Odd Fox Behaviour ?

Muineach

hya's,
You may have noticed that I've posted some pictures of fox's here before. I've been observing his behaviour, most of it can be explained and easily understood, but some of it I can't see a reason why, so here goes:

1) Digging for Bulbs
Every night he digs holes all over the garden, they look like the size a dog might do to store food, this is fine, I understand it, but he's started to dig up daffodil and lilly bulbs, then transporting them to another part of the garden ?
If he's rooting for slugs etc. why would he move the bulbs ? he doesn't eat them just moves them. And no we haven't used bonemeal in the garden for over 10 years, it's just strange.

2) Eating strawberries
I caught him doing this once, of course no camera, he went around all the strawberry plants (5-10) sniffed all of them, I expected him to be looking for slugs/snails etc., but no, his snout went into a bush and picked out the biggest and ripest strawberry, he could barely fit it into his mouth, then chewed down, gone in 2 bites. Since then I've noticed that some strawberries are knocked to the ground and any ripe ones that I didn't pick suddenly disappear. I didn't think of fox's being a fruit eater ?

3) Climbing
The last photo on the PT2 thread has him on a wall. He also likes to climb higher, onto the roof of the shed, and sits there, he sat up there for about 20 minutes one night. Any ideas ? there are no bird nests near the shed.




Previous Posts
PT 1 http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055134080
PT 2 http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055137725

I've a set of 49 photo's of the fox on Flickr, if your interested.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Regarding the Strawberries: Foxes are very fond of fruit when it is available and will eat Blackberries and Elderberries in season. Nothing unusal that they will take advantage of a ready supply of strawberries.
Climbing to a vantage point is also quite common. This may only be a mound behind the den or a nearby rock but it gives a clear view of the area and alerts the fox to danger, or available prey, earlier than if it were at ground level.

As for the bulbs: This is a guess- but I suspect that they smell better than they taste and it's taking a while for the message to sink in.

Muineach

Thanks Srameen, just seemed a bit odd to me, btw he was caught once in our greenhouse, he had jumped up onto the bench and was munching on ripe tomatoes, cheeky

Red Hand

Foxes are contrary at the best of times.;)

Muineach

He's definitely an odd one, this morning I went out to my work shed at about 11am, next thing out he pop's onto the lawn. So I sat down on a bench and just relaxed while having a cigarette, watching him, he decides to come within about 7 feet from me, then lies down on the ground with his head between his front paws, looking straight at me.

It was sunny at that stage so he proceeded to warm himself up in the sun and was actually dozing off in the sun, I couldn't believe that a fox would come so close and be so relaxed to doze off in the sun, his eyes shut and all. Of course I presume he was listening to every sound that was happening.

So we just sat there for about 45 min, enjoying the sun, I know some people say you should never look a wild animal in the eye, not sure where that comes from, but he doesn't mind it at all, in fact I think he prefers it. Then I had things to do so I went into the shed, he came up closer and started to look at the buckets, they were all empty (normally full of rain water), so I was thinking is he trying to say he wants a drink ?

So I filled up a bucket with water and left it out for him, no go, I filled my bottle of water from the same tap, drank some of it and spilt some of it, he got interested, then I went over to the bucket and emptied my water into the bucket, then retreated to the bench. Within a minute he was over sniffing the bucket and then started to drink from it. He looked quite happy after the water

He's still surprising me with some of his behaviour, he's definitely a smart one.

Hendrix89

Really nice pics. It really makes you think about what kinda people can chase these defenceless creatures down and set a pack of dogs on them for a bit of fun and a laugh...

I wish I had a fox in my garden. Even on and off. It's very well suited to them, but I have a dog so I can imagine thats why there's been no sign of any:(

BryanL

to think a fox is defenceless is to miss out on much of what the fox is, a survivor.to try and get closer to one in the country when you have to worry about making noise or your scent being carried forward on a breeze.........well then you might see some of it's defences.
the biggest threat to any fox are cars,60% being killed by october in their first year.somehow though people never worry about driving about just worry about a few people making a tiny dent in the population by hunting.
the beauty of foxes are not merely aesthetics
Bryan

gerky

The difference between a car and gun are most drivers don't purposely kill the fox with their car.
And I'm not sure your the best to be talking about the beauty of foxes how many have you shot in the last couple of years?

BryanL

would the intention make a difference to a fox?
i've never shot a fox myself but don't dismiss it out of hand.It's obviously a way to control rogue foxes and protect ground nesting birds,like the grey partridge.
can you spot the fox in this picture?
Bryan

Muineach

under the pedals of the bike ?

BryanL

good hunting there muineach:D
my sister had never seen a fox in here life and i saw this from her kitchen window.it was there all day only moving to stay where the sun was.
would be a good jigsaw i think!
i should have put up a real testing one
Bryan

Muineach

they do love to sit in the sun, once you've seen "hiding" then you know what to watch out for

gerky

Sorry Muineach for jumping on your thread my own reasons but just to change that question to BryanL If I said killed or hunted instead of shot would your answer be the same,Again sorry for jumping on your thread here.

Anyway back on topic Anymore strange behavior to report Muineach,

A few years back a vixen came to our place most evenings picking up bits and pieces of leftover hen food and stuff like that ,
one evening I was walking up through the yard and spotted her in the shed where there was a few half loafs of bread and other scraps for the hens.
Turned out some of use forgot to put the lid on the container and when she heard me she legged it with one of the half empty loafs.

And we seen her eating wild strawberry's out of the ditch a few times.

BryanL

what are you so worried about Gerky? a closed mind like yours must be easily filled.do you think a fisherman knows nothing of fish?do you think they have nothing to teach.
Muineach in answer to your questions above,
foxes are fairly hard pressed for food this time of year the populations are at their highest so there is alot of competition for whats available.the majority of what foxes are eating at the minute will be black berries,their scats are almost pure purple and filled with seeds.
with the bulbs,earthworms make up alot of their diet also and when they dig down and find bulbs they have to move them because they can no longer smell worms when a bulb has been disturbed.
sitting on a roof lets them soak up the last of the days heat,keeps their scent off the ground and keeps them safe from dogs etc.
Bryan

gerky

I didn't say you know about foxes,I don't appreciate being called closed minded you don't know me.
I notice you didn't answer my question funny that.

Anyway this isn't the place for us to throw back and forth petty insults for starters its not even either of our threads.
Sorry Muineach.