I haven't been able to see the foxes in my garden for the last two months, ever since Storm Arwen felled a tree that knocked out my wall lights. With lighting finally restored I have been catching up on which foxes are visiting. Trail camera monitoring last month showed lots of fox activity and several different foxes but I couldn't identify individuals on the infrared videos.
I am pleased to say that the dog fox and vixen from last year are both still here. If the vixen has cubs the year this will be at least her third litter. Here is the dog. He is as fascinated by the new light as he was with the old one.
And this is the vixen.
The alpha pair sometimes arrive together and are very relaxed in each other's company although the vixen sometimes shows submissive behaviour. Here she is looking bored in the background as he watches the light.
I have also seen at least four other foxes and possibly up to six. Marc Baldwin says that dispersal (of full-grown cubs) usually takes place between September and February so it is interesting that so many foxes remain in this territory. Males disperse before females so I presume they are all female as the dog is unlikely to tolerate other full-grown males. I am fairly sure there were two litters within the family group last year with up to ten cubs, so perhaps it isn't surprising that there are so many still around.
These are the individuals I can recognise. This fox has marks on its face and a small notch on the left ear.
The following night it reappeared with a nasty wound on its forehead.
The next night, if anything, it looked worse when it was here with the alpha female, presumably its mother.
And last night it seemed to be on the mend. All through the fox has seemed unaffected by the wound. Foxes get a lot of wounds, injuries and scars, sometimes from fighting but also from climbing through and under fences and hedges in the dark.
The next fox is small and pale. There were at least three cubs like this in the family group last year and at least two might still be here but, because I only see one at a time, it it is difficult to be sure. I have watched one feed for 10 minutes before wandering off. A few minutes later it, or a look-alike, returned for another feed.
The small fox certainly isn't timid and wouldn't let a larger fox near the food. I am not sure which fox is in the background because it eventually gave up waiting and left.
It is difficult to get a photo to give an idea of the sizes difference between a normal fox and a small fox because I can rarely get them in the same frame at the same distance from the camera but this will give some idea. It is really quite striking in real life.
Another fox has a dark scar below its right eye and has long black socks.
This is another large fox with bright colours, no obvious scars and also long black socks.
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