FOXES AND SQUIRRELS

Most mornings and evenings we would see a fox and his vixen appear in the London garden. They seemed very much at home, often sunbathing on the shed roof, or sitting under bushes near the front door.  It was a busy area, both with main trunk roads and an underground line that made plenty of noise, which ran under the founds of the house. There were plenty of signs that the foxes had a lair somewhere nearby. I was advised not to block up the gap holes that had already been dug under the fence. If I did, new ones, I was told, would appear. The brick wall could not be breached, the wooden gates could be. 

Some years before, the owner of the house had placed a bird table in the centre of the garden; not all her discarded bread scraps were on the bird table, and very little was eaten by the birds . It was clear that her misguided animal feeding had attracted rather a lot of grey squirrels that she liked to observe and probably other wildlife, some of it unheard of in urban areas till recent years. She was oblivious to the developing problem, which was uncovered by a leak in the roof of the house. 

The local authority were called in to deal with an infestation of squirrels that had homed themselves in the rather spacious loft of the house, also that of an attached neighbour. The rodent people did their job and they made follow-up inspections. A bill was duly paid.   Firm and clear instructions were given against leaving out any food scraps for any purpose, to avoid a repetition of the infestation. This instruction included bird food, seeds and nuts, the squirrels would love them.

The squirrels were rarely seen after the clear out, yet the foxes regularly arrived. There were plenty of fruit trees in neighbourhood gardens, plums, pears, and this one had apples. I don't know if foxes eat windfall fruits, they'll certainly forage in bins and break open the obligatory refuse sacks (as do pigeons and gulls) that the local authority demand are left - unprotected in many urban places - for collection.   There seemed to be a reason for the foxes being so comfortably where they were, the main one, doubtless, being, food.

Where I live, in a rural area, foxes are rarely seen in gardens, and certainly are guarded against near or on farms. They are out in fields; sometimes you see one on the verge of a road that has been in collision with a vehicle.

IT IS BALL CURLING

Ah Bless! The wee hedgehogs being looked after in a refuge all over the long cold Winter, were so well fed, they were far  too fat to curl up into balls to protect themselves from predators.

What do you do with clinically obese hedgehogs? You put them on a diet of course. They are now svelte enough to do what hedgehogs should be able to do. They will be safe to let out into the big bad wildlife world, hopefully, where there is lots of countryside between them and roads.

BIRDS - WHAT THEY GET UP TO

On this grotty first day of BST (Summer, my foot. It's just a ruse to disrupt our sleep), I got to thinking about our wildlife, which I do vaguely think about daily, since they are all around anyway.

Yesterday, I watched crows demolish my firm attachment of fat balls to the feeder stand. I managed to recover one net hook, and today attached a new net, with a fat ball in it, to the fence. The fat balls don't seem so prone to demolition in that position. The seed feeder does sway in the wind, encouraging small and medium sized birds to sit on the grass expectantly waiting for their manna to drop from heaven. They then ferociously peck away at grass level. The crows, clever observers that they are, move onto the feeder stand and with their beaks, bodies and sometimes their heads, help the seed holder to sway a bit more. That way there is plenty for all the feathered creatures that are gathered.

The peanut holder is heavy; the apex roof on it is supposed to keep the nuts drier than they might otherwise be if totally exposed. This treat is not without little morsels and residue. A bit of shaking, if there's no real wind, adds to the feed haul already on the grass.

Today, I saw a greenfinch:

The picture was taken some distance away and inside the house, to avoid disturbing the visitor
Shortly after, this rather podgy and well coloured bird appeared. It looks like the common garden Sparrow that is supposed to be in decline.