Why Foxes Moved In

Red foxes have probably always lived on the fringes of British settlements, but the urban fox as we know it is largely a twentieth-century animal. As suburbs spread outwards and gardens filled with sheds, decking and warm, undisturbed corners, foxes found a landscape that suited them remarkably well: short grass full of earthworms, scattered food, few serious predators, and plenty of places to hide. Estimates vary, but well over 100,000 foxes are thought to live in English towns and cities, with the highest densities in places like London, Bristol and Birmingham.

What makes them so successful is flexibility. A rural fox may need a square kilometre or more to find enough food; a town fox can manage on a fraction of that, because scavenged food is so concentrated. Several adults often share a single territory, using the same gardens, railway embankments and allotments, and rarely meeting face to face.

A Year in the Life of a Town Fox

Urban foxes keep a fairly predictable calendar. Mating peaks in January and February, which is when the famous vixen scream — a blood-curdling shriek that alarms plenty of newcomers to a neighbourhood — rings out after dark. Cubs are usually born in March, in an earth dug beneath a shed, a stack of decking, or a quiet corner of an overgrown garden.

Four or five cubs is typical. They stay underground for the first few weeks, then emerge in late April and early May, tumbling about at dusk like small, dark puppies. Both parents usually provision them, and in some urban groups a non-breeding vixen helps to feed and guard the litter — a useful arrangement when food is plentiful.

By late summer the cubs are hunting for themselves, and through the autumn they disperse. Young foxes can travel several miles across a city, which explains why a new fox can appear in your garden almost overnight. Most urban foxes live only two or three years, despite a potential lifespan of many more.

What They Eat, and What to Do with the Bin

Foxes are opportunists, not fussy killers. Their diet includes earthworms pulled from lawns after rain, beetles, slugs, mice, rats, birds, berries and windfall fruit. A large part of what town foxes eat is scavenged: discarded takeaways, food put out for pets, and whatever can be prised out of a bin bag. They also cache surplus food, tucking pieces under leaves and returning for them later.

That adaptability is the main reason they thrive — and the main reason managing them is mostly a matter of managing food. If you would rather not attract foxes:

• Store food waste in a bin with a secure, preferably lockable, lid rather than leaving bags out on the pavement.
• Bring in pet bowls and bird feeders overnight; foxes quickly learn a routine.
• Clear up fallen fruit, and avoid leaving out bread or milk, which offers poor nutrition and can cause stomach upsets.
• If you choose to feed foxes, do it at dusk with a small amount of dog food or meat scraps, and take the dish in by morning.

Reading the Signs

Foxes announce themselves more often than they are seen. Scent-marking is constant: droppings are left in prominent places — on top of a wall, a shed roof or a garden path — and have a distinctive, musky smell. You may also find scrapes in borders, holes dug under fences, and paw prints with four toes and visible claw marks in a fairly straight line.

The soundtrack is just as telling. Barks, a three-part "wow-wow-wow" and those January screams are all normal. Cubs make a strange chattering, almost mechanical call, known as gekkering, when they are playing or squabbling. A torch with a red filter lets you watch without disturbing them, since foxes register red light far less than white.

Practical Steps for the Garden

Coexistence is usually straightforward. A few measures will keep the peace without cruelty:

• Fasten bin lids with a strap or bungee, or invest in a bin store.
• Fence vulnerable areas to about two metres, with a smooth overhang, and bury mesh 30cm down to stop digging.
• Cover sandpits when not in use and wash hands afterwards; this reduces the small risk from toxocariasis.
• Check compost heaps, sheds and long grass with care before strimming or mowing in spring and early summer.
• Skip ultrasonic repellents; foxes habituate quickly. Motion-activated lights or a water spray are more effective, and only briefly.

Living Alongside Them

Foxes take rats and mice, clear up scraps and give most of us our only glimpse of a large wild mammal at close quarters. The risk they pose to cats is frequently exaggerated: most cats and foxes simply ignore one another, and a healthy adult cat is not typical prey.

Disease is the main genuine concern. Mange is common and easy to spot — a thin fox with a bald, rat-like tail and crusty skin — and it can be treated, but only through a wildlife rescue or vet, never with off-the-shelf remedies. Cubs found alone in spring are rarely abandoned; leave them, watch from a distance, and only intervene if one is clearly injured or in immediate danger.

Treat them as wild animals that have learned to live with us, and the relationship tends to look after itself. Keep the bin shut, the sandpit covered and a little tolerance in reserve, and the foxes will get on with their secret life quite happily without you.