Suffolk Natural History,
Vol.
Our house in north Ipswich is currently within 800 metres of open countryside. Nearby habitats include the old cemetery, Christchurch Park and The Spinney, which runs behind back gardens from Westerfield Road right through to Tuddenham Road. This acts as a green corridor as does the nearby railway line from Ipswich to Felixstowe. The wildlife potential is enhanced by all nearby properties being detached and mainly having large and mature gardens. We had for many years been conscious of fox activity nearby and on 28 April 2020 my wife Marie saw one from our front landing at 11.30 pm, on the other side of Westerfield Road. This was during a Covid19 lockdown. Our neighbour across the road, at number 95, had already informed us of foxes visiting their garden and a week after Marie’s sighting my nature diary read as follows:
5 May 2020: In the seventh week of lockdown, we returned with shopping about 1.15 pm and while Marie sorted out the food in our hall I went through to the kitchen to wash my hands and make us a drink. Looking up I saw a fox halfway down the garden, near our plum tree. I quickly called Marie who said ‘Oh my gosh’ three times and then took sequences of photos, including some with her large zoom camera. Our close focus binoculars were also well used during the two hours and twenty minutes we watched it, with male Orange Tip and Holly Blue butterflies passing by, plus our first two damselflies of the year, Large Red, on the edge of our pond. The fox patrolled virtually all of the back garden except for two narrow side passages- probably fear of being cornered. Marie stood on a stool to take photos but, though it looked our way many times, there was no sign of alarm as we kept our movements to a slow minimum, and it was ages before I could make a drink. Our long observation was helped by no perceptible noise from either side or the back of our garden, all having noisy children. The experience was also enriched by the play of sun and shadow as the fox moved around with the light polishing its nose and reflected in the bright eyes. It patrolled the lawn, occasionally digging for something edible and drank with a delicate licking from several water bowls and even from our pond, walking along the edging slabs and investigating the small frog sculpture, making this our closest view. Fortunately, I had filled these water bowls before we went out. Several times it lay flat out like an old rug, seemingly dozing but with ears still twitching, very hairy and dark tipped. It often yawned, exposing sharp white teeth and a bright red tongue, adopting many contorted positions to roll, scratch and groom, presumably to rid itself of fleas or other irritants. The body was from the head the normal ruddy brown but fusing into grey, including the long tail with a white patch where it began, on the right, and a short white tip. It finally went to the back of our garden and jumped over the fence, possibly using a nearby tree stump as a launching pad. However, it then returned and finally left for a second time, with a seemingly easy fence jump. It used several of our garden paths and what appeared to be urinating turned out to be a pile of faeces. At no time did it move quickly and raised its body from the rear haunches with a slow and fluid movement.
Vixen and water bowl, the back garden at 112, Westerfield Road.
Vixen stretched out on the back lawn at 112 Westerfield Road.
In addition to being able to comfortably leap over fences this vixen was also able to use a dug-out hole under the boundary fence between our property and number 110. The fence at the bottom of our garden belongs to our neighbour, who keeps part of his garden wild. This fence is somewhat dilapidated but of no concern to us as we have planted a Pyracantha hedge in front of it. However, I took advantage of a loose fence panel to nail it back at an angle, creating a gap big enough for a fox or hedgehog to get through. Wildlife can also use our side passage, squeezing under a locked wrought iron gate to get to our front drive and out to Westerfield Road. From 6 to 25 May there were back garden sightings on fourteen out of twenty days. In addition to the behaviour already described a pestering Magpie was chased and the fox had a long drinking session from our small pond, which is close to the kitchen window, during what was a dry spell of weather. It was seen to sit down on Marjoram and Queen Fabiola plants, flattening the latter, and made many tight circular scenting routes around our lawn, possibly digging for walnuts from a nearby tree, hidden by grey squirrels. Digging wasn’t easy during this dry spell and on 25 May the vixen swung her whole body round in a circle, to increase the force for her digging. On several occasions she also pulled herself forward on the lawn while in a sitting position, so her rear end was rubbing along the grass, possibly to get rid of some body irritants. On 16 May the combination of nearby hedge strimming, loud knocking and excited children sent her away, but she quickly returned when it was quiet. On 25 May, close to her house, she held a potential springing pose for some time with just her ears twitching but she didn’t pounce. We had Bank Voles, Fieldmice and nesting birds close by. During this time there was just one alarmed departure. On 9 May there was a loud noise from one end of our back hedge, and she must have run unseen all the way along it before scrambling over the fence.
We became aware, towards the end of this period, that our back garden observations were getting shorter and later in the day. For the rest of this study our sightings were mainly from the landing upstairs at the front of our house, usually from 10.20 pm onwards for about an hour, sometimes later if there was continued activity. Our viewing was assisted by a tall street light close to our front wall and another
nearer the Valley Road roundabout. Our neighbours at number 95 across the road had two active security lights for much of this study, often giving warning of approaching foxes. The foxes came and went from our back garden, from nearby Borrowdale Avenue and The Spinney, from 110’s front drive, from the extensive ‘dry pond’ stretching from Westerfield Road to the frontage of houses in Bildeston Gardens and from the adjoining substation and 95’s front drive. The pavement along Westerfield Road has a low wooden fence to separate it from the nearby houses, ‘dry pond’ and substation but foxes can easily get through it. Unusually the substation is not securely sealed, allowing access to and from nearby houses.
As a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic we were able to watch every night and the main observations are diary summaries between July 2020 and September 2021.These were largely from our landing and and occasionally include small food offerings, usually just apple cores and bread crusts, with no wish to habituate.
8 July: After rain a fox crossed the road into our front drive and hunted through Winter Honeysuckle and Mexican Orange Blossom. In the middle of our front drive, it stopped and looked directly at us. We had no lights on, but it could have detected reflections from our glasses or a sudden movement. What must the smell of Mexican Orange Blossom be to a hunting fox, at night and after rain? It was a good time to be hunting for emerging slugs, snails and worms.
14 July: Tonight, a fox definitely stopped and looked towards me when I called Marie even though we have double glazing. So far unpredictability has been evident, compared to the regular routines of passing joggers and dog walkers, while an elderly man with a rucksack always crosses the road at the same place. All the apple pieces left out were taken, except for one which I assumed had been overlooked. In the morning Marie found it was the only pepper slice.
21 July: Another fox was seen today, from a bus at the junction of Felixstowe Road and St. John’s Road, Ipswich, at 9.50 am. I saw it cross the road, stop halfway over then head for a nearby fence with woodland behind it, squeezing through a gap in the fence. This wasn’t difficult as it was the most emaciated fox I have ever seen, little more than skin and bones. None of the foxes we have seen so far have looked
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 57 (2021)
emaciated even though none have been carrying prey. Many of their scats have ended up in the water bowls but I managed to dissect one. It contained a few unidentified berries and no bones.
29 July: Although few moths have been attracted to the streetlight a large bat was hunting for the whole of my watch.
15 August: Our neighbour came round to collect a parcel and the conversation turned to the wildlife he and his family had recently seen on a holiday at Center Parcs. Then without any prompting from me he mentioned foxes in their garden and how ‘flipflops’ left out overnight had been damaged, garden furniture had been nibbled and there was evidence of digging in the lawn. He then added that they were happy to tolerate such activities of visiting wildlife. This was a considerable relief since we deliberately had not mentioned the foxes to our neighbours as they both have small children and, in such circumstances, foxes are not always welcome. Our other neighbour sometimes works late at night in their downstairs front room, with the light on and curtains open. Foxes pass close by but we don’t know if he has seen them.
20 August: Our two seats on the landing face directly across the road towards the substation, which is about thirty metres away. Only the road end of it is illuminated by the tall streetlight and the far end is in darkness. A fox passing through, towards us, is initially an amorphous presence, sometimes confused with the frequent black and white cat. Its form becomes clearer as it moves towards the road but sometimes passes through vegetation into 95’s front drive or in the other direction heads down a slope into the ‘dry pond’. Tonight, one was seen at 11.35 pm and unusually it stopped in the middle of the road. I thought it might be investigating some roadkill, but it turned out to be a glistening chocolate wrapper. Some dogs can get very ill eating chocolate, but does this apply to an omnivorous fox? It stayed long enough for the prominent white rump to be seen and it definitely had no tail. Reg Snook, who lives about six hundred metres away in Manor Road, told me a fox with no tail had been in his garden about two months ago. He added that someone close by had a fox den under their shed and fed them regularly. This is now the third fox we have seen.
3 September: The black and white cat has, so far, never been seen making any contact with a fox and appears to keep well clear. I had just written ‘no lights on, no foxes, no people passing’ when 95’s security light went on just as a cyclist went past. We waited and Marie saw it come out of the drive and over the road at an angle. It definitely had a tail, but we lost it behind our tall front vegetation but within five minutes it was back. The fox then investigated an object on the pavement across the road but not for long as it wasn’t food. For once it paused long enough for us to see its whole length in silhouette. Then it returned to the road end of our front drive and shortly afterwards a well illuminated jogger approached. The fox had a quick decision to make- back further into our drive or quickly across the road. It chose the latter and ran quickly into 95’s drive. The jogger saw it as he looked momentarily to follow its flight.
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 57 (2021)
21 September: This was our first observation of two different foxes on the same night, one with no tail and the second with a tail at 11.30 pm.
29 September: Hundreds of lorries, many nose to tail in long lines, passed along Valley Road, obviously diverted for some reason from their normal Orwell Bridge route. Their noisy articulated clanking was evident at the roundabout, and we could hear it behind double glazing at about a distance of eighty metres. It must be particularly distressing for residents close to the roundabout, trying to sleep. We assumed there would be no fox sightings but the fox with no tail appeared at 11.50 pm and headed along the pavement towards Valley Road. It quickly retreated when another lorry came and actually ran through vegetation instead of accessing 95’s drive in the normal way. Then it returned and again headed towards Valley Road, despite the lorry noise. it was last seen as it turned the pavement corner and was out of sight.
8 October: Using binoculars I was able to see tufts of hair around the white rump of the fox with no tail - either vestiges of a former tail or new growth. It paused by our manhole cover on the front drive and turned round to retrace its steps along our side passage. Almost certainly, with hearing finely attuned to its surroundings, it heard me call out ‘Front drive, manhole cover’ to Marie.
15 October: A new fox was seen tonight, somewhat smaller than the others seen and with a thinner tail, one section being like a rod or poker.
4 November: The regular dog walker, unlike many others, lets his dog stop to investigate interesting smells. Tonight, it stopped at the same spot where a fox had passed earlier.
22 December: I was hoovering late at night, in preparation for Christmas, so didn’t hear Marie calling me. Both of 95’s front security lights came on and a fox crossed over and into our front drive. By then I had been alerted but the front room downstairs light was still on, and the curtains drawn, except fortunately for the side window. I just saw a flash of white as it stopped, looked my way, and then went under the side gate. I was scarcely a yard away, though separated by a wall and window.
12 January 2021: Roadworks paraphernalia was leaned against the substation fence today, plus two small traffic lights on the pavements. However, it had gone today and at 10.20 pm a much larger fox with a very full and well-developed tail was seen exploring along the grass across the road, close to a bus stop. It was investigating what I later found to be a Fanta bottle, Red Bull tin and Vodka bottle. Fortunately, all were empty.
14 January: At 11 pm a fox with a tail, after some indecisive movements, ended up in the middle of the road and then went into 95’s front drive. It stopped long enough for Marie to see the white blaze on its chest and white under its rapidly moving ears. To our surprise it then moved right up to the Valley Road roundabout and crossed over the central planted circle. This was despite the close proximity of a delivery van. We had previously seen foxes close to the roundabout but this was the first one to cross it directly.
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 57 (2021)
21 January: The familiar white cat squeezed under our side gate but unusually returned five minutes later. As expected, a fox came out from the side passage not long afterwards. As already stated, we have seen no fox and cat interaction.
22 January: At 11.12 pm two foxes came out together from 110’s front drive, quickly crossed the road and went into 95’s front drive. This was our first sight of two foxes very close together, one with a white tip to its tail being closely pursued by a second fox. As it was the mating season, we assumed the fox in front was either a vixen on heat or a rival male being chased away. Given the low light, darkness and mainly quick views we have found it almost impossible to determine their sex. To complete our watch a third and different fox was briefly seen at 11.30 pm.
26 January: at 12.45 am a brief sharp fox call was heard from our back garden. I got up and looked out onto a moonlit and frosted lawn but saw nothing.
1 February: Marie found a chicken and bacon slice wrapper under a back garden tree and with a strong smell of fox.
7 February: Snow had fallen with a fox coming out of 95’s front drive. It paused, then crossed the road into our drive and then along the side passage. This was the fox with a thin tail, slightly wider at the tip. It went along our side passage and in doing so disturbed a roosting bird which flew up-by its size it was probably a Blackbird. At 11.20 pm I went out to our back garden with a torch and saw prints heading for both the side fence hole and back fence gap. The fox using our side passage had ignored our neighbour’s bright lights in their downstairs front room and kitchen.
View from the landing of 112 Westerfield Road on 7 February 2021, looking across to 95’s front drive with the substation hidden in darkness to the left.
9 February: A big fox, with a white ring at the top of its tail, ambled across the far end of our lawn at 1.30 pm. It headed towards the corner where there is a Wayfaring tree but I could find no prints in the melting snow.
20 February: Diverted lorries had been a problem again but on this day of the week, a Saturday, there were very few. I was initially confused at 11.20 pm by an animal seemingly without a tail which passed the front of our drive. It wasn’t a fox shape and I soon realised it was a Muntjac, which usually holds its tail tight against the body. When alarmed the tail is raised prominently, with white hairs fanning out on its underside. It had probably come from the nearby Spinney and was heading for open countryside beyond Valley Road. The wasteland beyond Picton Avenue is only about three hundred metres away and Muntjac have been recorded there and in The Spinney.
R. Stewart6 March: It wasn’t a coincidence that there were four sightings, with not one lorry seen or heard during the forty-five-minute watch. At least three separate foxes were seen and one with a darker tail had a significant limp on its left front paw.
13 March: The fox with a limp was seen tonight but with not such a pronounced injury as a week ago.
16 March: At 10.43 pm a fox with a dark tail came out of the substation’s blackness and into the light. It stopped long enough for a rare opportunity, through binoculars, to study its full-length profile.
20 March: There were three sightings of two different foxes, the one with a limp that was more obvious sideways on as it hunted. The fox with no tail also appeared, more than three months since its last appearance, though that comment is restricted to our very limited time watches.
25 March: There were three different foxes tonight and two of these were running fast past our drive, only about five yards apart. We could see no reason for their alarm but noted that the third fox was running smoothly, with just a slight indication of its limp.
26 March: At 10.15 pm two foxes went into the increasing gap between our front garden Winter Honeysuckle and a tall Laurel. Only one emerged, first just head and shoulders then the rest of its body. It headed for the side passage. We didn’t see the other one again, but it may have moved further under the Laurel then crossed over to the side gate, unseen by us because of our sloping lower front roof.
17 April: Tonight, a fox was again camouflaged within the long shadow cast by one of our front drive pillars, close to the pavement. However, this time it was in a leaping position and was obviously aware of some prey within the vegetation around the pillar. Before it could leap an obviously alert Robin flew out and landed safely on our boundary fence, about ten metres away.
27 April: Marie found a bag of used tea bags, untouched, and a mackerel and sunflower tin lid near one of our apple trees. Nearby was the rest of the tin, mackerel in sunflower oil. It had been licked dry, despite sharp edges.
1 May: Tonight, a fox with a well-developed tail was searching under our neighbour’s bird feeders but made no attempt to leap up and possibly dislodge some food. We have noticed no attempts to explore dustbins left out for collection though a fox must be aware of smells from within.
5 May: To our surprise a younger fox appeared on our back patio, heading for the side passage. This was at 7.45 pm when it was still light. It stopped and went back to the lawn, possibly alarmed by the television light. Unfortunately, I got up to see where it had gone just as it decided to return, leading to another retreat and no more attempts.
13 May: Marie, looking out of our kitchen window, saw a fox at 9.05pm, in semidarkness. It was moving across the lawn and so they possibly emerge at an earlier hour before our watch begins. It was a good night for hunting as it was raining, which would have brought out snails, slugs and earthworms.
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15 May: At 10.45 pm a much smaller animal crossed the road and went down our side passage. This was the first Hedgehog seen in our garden for nearly fourteen years.
27 May: I put a few pieces of apple and bread crusts at the road end of the substation. A fox with a white tip to its tail and a white patch at the other end of the tail made five feeding attempts but approaching cars sent it back several times. I went out to check at 11 pm and found some apple pieces left but all the bread gone. I timed the maximum feeding time without alarm as just fifty seconds.
2 June: Tonight was a back garden watch with a few bread crusts and apple cores carefully placed to be just at the edge of the illumination cast by our back light. For forty-five minutes nothing happened so I went up to the landing but returned when Marie called out that a fox was eating the food. Initially the black and white cat was sitting nearby at the edge of our pond, but then moved away, probably aware of an approaching fox. With binoculars I had close head on views including drinking from the pond. It then disappeared towards our side entrance and next morning I found just a few apple pieces had been left.
23 June: The fox with a thin tail followed the same route for three consecutive days, the first routine we have observed but at different times, on the first night 10.25 pm then 11.11 pm and finally 10.59 pm.
5 July: There was a difficult single sighting tonight, making us aware of how alert you need to be when a fox runs low to the ground along a grey pavement which is only partially illuminated.
21 July: For the last few hot nights two of our landing windows have been open during watches, making us aware of the noisy world a fox inhabits. These noises were almost completely from cars, lorries and vans, including late night online food deliveries.
27 July: The Hedgehog came again, this time crossing our front drive and then hesitantly moving across the road, thankfully with no traffic coming. It quickly disappeared into deep vegetation just inside the substation. Almost immediately the fox with no tail raced across the road in the same direction. Despite a careful search with binoculars, I couldn’t see anything else.
2 September: Bread crusts and apple cores were put out just inside the substation. A fox with a white patch at the body end of its tail came out of our drive at 10.59 pm and disappeared into the substation darkness. It completely ignored the food, not even stopping to smell it. Marie called me at 11.40 pm as the food was being eaten with just a fox head and shoulders visible and, once again, several retreats when cars approached. This was the fox with no tail and when I went out at 11.50 pm all the food had gone, including apple pieces. It was interesting to note the completely different attitude of these two foxes to the same food.
13 September: Marie made the mistake of leaving her old white gardening shoes out overnight. This morning they were scattered over the lawn with one having been vigorously chewed.
This was the last significant observation in September 2021. I have tried to analyse
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our sightings as they occurred, but we are conscious of just how little we still know about urban fox life. Most of the night sightings were brief and in limited amounts of light. Even though hunting was observed on many of our watches we never actually saw a fox catching or carrying prey. It was also difficult to accurately count the different foxes though at least five separate ones were seen. Our fox sightings between 5 May 2020 and 30 September 2021 came to a total of 239, averaging just over one seen for every two nights of watching. The progress of Covid-19 is reflected in our monthly analysis: 46 sightings in May and June 2020 when human movements were reduced during lockdown but just 13 in August and September 2021 when virtually all social restrictions had been lifted.
Richard Stewart ‘
Valezina’ 112, Westerfield Road Ipswich IP4 2 XW
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 57 (2021)