Fox pics

Half-cocked

I've had a vixen coming into the garden at night and eating peanuts left out for ground feeding birds for a while now. I picked up a tiny web camera on a well known auction site for €12 and videoed her last night. The quality isn't great but it does allow a foxes eye view of my garden at night! She has an impressive set of teeth. Here's a few stills:

E39MSport

Beautiful.

UltimateMale

Where do you live ? I've heard it said foxes are becoming more and more common in urban areas as they can live out of bins etc and don't have to worry about hunters or farmers with shotguns ?

Half-cocked

UltimateMale wrote: »

Where do you live ? I've heard it said foxes are becoming more and more common in urban areas as they can live out of bins etc and don't have to worry about hunters or farmers with shotguns ?

I'm in Baldoyle. I see quite a lot of foxes in the area, often at dawn coming back up from the shore. I assume they are hunting roosting waders and ducks down there. They don't get much out of bins these days as everyone has wheelie bins that they can't get into. No hunters or farmers to worry about, but plenty end up dead on urban roads.

fryup

how late at night does she come??

Half-cocked

Any time between 9pm and midnight. I've spotted her at dawn a couple of times so I think she pays several visits each night.

recedite

Very good. Is there a USB lead trailing out to the camera outside?
I'm wondering if I can get a photo of whatever is living in a burrow 100 metres from my house, without spending too much money on high tech gear.

Half-cocked

Buy a little weatherproof day/night camera on ebay for under €25 from Hong Kong with free P&P - €12 for non weatherproof which you can make a little cover for yourself . The ones with between 6 and 20 infra red illuminators are fine for covering a small area in darkness. Get your leads on ebay too - you can buy a few 50 metre ones and attach them together with adapters or even the leads that connect your stereo seperates! That setup will plug into your TV. If you want to watch through a computer and record video or pics, you'll have to buy a USB video grabber with software, about €20. Another option is to buy a wireless setup (but avoid the really cheap ones, they have very little range) and dispense with leads completely. Fine so long as no one nearby has baby monitors etc that will interfere with the signal. Be careful, its addictive. I have 4 nestboxes wired, my shed for watching mice, a hedgehog box and the garden for the fox!

Everett

Great shots

Robin Wren

Very good result for 12 Euro

recedite

Half-cocked wrote: »

Buy a little weatherproof day/night camera on ebay for under €25

Thanks for that- there is a big selection alright. Do you mean something like this?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/30-LED-COLOUR-WEATHERPROOF-IR-DAY-NIGHT-CCTV-CAMERA-U_W0QQitemZ270446994958QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CCTV?hash=item3ef7e5a60e
I presume the LED's emit invisible infa red light, so as not to scare off the subject. Would this camera be on constantly or would it switch on only when triggered by movement in the vicinity?
It would be handy if the TV channel could be made to change over automatically whenever there was some movement detected.

magicbastarder

UltimateMale wrote: »

I've heard it said foxes are becoming more and more common in urban areas as they can live out of bins etc

i've heard something to the converse - that the introduction of wheelie bins has reduced the available food supply and that urban fox numbers have been hit as a result.

Half-cocked

recedite wrote: »

Thanks for that- there is a big selection alright. Do you mean something like this?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/30-LED-COLOUR-WEATHERPROOF-IR-DAY-NIGHT-CCTV-CAMERA-U_W0QQitemZ270446994958QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CCTV?hash=item3ef7e5a60e
I presume the LED's emit invisible infa red light, so as not to scare off the subject. Would this camera be on constantly or would it switch on only when triggered by movement in the vicinity?
It would be handy if the TV channel could be made to change over automatically whenever there was some movement detected.

That one will do fine. You have to leave it on all the time though, but they only use 9volts so it won't cost too much in electricity! I'm sure you can buy motion sensors for tripping a camera on and off but I haven't looked into them.

Brian

Saw this 'un a few weeks ago.

Guell72

cool pics

allthedoyles

Here is the motion sensor type camera

http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/motion-detection-wall-surveillance-dvr-14-inch-ccd-ir-light/

Morganna

brilliant pics

Wildlife_Photo

The season is just beginning for fox cubs to come out of the den for the first time. Does anyone know the location of any active fox dens where cubs might be observed?
I'm pretty exoerienced in wildlife photography but would love to spend some time observing brand new foxes, which is something i've never done.

If anyone has any info to share i'd be happy to share HQ prints of any pictures that come out of it.

It would probably be best to respond directly to my email address, as it might not be the kind of info you'd want to share publicly:

brian.carugo@gmail.com

Thanks a million to anyone that can help. I believe there's a window of only a couple of weeks wherein the cubs are too young to venture far from the den during the day, so quick replies especially appreciated.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Not to cast any doubt on the credentials of Wildlife Photo but please be careful when disclosing this kind of information, as there are many who seem to delight in destroying dens at this time of year. Just by sending an Email or PM you are not assured of the bona fides of a first time poster.

Sorry Wildlife Photo but if you are experienced in wildlife photography I'm surprised you are not aware of Foxes in your area already or don't have contacts who know. We just can't be too careful, as I'm sure you will appreciate.

Morganna

Seems a bit early for cubs to be coming out of the earth as many will only just have been born ?

Half-cocked

Our vixen has recently started carrying off meat left out for her, whereas she would have eaten it in the garden before. I assume she is taking it to cubs but it does seem far too early alright. Another possibility is that she is moving her food away from the neighbours tomcat who has started hanging around, despite getting zapped with the supersoaker every few days!

captain_boycott

recedite wrote: »

Very good. Is there a USB lead trailing out to the camera outside?
I'm wondering if I can get a photo of whatever is living in a burrow 100 metres from my house, without spending too much money on high tech gear.

afraid USB has max lenght of 5 Metres - see http://www.usb.org/about/faq/ans5

d'Oracle

I would say a good 60% of time I leave my house at night time I see Foxes running round the roads.

Thing is I live around Dun Laoghaire.
When I lived further out towards the country, I hardly ever saw them.

I tried getting pics, but I never have a camera on me.
They do some cool stuff too.

wildlifeboy

hello, i have access to a camerman and sound equipment and i am interested in making a mini documentry on foxes in fingal so i would also like info on an active fox den in the area. i can prove who i am and what i do for anyone with the relevant info so i would realy appreciate it. I have made short films with conservation volunteers fingal and Bird watch ireland but i want to make an independant production myself called Fingal Foxes. so please anyone out there pm me and i will prove the work i am doing. i am based in D15 but in all the searches i have yet to find an active den.

E39MSport

Strange coincidence wildlifeboy and wilflife_photo.

Wildlife_Photo

Annie Flat Limousine wrote: »

Not to cast any doubt on the credentials of Wildlife Photo but please be careful when disclosing this kind of information, as there are many who seem to delight in destroying dens at this time of year. Just by sending an Email or PM you are not assured of the bona fides of a first time poster.

Sorry Wildlife Photo but if you are experienced in wildlife photography I'm surprised you are not aware of Foxes in your area already or don't have contacts who know. We just can't be too careful, as I'm sure you will appreciate.

Of course if anyone who would be willing to share this information requires proof that my intentions are as expressed I'd be happy to provide this in any way I can. I would expect people to take every precaution regarding the safety and welfare of animals they care about, and I won't begrudge anyone their scepticism. I hope that anyone who can help will at least make initial contact, via email or otherwise, and we can take it from there.

Annie Flat Limousine, you are no doubt correct about folks who delight in destroying dens with cubs present. I am disgusted by all forms of cruelty, and part of my hope for my photography is that it will help people to appreciate the beauty and value of the natural world, and to empathise more with the wildlife in our country, thereby (hopefully) reducing both the proportion of people engaged in such practices, and the level of tolerance of the public for such behaviour.

E39MSport wrote: »

Strange coincidence wildlifeboy and wilflife_photo.

Oo-err, see what you mean. Both first time posters, registered on the same day, very sus. For the record I'm not wildlifeboy, and I've no idea who he is, and if I was going to perpetrate a dual-identity, I'd be a lot more subtle than that!
I took the name Wildlife_Photo because I wanted to get registered quick and for a specific purpose, and to get the message out there. The name Wildlife_Photo is pretty unambiguous, and can be taken as a declaration of intent. My real name is available from the email address above, and I put that out there because I'm genuine.

Please everyone keep the replies coming and let me know whats required etc. I'm very grateful for the replies and discussion so far.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Wildlife Boy, if you have made films with conservation volunteers Fingal then contact them. They are bound to be aware of Fox dens as there are plenty in Fingal.

Dusty87

Half-cocked wrote: »

Our vixen has recently started carrying off meat left out for her, whereas she would have eaten it in the garden before. I assume she is taking it to cubs but it does seem far too early alright. Another possibility is that she is moving her food away from the neighbours tomcat who has started hanging around, despite getting zapped with the supersoaker every few days!

Half-cocked, does the dog fox not bring food back to the den?? I read and always thought that he stays with the vixen until the cubs are reared and leaves food outside the den for them no??

Half-cocked

Dusty87 wrote: »

Half-cocked, does the dog fox not bring food back to the den?? I read and always thought that he stays with the vixen until the cubs are reared and leaves food outside the den for them no??

I've been reading up on fox behaviour and you are correct. I've just heard that it is normal for a fox to carry away a larger piece of food to eat elsewhere, so probably no cubs yet. Haven't seen the dog fox since January. Our vixen munched her way through a chicken carcass last night with a cat sitting watching less than 2 metres away!

Dusty87

Half-cocked wrote: »

Our vixen munched her way through a chicken carcass last night with a cat sitting watching less than 2 metres away!

Cat waiting for the left overs lol

gzoladz

I saw a small fox today in Herbert Park, near the pond. Just a little bit bigger than a cat and very similar to the one on the picture pasted by Baza2010.

It was very close to us but it could only see it for 2 secs before it run away.

Half-cocked

This fellow has started turning up in the garden, eats all the food so that our regular vixen is left with nothing! Now I'm having to do 2 servings per night. He's a very striking animal with all that white on his underparts.

Morganna

He is very handsome and striking