Fox screaming

[Robinia]

This morning at 2.50 precisely I was woken up (grrr) by a very noisy fox in the street.  After 20 mins of getting in & out of bed I did finally spot it coming through my neighbours hedge so I flung the window open & told it to b*gger off - which it did!  Well so would you if you met me in a bad mood at that hour!! Isn't it a bit early though for all this noise, I thought they only screamed at mating time during the winter?Or is it some kind of fox-factor competition going on?  I hope they don't intend to have round two tonight!

[Cetti]

Poor you!  You're not having much sleep lately are you Robby, what with the birdies - and now foxes?

I think you may have to invest in some earplugs as they are now getting their territory sorted out before the mating rituals begin. Isn't the sound of the screaming vixen the most bloodcurdling sound you ever heard. I think it's something you can never ever get used to. Terrible!

[woofgang]

that and peacocks

[Robinia]

Thanks both!

You're right Cetti the wildlife around here has no respect for a grumpy's beauty sleep! If this is the din before they start mating I'm really looking forward to the winter.  I did manage an entire night sleep last night  - oh apart that is, from the milkman who likes to rearrange his crates on my front at about 4am. 
I agree too woofgang about the peacocks. Many years ago I used to stay at weekends with my fiancee's family & their neighbour kept peacocks.  The first time I heard them calling at dawn it scared the life out of me!

[Robinia]

Ughh! my little dog has just ambled in from the garden & his face reeks of fox!! 
Noisy, smelly, poo everywhere. Someone remind me, why exactly do we love the wildlife??

[kaktus]

Robinia that reminds me of a fox who used to live just outside my parents garden. My mum had been told by someone that if she gave the fox scraps of meat she wouldn't (the fox not my mum) take the rabbits and hens. It worked a treat and it was very lovely when she had small cubs and came to visit. BUT one of our dogs had dug a hole in garden he could lie in when it was hot and the fox felt the need to pee in this hole every night after dinner, of course then Silas (the dog) had to pee in before he could lie down...

I hope your fox problems are over soon!

Sweet dreams x

[shaneystar]

When we were in London we had a flood meadow near our house in Wimbledon and it was a foxes paradise. I know you shouldn't feed them but my neighbour did and they actually used to hang around and wait for him! They used to make the most dreadful noise at this time of the year.Since we moved to Norfolk I have not seen or heard one fox.Which is strange considering we don't live in an urban area anymore.Here is one of our urban foxes..you can just about see him under the trees
http://tinypic.com/dwezx0.jpg

[Robinia]

Thanks both!

I've probably mentioned this before ( it's me age ya know!!) but I was woken (again) a couple of weeks ago by someone crunching around on  the gravel in my front garden.  So I plucked up courage to deal with the would be intruder & opened the widow to see two foxes chasing each other round & round!!

That's a lovely picture shaneystar -  wonder if he  knew he'd become an AB feature?

[shaneystar]

He was affectionately known as Mr.Foxy and would be there every evening waiting for my neighbour to come out of his back gate with the goodies!! What was amusing, was..that he seemed to be able to judge the exact time!!

[Robinia]

I suppose their body clocks are even more finely tuned than ours.  And they don't have the internet to distract them!! I can't get away from the comp/telephone today!!

A friend of mine had a vixen visit his garden & when she had cubs she brought them as if to show them off - they stood & posed for a picture too!

[Robinia]

Hi IAP!
It sounds as though you live in a lovely place & I can easily believe people mistaking the fox cries for human ones. 

 I wonder though, whether your local wildlife has recovered from being visited by the untamed neti!!

 

[brooklyn77]

Surely a Foxes scream can not be as blood curdling as two domestic cats going at each other hammer and tongs can it??

[Cetti]

Oh yes it can brooklyn!

If you had ever been roused from sleep by a sound so unearthly that you expected to see at least a pile of mutilated bodies left under your window - you would know it wasn't cats. Pretty tame by comparison.

[Robinia]

Very true Cetti.
Most of the cats in this area have bells now - their owners are probably fed up of them arriving home with my garden birds.  More than one & they sound like Skegness donkeys!