On the day that they banned fox hunting, we had our first experience with a fox. It took four ducks, left two dead and we had three injured. Two of the injured ones had neck wounds. It was very upsetting as we know that runner ducks can’t fly so they would have been literally sitting ducks. Poor things, it was the last group that we had as they took to wandering further afield. We’ve not had to worry before as there aren’t any foxes around – but one appears to have arrived. The chickens put themselves to bed so they are locked away at night – but during the summer when it wasn’t dark for long, they were often not shut away. The ducks have been left to themselves but that will have to change now, we will also need to be aware with other birds and animals. Little Sheep is brooding again in the barn, we were going to move her but I think she will be OK there as there are plenty of goats around. We also have a Rhode Island Red that is going else where to sleep, we just have to hope that she is going to be wise enough to steer clear of any fox. We did move the hen that is outside with two chicks as we thought that she was a bit vunerable.
Its a very horrible thought – particulary as we need to think about what we are going to do about the fox. We know we can’t all live in harmony.
We have rung Debby who keeps her sheep on our land about getting in touch with a game keeper. We don’t want to kill the fox of course, but on the other hand we need to think of our animals both now and next year when the young lambs and kids come, so it is better to get this one removed now before we get a bigger problem. This will be done by shooting, and the game keeper will use something called a squeeker to call the fox and then kill it quickly.
Our view of country life is changing and our eyes are increasingly open. I never thought that I would be trapping mice – let alone getting a game keeper to sort out a fox.