup, years ago, lost both his dogs from eating poisoned bait left as 'vermin control'.  

Foxes Welcome Here ! (But, I'm Watching You, Too !).  

[Techno II]

If the weather was suitable, in the UK, I'd get some corn snakes and release those to get the rats.

Foxes are NOT popular at Techno Towers at the mo' (and with the folk across the road).......Presumably a vixen with young. The chickens are in lock down, as three of them have been taken recently.

The only time the 'chicks' are out, at the mo', is for an hour or so late afternoon, when Von's seeing to the gee-gees and the dogs are having a bimble around.

But as HH says.....Fox hunting as a debate is WAY too contentious...so lets' leave that well alone.

Only ever seen one hedgehog at Techno Towers......Used to get LOADS in Nottinghamshire...along with the sad little flattened scabs on the road from squished ones......And for the first time for years I saw one of those 'scabs' on the way into Cardigan a few days ago.

Cheers - Phil.

[Matt J]

Love gardening!

Lucky to live in idyllic countryside with knocking on for an acre of gardens, loads of mature trees, herbaceous borders, lots of colour (I think we have about 40 rhododendrons!).



locals are friendly too 



I shoot the rats

[Steve J]

That's a nice garden Matt !

I love foxes but hate badgers, which is not going to be popular with some people. C'est la vie.

[Ithoriel]

Lucky to live in idyllic countryside with knocking on for an acre of gardens, loads of mature trees, herbaceous borders, lots of colour (I think we have about 40 rhododendrons!).

My idea of hell! My understanding of gardening stops at the knowledge that "the green bits go at the top." Weeds seem to me to largely be pretty flowers that irritate gardeners by growing happily without needing human intervention.

[Leon]

Love gardening!

Lucky to live in idyllic countryside with knocking on for an acre of gardens, loads of mature trees, herbaceous borders, lots of colour (I think we have about 40 rhododendrons!).

That's a lovely garden and nice to see the birds are friendly!  Were they like that already or have you had to coax them down over time?

[DecemDave]

Foxes are contentious in towns too.  With an unsurprising lack of lambs, chicks  etc about our local set have taken to chewing the wiring under our cars which shows up as a variety of faults.  The fox alarms subsequently installed despite their marketing turn out to be audibly unpleasant to human children and some young adults as well. [A feature I have noted for future mis-use  ]  Thus turning older car owning neighbours against "aren't they cute lets feed them" fox loving neighbours.

Good job we all hate the seagulls.  (the birds not the team - the latter is even more contentious).

Beautiful garden Matt.

[Matt J]

They don't mind being handled after they've knocked themselves senseless on the glass doors 

[Leon]

They don't mind being handled after they've knocked themselves senseless on the glass doors 

[Heedless Horseman]

That's a nice garden Matt !
I love foxes but hate badgers, which is not going to be popular with some people. C'est la vie.

Once thought I caught a 'glimpse' of the back end of a badger disappearing around the house corner... but probably some sort of Dog!  
My locality too built up for them. Personally, I wouldn't mind, but other residents would NOT be happy. I HAVE seen pics of what they CAN do to lawns, beds, etc. !  
Mid 80s, I spent just a few weeks patrolling a Nature Reserve. We had a sett, but kept it pretty quiet for fear of local Scum digging it for baiting. Would have liked to go on one of the very occasional 'Badger Watch' nights... with trusted groups, but 'moved on'.
Otherwise, only seen at a dstance, when driving... and the occasional 'sad bundle of fur' as roadkill. Hope they made an equal 'mess' of somebody's car!  
I understand that Badgers may not be popular... but as a little kid, the 'fight between Tommy Brock and Mr. Todd the Fox', was "Wanna hear again, Ma!"  

Matt: Lovely! 

[Ithoriel]

When my parents lived in Surrey they had a badger that would amble along on the other side of the glass of their patio doors without any apparent concern about those inside.

My closest badger encounter is therefore probably measured in inches!

Local foxes are incredibly tame. Had one trot along at my side one night like I was taking a dog for a walk. He was to my left and when we were almost home the fox wanted to go right and I wanted to go straight on. We wound up doing a very weird little dance around each other

[Heedless Horseman]

When my parents lived in Surrey they had a badger that would amble along on the other side of the glass of their patio doors without any apparent concern about those inside.

My closest badger encounter is therefore probably measured in inches!

Local foxes are incredibly tame. Had one trot along at my side one night like I was taking a dog for a walk. He was to my left and when we were almost home the fox wanted to go right and I wanted to go straight on. We wound up doing a very weird little dance around each other

Just this morning, a neighbour phoned me about local Hedgehogs. In chat, she mentioned that a friend had been on local bridle path, (behind my house), at night and seen 2 sets of 'eyes' approaching... one was a Fox, the other a Cat... side by side! She was curios whether it was my cat... 'could well have been' !   

[Ithoriel]

My gran's cat was sister to the cat her neighbour had. A bigger, more thuggish, pair of tabbies are hard to imagine. Various dead or dying offering were regularly left on the respective doorsteps. Including, on one occasion, my gran finding the head and forelegs of a fox, her neighbour the back legs and brush and a trail of entrails across the two gardens. Damage to the fox suggested this was not a case of finding roadkill and bringing it home! 

[Poggle]

We had a doe take refuge in our back garden this evening. Some little yahoos were racing motorbikes around the neighborhood. Once it got to dusk and quieted down she snacked on our mulberry bush and moved on. Lovely creature.

[Ithoriel]

When I lived on the outskirts of Dalkeith there was a strip of woodland between the housing estate and Dalkeith proper. I would use it as a shortcut on days the ground underfoot wasn't too wet.

Local rumour was that Red Deer roamed the local woodlands but considering I was through the woodland regularly and had never seen any sign (no droppings, hoofprints, tufts of fur or similar) I assumed it was urban legend. Until one afternoon I was ambling along and a fawn burst from the undergrowth a few feet ahead of me and vanished into the undergrowth on the other side. I made the mistake of stopping in my tracks in wonder .... at which there was a crashing of undergrowth beside me, a sort of strangled bugle and a hind crashed into me knocking me off my feet before disappearing after the fawn. Damn, those things are bigger than I'd realised. To be fair, I'm pretty sure she was desperately trying to avoid this idiot who'd stopped right in front of her.

Close encounters of the deer kind!

[mmcv]

Our new place gives us a lot more opportunity for getting into nature. As well as having an actual usable garden (with which my wife is discovering she has an interest in gardening) and having some fields behind us with regular visits from various birds, insects, furry animals and large moo moos, we're also just a short walk from the coast, which gives us the opportunity for some lovely walks. It's been interesting to see the changes that come with the changes in season over the past few months, as well as how things look at different times of day and as the tide moves in and out. Lots of different plants growing up, and it's fun poking around the rock pools to see what's lurking inside.

A few recent snaps:

[Raider4]

Looks delightful mmcv. I'm very jealous.

If I ever do move, ideally it would be somewhere within walking distance of the coast, or it would back on to a (working) canal somewhere, so I moor my (mythical) narrowboat at the bottom of the garden.

(Come on winning lottery ticket . . .)

[Ithoriel]

Given current predictions, if you want a coastal property in a few years time buy a property somewhere inland and tens of metres above sea level and wait :-)

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Looks delightful mmcv. I'm very jealous.

If I ever do move, ideally it would be somewhere within walking distance of the coast, or it would back on to a (working) canal somewhere, so I moor my (mythical) narrowboat at the bottom of the garden.

(Come on winning lottery ticket . . .)

Of course you would be flooed out frequently