At least one fox now turns up here every evening, usually between 9.00 and 9.30, and usually the vixen first. They almost always stand facing the camera and the light, giving a head on view, but are easy to tell apart as she has unblemished ears whereas the dog has a torn right ear. This is the vixen
and this is the dog.
They don't do much except wander up, chew some biscuits and wander off again so I haven't recently recorded video from inside the house but here are a few portraits. The vixen again
The dog fox is more relaxed and is happy to lie down to eat.
Last night I put out a trail camera in the garden for the first time in ages. The vixen turned right on schedule and was immediately very aware of it, and very suspicious. As you can see in the video she was creeping up to the food, grabbing a few biscuits, and then retreating 5 or 10 metres to eat it. Eventually she was a bit more comfortable but she never took her eye off it. She also faced it all the time instead of facing the house (which is off to the right). This is the no-glow camera and I am intrigued by how much light it picks up from the LED security light. Either the camera sensor has a wider spectrum of sensitivity than its own light source (940nm) or the LED is producing some infrared as well as white light. I suspect the former but either way it gives a better picture.
An hour or so later the dog fox turned up. You can recognise his torn ear and hear him crunching the biscuits. This time the security light was off so the video picture is not as good but he can still see the "no-glow" camera.
Another hour or so later the vixen returned to finish off what was left. I think I'll leave a dummy camera in place so they get used to it. I am hoping the cubs will turn up next month and it will be good to get some intimate video shots.
Thanks Chris. Just hedgehogs here but hoping for a fox!
ReplyDeleteI am hoping for a hedgehog, Neil. I haven't seen one here for a couple of years.
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