3 years ago

114

We first noted that the garden was overrun with fox cubs ( 5 of them)
when we returned from Thailand in April 2021.

This video was taken on the 20th of May through our kitchen back door.
They are feasting on Lidl dog food and were born under our neighbour's
shed which lies at the end of a 90ft overgrown garden.

We have rarely seen the parents and the only time I have definitely
seen them was 5 am when I got up early and saw two magnificent
beasts on the roof of a garage a few doors away. They looked
at me briefly and then left. As adults, they are rightly wary of
humans and steer a wide berth.

Cubs are suckled for around 4 weeks and progressively weaned
thereafter. My wife and I were delighted at this glorious sight but soon after they started fighting with each other and a pecking order was established.

Within a month there were only two cubs left in the garden who were named Ajax and Brillo by our neighbour Jackie after well known UK kitchen cleaning products!

Brillo was quite a sickly little fella who always seemed out of sorts and by the end of the summer he or she had also disappeared leaving only Ajax as “Queen of the Yard”.

City living is tough though. Wild red foxes generally live up to
9 years. However, on average, foxes only survive between 1 to 3
years. In 2010 a researcher gave annual mortality rates for juveniles in
urban areas of London as around 65%.

The most common cause of fox deaths is road accidents, particularly for males as they start exploring and disperse from a breeding site from August to December.

Facebook fan page : https://www.facebook.com/Ajax-the-Urban-Fox-106293988646500

Track: Waves
Music composed and recorded by Oak Studios
Creative Commons - Attribution ND 4.0
https://youtu.be/x03r4Hn8trk

London is the ultimate urban landscape when we look out of the window or take a walk down the street, these views can appear to be devoid of any natural life, with everything being artificial and man-made. But when we look again, with the right eyes, we can see that nature is actually here in abundance. and that includes one of nature's great survivors and adapters the urban #fox.

Here at Ajax the Friendly Urban Fox we are proud to support The Fox Project which is a registered charity dedicated to the Red Fox.

https://foxproject.org.uk/
Established in 1991 as a specialist Wildlife Information Bureau, Fox Deterrence Consultancy, it has incorporated a Wildlife Hospital since 1993 which, today, admits and treats over 1000 foxes per year, including 250 cubs. It appears regularly on TV, radio and other media, both in the UK and internationally, has received awards from RSPCA, International Fund for Animal Welfare, media and TV and is honoured to have Chris Packham and Anneka Svenska as Patrons.

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