8 January 2007

A Fox in the Garden

Our resident squirrels, Ginger and Van Hazel, and the 3 Bluejays were not happy campers last week.

An intruder invaded the garden in the shape of a young female fox.


Quickly dubbed Samantha, (UK readers should chuckle now!), she made a temporary home for herself under the shelter of our garden table which for winter has been taken off the lawn and placed on the bark-covered garden.

Van Hazel did make a daring run for a nut, but 5 minutes later, she discovered the sleeping fox, freaked out and disappeared!


For two days during the daylight hours, the fox hardly moved, except to stand up and turn around a couple of times, doglike, to sink back down into a more comfortable position. She pricked up her ears at our neighbour walking around his garden, but was largely unperturbed by any human noises or presence.


We knew that foxes lived in the nearby cemetery grounds, but it was the first time that one has slept in our yard! We can only surmise that the New Year’s fireworks, or possible maintenance around her usual hideaway, had forced her to seek other safer accommodation.


Life is back to normal now. Samantha has disappeared, leaving only a shallow hole moulded out of the bark, and the squirrels and birds have resumed collecting the nuts which we throw out for them!

Click this image for a short exciting video of a moving fox!


12 comments:

moryarti said...

I WANT ONE ... I WANT ONE

nzm said...

Moryarti: Me too! I love the desert foxes in the Sharjah Arabian Wildlife Museum. They are so cute!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful pictures :-)

halfmanhalfbeer said...

NZM: My gawd, your garden is just like the Serengeti!

I just hope that the fox didn't "leave a deposit" in your garden. I know from first hand experience that fox shit smells absolutely awful!

Pandabonium said...

Great pics. How fun.

Peceli and Wendy's Blog said...

How strange. I thought they were timid with people and would run away. Maybe fireworks or something frightened them and your compound felt safe to live in!
Even in our city there apparently are foxes but no-one sees them. They ate someone's pet chickens one day though. They live in the cemetery someone said.
W.

Jayne said...

Awwww, poor likkle fox :-(

Anonymous said...

Hey Guys...I know!...I know!!!...belated Happy New Year ... More soon :D

Seabee said...

Nice gentle little story M, we need more like this :-)

BuJ said...

i heard ur back so WELCOME BACK :)

nice foxy samantha.. wonder why it's funny!

seems u were really bored up there in germany hehe the graphics are very detailed!

CG said...

Oh how sweet (I think...).
Good job Samantha did not eat any of your other 'pets'.

Momo the Wonder Dog said...

how does that go? ..the quick brown squirel jumped over the lazy fox...no that's not right..