WRONGLY TARGETED?Foxes are omnivorous creatures that like a varied diet and they do a lot more good than harm in the countryside.
Foxes and starlings are farmers’ friends – not foes
Country Sights and Sounds
John Shelley
FOR the greater part of the year we know nothing about the vixen that has her home in the covert. Yes, the dog barks at her scent at twilight and again at dawn, and follows her scent as far as the mouth of her den at the edge of the wood, where our badgers lived until most of the trees were cut (when they moved out the fox moved in) but otherwise she is a secretive animal that can only be guessed at.
Several years have passed since the trees were felled, so that the fox that lives there now is not the same one that originally took advantage of the badger’s labour. The average life of a fox in the wild is short, from two to four years. An intelligent and fortunate animal might last a year or two longer, but only if the weather is mild enough to provide a steady supply of food through the winter.
It was close to midnight on November 22 that we were woken by the screams of our vixen. There was nothing wrong with her - she was out looking for a mate, patrolling her territory and crying out every ten or fifteen seconds. Her calls were loud and shrill, eerie in the moonlight. We still heard them long after she passed by the house; indeed, she would continue her love song throughout the night, and the next, until she found her mate. We heard her only the once, which leaves two reasonable options. Her hunt was successful or, having inadvertently drawn attention to herself, she was lamped and shot.
We hear vixens every year, mostly in the months of December and January, and every summer we hear the cries of lost fox cubs that must make their own way in the world, so we know there is a healthy population out there. A November 22 mating gives a projected birth date of January 13, which is extraordinarily early. In those depths of winter food will be hard found. The temptation to take newborn lambs will be great. If that does happen, our fox family will not fare well.
I would rather they stayed alive. Foxes are omnivorous creatures that like a varied diet and they do a lot more good than harm. Although meat is their preferred food, they will eat most fruits when these are available. Rodents are a favourite; they can take as many of these as they like.
Our fox goes out to the starling roost when other food is scarce. We hear her splashing through the shallow water and scrambling through the reeds, and hear the flurry of wings as the birds are disturbed. We have no idea of her success rate, although the fact that she returns there at all suggests that at least an occasional bird is taken. Perhaps she finds those that have died in the night.
As they congregate in increasingly large numbers the starlings are a magnet for many predators. At least one sparrowhawk is in daily attendance, and as the winter sets in we expect more to arrive. Last year there were three, each of them with different hunting techniques. Even if they all killed each day they could make no noticeable impact on the many thousands of smaller birds. Nor could the peregrine that calls in on the rare occasion, nor the mink that kills all that it can.
Like the fox, the starling gets bad press. Yet this too is a beneficial creature that provides an invaluable service to the farming community, scouring the fields for wireworms and leatherjackets, the larvae of the crane fly. The leatherjacket is particularly destructive to grassland, chewing through grass roots with evident delight, sometimes so effectively that square yards of pasture can be lifted like a carpet.
We could use chemical sprays to kill the pests quite effectively, and in doing so kill the starlings that come to feed on them as well. These might be found by our fox, which would enjoy a fine old feast before sickening into death. Given time and persistence we could eventually have the countryside to ourselves. Isn’t it much better to leave the birds to do their job in peace? And the fox to do hers.
