Habitat

The red fox can be found all over the uk from the farmland plains to our towns and citys .

Distribution in the uk

Can be found throughout the british isles parts of Scotland in Wales and Northern Ireland except the Isle of Wight.

  Months seen

All year round.

Food eaten

Red foxes feed on mice, voles , rats and moles. In towns and citys they will scavenge household scraps birdfood from gardens and dustbins.

Habits

in the countryside they seem to be more shy and harder to watch but the town (urban) Foxes seem to be a lot more tame and take food from right under our noses . They have been pursecuted for rabies control and seen as a pest by many people in the countryside and in the towns because of they opotunist nature but many of those people forget that its our species that has taken their land so therefore they have as much right to live on our green and pleasant land in the uk.

In the winter the foxes courtship screams and barks create a scary atmosphere the noises  sound like somebody is being murdered the dog fox will  follow the vixen until she is ready to mate and then he will stay with her until the cubs are born an average of 5 to 10 or more fox cubs are born in one single litter   in spring from about febuary to march time and weigh around 100 grams the dog fox will bring back food for the vixen and the cubs therefore he is a very good father if danger come near the den then the parents will usually move the cubs to a backup den usually close by.

The Foxes main diet consists of small mammals , birds and insects , Carrion or even human waste which may lead to the foxes demise especially at places where they are not welcome but where they are fed by humans the foxes seem to thrive and become very tame .  

Foxes calls can also give you information on there habits as the male and female foxes have different calls the vixens tends have a spine tingling scream which sends a shiver up your spine and the dog fox seems to bark much more than the vixen which you can hear in the winter with the triple bark of the dog fox when looking for a mate .

Tracking

At dawn or dusk you may see a fox tracking and catching small mammals by arching their backs and then pouncing on the mouse or vole they can be found in the spring and summer months found living on and hunting close to sandy banks where there is plenty of rabbits so that there cubs have a good food supply close to their den. The red fox also has great senses and always seems to be checking  that there is no danger nearby with its head held high so that its nose is in the wind so that any abnormal scent can be detected which is what gives the fox so many wildlife fans because of its survival instincts and the way it adapts itself to living in our towns and citys.

Courtship

The Courtship of foxes takes place In the darkest months of the year as they compete and follow each  other until mating has occured as the vixen is receptive for only 3 days in December and early January sometimes they can be seen together on sunny January mornings after a nights barking and can be be observed undisturbed due to the amount of energy used in fox courtship.

Check out our Red fox pages Below :

Photographs taken by Sue Robb ,Mike Mottram