Foxes
I am including a photo sent to me by an urgent enquirer asking if I thought the fox may have had something to do with her birds going off lay. There were other criteria to address but I'm very sure he didn't help matters at all. Here you see him having been shut in her poultry run.
Once again this year we are receiving increased reports of fox activities and Andy Marshall told me at the show that he has had his birds wiped out by the fox this year. Those who appreciate how long it takes to breed one's own winning and top-class poultry will have every sympathy with Andrew and unfortunately he is not alone. Because of this and in the hope for readers to pass on this information I have re-issued the article I wrote over two years ago. At the moment many find it difficult to argue the case for the fox to be brought back into balance so, hopefully those prepared to try the following will provide them with a little more ammunition.
Introduction
The following article has been written from the experience gained from my life in the countryside, farming with livestock and the experiences of an ex-gamekeeper who I had the good fortune to work under as an Agricultural Student at the beginning of the 1950s. I have tried to show no bias on his subject but just to point out the increasing dangers of rural and urban foxes. The former has played a part in every country person's way of life. The latter we have come to experience over the last two decades or more.
I have read many accounts by 'experts', most of which reflect little country knowledge and in some cases rely too much on meaningless statistics and journalist studies, which as we all know can and are distorted to suit the argument one way or another.
The fox, although in my mind correctly classified as vermin is, because of its looks and that of the cubs, in this day and age a very emotive subject. Having no natural predator and insufficient artificial control, apart from natural starvation and disease, its population growth outstrips all other wild life, and because of this, is causing the virtual annihilation of all ground-nesting birds as well as many important small mammals. With its introduction in places like Australia, some ground nesting birds have already become extinct while others are at an all time low.
The Rural Fox
Back in the 1950s the rural fox was very rarely seen during the hours of light being a nocturnal predator. Even so, it was estimated by gamekeepers at that time to have a higher population than the domestic dog. The dog fox normally runs with two to three vixen and, providing there is sufficient food available, will mate only with one vixen, the other one or two remaining barren. Up to 50% of the subsequent litter may die from starvation. In other words the amount of food available to some extent controls the rural fox population. Their diet includes rats, mice, voles, pheasants and the raiding of nests of ground-nesting birds. During the lambing season, lambs are a further attraction as are chicken that are not always shut up each night. With the continual shooting and trapping campaigns by professional gamekeepers and to some extent fox hunting, a certain amount of control has been achieved. The rural fox has been controlled, giving other natural species a chance to live and propagate.
David Bland's article is printed in full in the July 2009 issue of Feathered World
