Blooming foxes!

thanks f77ms I have some and once I found them they worked really well and I slept fine last night.

It's the smell from marking their territory that gets me.

tanith Just a small suggestion from a very light sleeper - I have tried every type of earplug there is but I have now found the silicone ones which you mould and press into your ear . They are slightly more expensive but really work and block out all noise . £4.00 ish for 10 and they are reusable .

Foxes are more or less at the top of the UK wild animal food chain. I would never agree with feeding or encouraging these animals. There are too many foxes invading places they should not naturally be in.

If their numbers are not checked they will increase to the point where their natural prey, small mammals,mice voles etc will decline and that will affect the whole food chain down the line.

We mess with these natural food chains at our peril, there is nothing to control the foxes. There are exmples of these mistakes over the developed world.

www.bbc.co.uk/nature/22093131 This is about the damage done on St Kilda when hedgehogs were introduced to control slugs and snails. It goes on all over the developed world. Our native Red Squirrel populations have been severely damaged by "alien species." The National Trust have to do a lot of work to keep the grey squirrels out of these areas.

The screaming is a seasonal thing, they are calling for a mate. They don't scream at their offspring, in fact they are remarkably quiet when they are not courting. In April the yougsters are just old enough to leave the den but not to support themselves. Aty first they don't go far, but play until their parents return. They bicker and squawk at each other, and they have a particular noise which greets parents returning to them with food after being away for a while. But very soon they learn (or pehaps it is built in) to be very quiet and melt into the background.

Only one in four of a litter survive to adulthood, so the numbers don't build up unless there is a lot of free food available - takeaway debris, handouts from well-meaning homeowners and so on. Cars account for a lot of casualties in September/October when the youngsters are leaving home to carve out their own territory in unfamiliar areas.

They start their own families in the New Year when they are 18 or 20 months old or so. Their first winter was spent just surviving and establishing a territory, and they may not survive it.

Oh yes the owls! we do have plenty of owl noise, especially in Autumn, although I quite like it, mainly tawny owls, with the odd barn owl screech.

My son in London has foxes around. I can't say that the noise bothers me at all. I've even learnt to ignore their neighbour's cock crowing in the mornings!

We ourselves live in the countryside, which has fewer animal sounds than my at my son's. Owls are the noisiest round here, especially when they sit on the chimney and hoot down into the fireplace!

Once I am asleep I would not hear them but hearing a slight whimper from my cat would waken me up.

Strange how the problem is bigger in urban areas rather than for those in the country.
I rarely see a fox, and never hear them screaming , although when I used to live in Ilford could hardly sleep some nights for the unearthly racket!

the problem with foxes is that nothing predates on them. If they have one litter of four a year, you can see how the density builds up. Then only disease and starvation culls. Not healthy. They have moved into towns because the amount of discarded food etc means its an easier life - but this is unsustainable long term.

I have no problem with sharing territory and love it when on our evening walk we often share the pavement with a beautiful fox or two its just the screaming all night long that's so intrusive. In a few months time the vixens will be out on the prowl with several youngsters in tow showing them round the neighbourhood.

Where did I put those earplugs?

Sorry this is about foxes - forget my last post

Trump?

Sometimes other species are inconvenient to have around, so we would like to eliminate them. Same with other people - sometimes they are inconvenient, perhaps we could eliminate them too? Build an eight-foot wall around our territory and let those outside it go hang?

Hmmm - I wonder whether we are inconvenient to other people? Other species? Do we ever wonder what it would be like if we were the ones without the power to eliminate or exclude others to order?

Yes elegran we seem to forget that we share this planet, although we do seem to want more than our fair share.

The noise will be over soon, once they have their mates and settle down to domestic bliss "the deep peace of the double bed after the hurly burly of the chaise longue" - Mrs Patrick Campbell on marriage.

When houses for humans were built over their territory, I wonder whether the foxes got together to discuss the bothersome noise, smell and danger of all those lethal cars that were killing their offspring?

I'm on the edge of countryside so we get foxes and deer regularly in the garden as well as the usual hedgehogs ,squirrels and rabbits etc .I haven' t a problem with any of them ,,in fact when a neighbour asked for a loan of a shotgun to kill the squirrels I was hopping mad .The kids all love watching the wildlife ...well I do to.

My fellow London grans ..... I'm feeling your pain at the late night screaming

I don't mind the cacophony ... part of city living!

Just watched a programme which included footage of the Artic fox - what a glorious animal.

We are plagued by foxes in southwest London and our garden is one of their mating places. Last year, Dh's shed served as a maternity unit. They certainly like it here and I cannot stand them!

The foxes that were here have obviously moved to your area as there is more greenery for them. I am not sure what you can do, I doubt if the council will help.