Last night I heard something munching away happily in the garden, so I got up to have a look and there, frozen at the sight and sound of me at the window, was a fox, but I don't know what it was eating. What do they eat generally? Might it have been the remnants of bird food spilled on the ground, or something else, perhaps slugs or worms? I'm not looking for tips to feed it, I'm just curious to know what might have tempted it into my shabby little garden of all places? It came back several times throughout the night, and there are no signs of any kind of "kill" having occurred.
Basically, anything they can find or catch! Fruit, berries, nuts, birds, mammals, insects, eggs, invertebrates and anything humans leave around (intentionally or not!)
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
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I see, so it really could have been anything, given that I probably have all of those somewhere in my garden!! Hehe thanks for your input :)
Your fox could have been bringing something into your garden from elsewhere to eat. I t may have just seen your garden as a safer haven.
I once saw a family of foxes (mum, dad, three cubs) munching on salad potatoes that had passed their use by date and I had thrown on the compost heap. I later saw one of them nipping into the garden and taking bread that my daughter had thrown out for the birds.
I even love magpies
hi Anna
Foxes eat anything they can get their teeth into.
We had a problem with them in Aberdeenshire, and we needed to brick down the lid of our wheelie bin otherwise they would be in helping themselves to whatever in the bin. Yes, they can open bin lids if they want too!
We eat a lot of chicken, and a chicken carcass is an open door for a fox as they have better smell than us all together.
Of course they leave poo presents everywhere they go, so you know they have visited. Yes, have look what they have eaten if you dare - yes that rude word POO
I have seen a domestic dog eat bits of cheese for birds, so a Fox would take advantage I am sure.
Regards
Kathy and Dave
Annabananananana... i have 2 foxes that visit my garden every night without fail - i can watch them trot up the road - they go from side to side stopping at every tree/post that has bird feeders in (there are quite a few as we seem to have a lot of bird lovers in my neck of the woods) so they obviously like to pick all the seeds/nuts/bits of fat that fall down from these each day. I'll some times leave a fat ball on the garden if i've been filling the feeders up which they LOVE, i guess this contains a lot of their natural food - seeds/insects/fat etc. I will also cut up any fruit that has gone past its best, apples etc and throw that out which they will eat - much rather they got a snack out of it then throwing it in the bin. They have had some terrible press recently due to the horrible incident in london with the attack on the babies, people seem to be unable to see this as a true one off freak occurrence... i think they are gorgeous animals...
Thanks everybody for some lovely insights. I know I must have had foxes in the garden before now, as I occasionally find their little "presents" (and so do the dogs, argh!!!), but having never actually seen them, I hadn't given it much thought, until now. It came back again last night (as I expect it has been doing for some time), and it occurred to me that it was also drinking from the large plant pot tray which I use as a bird bath - I noticed water splashes on the edges and the ground when I shone my torch out last night to have a look.
Philip B said: Annabananananana... i have 2 foxes that visit my garden every night without fail - i can watch them trot up the road - they go from side to side stopping at every tree/post that has bird feeders in (there are quite a few as we seem to have a lot of bird lovers in my neck of the woods) so they obviously like to pick all the seeds/nuts/bits of fat that fall down from these each day. I'll some times leave a fat ball on the garden if i've been filling the feeders up which they LOVE, i guess this contains a lot of their natural food - seeds/insects/fat etc. I will also cut up any fruit that has gone past its best, apples etc and throw that out which they will eat - much rather they got a snack out of it then throwing it in the bin. They have had some terrible press recently due to the horrible incident in london with the attack on the babies, people seem to be unable to see this as a true one off freak occurrence... i think they are gorgeous animals...
I feel very lucky to have them come into my garden, because they are undeniably beautiful and there's something very mysterious about them, so I won't stop them from using my garden, but I don't think I'd be very popular if I started actively encouraging them either, as the family next door have two young children and they get uppity even when my dogs are in the garden (even though they've never been given reason to do so), so goodness knows how they'd react to foxes after recent happenings in the news. I also see that as having been a complete freak incident, but with the nature of the media, things have been blown out of all proprtion again. Terrible though it was, this isn't something that, just because it has happened once and we've all heard about, isn't going to start repeating itself up and down the country.