A couple of videos of our foxes from Christmas until April. We believe these are the same two foxes starring throughout both videos. The Fox with the bushy tail is a dog fox, while the fox with the skinny tail is the vixen.
Hopefully the next video will be some fox cubs. Now the sun is out, I am assuming they will be venturing out from their den.
Back in the late spring, early summer of 2022, we had a skulk of foxes in the field bringing up four fox cubs. We believe it was two vixens, with a couple of cubs each. Normally we would see two cubs at a time, but on occasion another two cubs would come from the other side of the mound and join in with the play. One set of cubs disappeared during the summer. We assume (hope) they moved on somewhere else. The cubs are now fully grown, and we have seen them since this video was put together.
You can watch the short edition, a little over 5 minutes, or the long two and a quarter hour video. The longer video also stars Badger, Muntjac deer, Squirrels, rabbits, Great spotted woodpecker and various other birds.
The Highlights
Five minutes and 52 seconds showing the highlights of the cubs.
I missed several days of fox cubs, they run the battery down on the camera in only a few days. One night the fox cubs spent the whole of darkness playing! The Infrared light soon depleted the battery! The batteries changed and, on the 4th and 5th of May the Fox cubs are still around. A little bigger, now steady on their feet and much more active.
I knew there was still the odd fox around our garden. The compost heap was regularly being visited, and any leftover food was soon carried away overnight. I put up a webcam on the 23rd of April, near some holes by our field pond, which are often used by rabbits. Last year foxes used these holes to store their larder and raise their young cubs. Sure, enough the Vixen(s) were back and there were four fox cubs in residence. They played during the night, early evening, and early morning. The vixen could be seen during the night. We are not sure if there were two families in the same area. Mostly we would see two or three cubs, but on occasion there was a fourth.
The camera is moved around different garden sites, trying to spot the most interesting animal movements, and discovering their preferred routes. We had much activity in the Compost Heap in early June. There were two badgers who had taken up temporary residence, one even showing itself during daylight hours. Kindly one badger moved the camera during the night, pointing it more directly down the badger sett. They appeared to move off, and only come back to visit the sett on later days. A large male fox also came visiting. Amazingly not many rabbits appeared in the footage.
The last scene from the video is a badger walking along the bank of the pond, turning around and rushing off.
It has been a while since I posted a Secret Life of the Compost Heap video. The foxes and badgers are still about, coming and going along their garden tracks to the compost heap and beyond. This video shows the compost heap from two angles and one of the tracks on the way to the rabbit warren. The camera is now set for night time shooting only. During the day we would have hours of rabbits cavorting in the grass. As it is there is much-discarded footage of Oryctolagus cuniculus on the editing room floor.
There are now many live streaming youtube channels. For those who love their Vulpes vulpes and Meles meles, take a look at this Danish channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQZILMyW88o During the day is the gentle sound of running water and bird song. Very relaxing!
It has been several weeks since the last Secret Life of The Compost Heap post video. There has been a lack of subjects. I moved the camera to a new location for a week and recorded nothing but rabbits. Back at the compost heap, and the odd fox and badger. It was cold, so maybe they were keeping out of the cold, snuggled down somewhere.
After filming a few scenes of the rabbit hole, I repositioned the camera to look to the left of the rabbit hole where there is a wildlife path. Sure enough, badgers and foxes passed by. The foxes walking by and investigating the second entrance to the rabbit burrow. The foxes are rather camera-shy and can see the Infra-Red light. You can see one small fox being very hesitant. Alas, the Polecat has not been seen again. One domestic cat comes by regularly.
During the day one of our pheasants came by walking towards the bird feeders. You can see him run back a little later. Somebody must have opened the doorway to the house and scared him.
There is a short scene with a little field mouse. Cute.
The disappearing Polecat (Mustela putorius), hungry fox (Vulpes vulpes), Badger (Meles meles), Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), Field Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus)
Where has our polecat (Mustela putorius) gone? We have not seen it for over a week. For several days it came out and played, and now he has gone. I start this video with a short recap of last week’s video. There is the polecat rolling on the ground, he spots the fox and then with fear backs into the hole. You see the fox smelling the ground around where the polecat had rolled. Mr Fox then leaves, coming back at 7.55 in the morning and going straight underground. The new video images start, and you see Mr Fox rush out at 13.47.
We never saw the polecat again; we fear Mr Fox has had a polecat breakfast.
During the rest of the week, Mr Fox and Brock the Badger made appearances, including a very wet Badger during the overnight rain.
A beautiful (??) cat paid the compost heap a fleeting visit. We have seen her before, we don’t know which Humes she owns.
I moved the camera to the other hole last night, not much other than rabbits, and a cute mouse. I removed the card just as the snow had started, and there is an image of a rabbit in the snowfall.
For the last week, we have been trying other locations for the camera trap to find where our animals were visiting.
The first area was nearby the garden pond, I spied a well-trodden trail and set the camera up there. Mr Fox would run through here coming and going, possibly leaving our neighbours chickens and looking at the compost heap. The next area in the garden was by the woodshed, this showed rabbits and nothing more. Mr Fox though seen heading in that direction did not appear to visit these rabbits.
The final new location was by the field pond. I tried a couple of locations, looking in at rabbit holes. We mainly saw rabbits and brief glimpses of the fox as it was making its way quickly from one area to another. The odd bird would also appear during the daylight. After a complaint by one viewer about the lack of rabbits, I have included a rabbit. It is said that in nature counts, the rarest animals and birds are indeed the most populous. People count the rare species and ignore the pesky rabbits and pigeons
After this, we went back to the compost heap and were treated to some excellent shots of the polecat and fox. In one shot you can see the polecat seeing/hearing the fox and quickly reversing back into the burrow. The fox is keenly interested in the scent of the polecat, sniffing where the polecat had been rolling and examining the rabbit warren.
One disturbing image was the fox going into the hole where the polecat lives just before dawn, and not materialising. Thankfully there are several exits in the compost heap. Maybe he exited somewhere else. I could do with a couple more camera traps to stake out all the other major holes in the compost heap. Did the fox stay over during the day, or did he leave by another hole?
We think we have a couple of foxes at least. There are different muzzle markings and leg markings. One at least is a male because on a previous video you can see him cocking his leg. All the foxes look fit, nimble and quick and don’t hang around for long. They do alas see the camera trap, but do seem to be getting used to it now.
Another night and the same compost heap, but a different set of starring animals. The Rabbits and Mouse appeared and hogged the camera. They made a hasty getaway when the starring animals appeared, a Fox and a Polecat. The Polecat appeared out of the rabbit hole, and later at the end can be seen rushing back in. The Fox stood and looked at the camera. The later images are poor because of a light frost covering on the lens.