For anyone who follows my Twitter feeds, you will have heard how I had a scare at the weekend, when a neighbour saw a guy out in the fields behind our houses with a shot gun. On speaking to him, he said he was out shooting foxes. As you can imagine, when she told me this, my heart froze. The field she saw him in, is only two fields away from where I believe my fox earth is. My neighbour saw my reaction as soon as she had told me and then said she wished she hadn’t told me. In a way, I wish she hadn’t as well!
I have built up a special bond with these wild neighbours. From first tempting them closer to the house with my feeding station, to watching Fern and realising she was feeding, to then being treated to the ultimate of special moments… to her bringing her cubs to the field and allowing me to photograph and film them, I have watched this family just about every night since March. I have watched the cubs grow from tiny, nervous, dependant youngsters to confident, healthy and thriving young adults and I am still terrified that all this could be gone in one pull of a trigger.
I watched with great anxiety that first night, but thankfully, I think all five are still around. My fear that this will not always be the case will not leave me now though as I am sure this guy will be out again at some point. I just hope my fox family are wise enough to stay well away. We can only hope. I can not control what a local land owner does on his own land and if he considers them to be a pest, then my love of them will not change that.
I will just have to be even more thankful each time these beautiful creatures come and share a little of their lives with me. Here are a few screen shots from the last few nights…..
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