Some of the foxes, both wild and rescued, who have appeared regularly on my blog
Old Dogfox
First Seen: Possibly 2001. Died 26th July 2008
Year of Birth: Unknown
Notes: The Old Dogfox was visiting the back garden long before I started my fox blog. He was an exceptionally human-tolerant fox, often choosing to sleep on the lawn in full view of the house. He expelled several lesser foxes, both males and females. During his long and varied life, he survived mange and fathered several litters. He died from chronic kidney disease.
Survivor Vixen
First Seen: Autumn 2005
Year of Birth: 2005
Notes: This dainty little vixen has had an extraordinary life history. She has experienced every social rank in the group from bullied omega to breeding vixen; she has twice had mange, and once spent a month in a wildlife hospital. She is flighty, slightly hyperactive and occasionally extremely playful. Her only litter so far was born in 2007 and was probably fathered by the Old Dogfox.
Chipped Vixen
First Seen: Spring 2007. Died 22nd April 2009.
Year of Birth: Unknown
Notes: The Chipped Vixen was a regular but fleeting visitor to the garden for many months before settling down into an almost nightly pattern. She was disarmingly tolerant, though I never saw her in actual daylight, and her relationship with the Old Dogfox was unclear. She often seemed to keep the company of intruding males such as One-Eye, and the father of her two litters of cubs is unknown. She died after being struck by a car.
Scraggly Vixen
First Seen: February 2008
Year of Birth: Unknown, probably 2007
Notes: The Scraggly Vixen marched into the garden in audacious fashion in late winter 2008, apparently eschewing the company of a huge male fox out in the meadows, and has remained steadfastly our most eccentric and comical fox. She is small, and while she did not seem to fear the Old Dogfox, she has been chased by the little Survivor Vixen and, more notoriously, by magpies. She spends much of her time scanning the trees in an apparent corvid-phobia! She has also been dubbed the "Storm Crow" as her irregular visits often coincide with very bad weather.
Sandy Dogfox
First Seen: June 2008
Year of Birth: Unknown, probably 2007
Notes: This young male was the Old Dogfox's obvious heir, becoming a regular trespasser in the garden in the weeks before his the Old Dogfox's death. He has since become an almost nightly visitor, and kept the company of the Chipped Vixen.
Ginger Vixen
First Seen: Autumn 2006; died 18th May 2006
Year of Birth: 2005
Notes: A sister of the Survivor Vixen, this quaint and extremely playful little fox was sadly killed by a car on the road to the front of our house. She was well known for being a keen climber, and even slept on top of hedges.
Chatter
Year of Birth: 2008
Notes: Of the ten cubs that I fostered in spring 2008 as a volunteer for the Fox Project, Chatter was the undoubted star. She was a small, lean cub with a climbing knack that would make a cat jealous, and a voice that pierced pen walls and even brick houses. Forever playful and pushy, she was also notorious for stealing spoons! She was released into the wild in late summer that year.
Tina
Year of Birth: 2008
Notes: Tiny Tina was the smallest of the 2008 foster cubs and quite demure, although she was lively enough when my back was turned, as my poor trail camera found out...
Andrea
Year of Birth: unknown, possibly 2007
Notes: Wily street fox Andrea proved to be a one-vixen wrecking ball during her brief but highly memorable stay in the rehab pen during September 2008. She was supposed to be convalescing from mange but, instead of sleeping quietly, she decided to trash as much of the pen as possible! She buried her food dish, tugged the hutch closer to the pen wall, flipped her waterbowl upside down and walked off with my trail camera, on top of smashing a hole in the roof of the sleeping hutch and damaging the pen walls. I would rank her as the most intelligent fox that I have ever met. She was eventually released back into her territory in Battersea.