The Iberian Magpie Feeding Area has been having some visitors overnight, identified by droppings left. I believe that a Badger is coming and possibly a Genet. Therefore, I now leave a trail cam running to see what comes along for a free small snack.
Last night a Fox, a healthy looking one, came along. The video is just some quick snippets as it was there for a long time, the camera picked up its arrival at 3:01am and it left at 3:47am!
{Remember to watch in HD if possible}I’ve not been monitoring the (Rural) Foxes we have in the garden as much as I did this time last year, however, last night I set the Bushnell Natureview up in the garden.
We occasionally leave out some food scraps (no cooked bones!) and sometimes some treats, but not enough for them to rely on us for food.
Foxes will collect and store food that they don’t eat in food caches but the “Cramming” we are seeing is exactly what happened this time last year. As you can see on the footage, the Fox crams as much food in it’s mouth in one go and carries it off. I think it’s because it’s taking it back to the Den to feed the Vixen who is babysitting her newborn. The food could even be for the young if they are already old enough.
A few weeks after this happened last year, and the Vixen made an appearance in the garden with a single cub.
This repeated behaviour is hopefully a sign that the Vixen has given birth again.
{Remember to watch in HD if possible}
At first, the Fox was a bit scared but it was due to the drone flying at full speed so was quite noisy, so after slowing right down it didn’t seem that bothered that I was following it around.
As the video progresses, I get a bit closer with a great tracking shot near the end.
Early days and I’ve a lot to learn with both flying and capturing footage, but looking forward to more photos and videos from this great piece of equipment.
[youtube-HD]Typical, she’s been coming just after 9pm for the last few nights whilst it’s still quite light. So I set-up a hide in preparation and waited and waited and waited, then it went dark, and I waited.
Just in case this happened, I put the flood lights on ready. Plus, I wanted the lights to give her that all important sparkle in her eye even if it was still light.
She turned up around 10:10pm so hardly any usable light left, but you can just about see some blue sky tint in her eyes.
{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}
It’s not a simple answer! I don’t know. He only showed up for a fraction of a second before running off. The one thing that really identified the Male was that his tail was very short and busy. As he didn’t come into the shot fully, I can’t make out his tail. He has quite a thick coat which the Male certainly did.
However, as you can see from the photos, they are 2 different Foxes, the 2nd photo is the Vixen. These two shots were only 30 seconds apart too, so they were together, which is unusual for Foxes.
It’s too big to be one of the young, so I can only hope this is finally proof that the Male is around and well.
Here is the 2nd photo I managed on Saturday night. I cropped in tight due to the fact that she was slightly too close for me to fit her into the frame.
As I type this she is currently darting around the garden, not quite sure why as she usually just eats the food and runs away. I look forward to getting more photos soon.
{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}