Help! fox info needed

jamescherowbrier · #1 (**permalink**) 04-03-2010, 08:59 AM

Hello everyone,
i am new to this forum but i have be a wildlife enthusiast my entire life. I am currently making a documentary on foxes for a university project. I have some footage already but i am currently looking for someone who has either an active den in their garden, feeds foxes in their garden or has information on the whereabouts of an active fox den? i would really appreciate any help as i finish filming in the next month or so. I live in stoke but am willing to travel a fair distance if needs be.

posie · #2 (**permalink**) 04-03-2010, 09:26 AM

Hi James, Welcome to WAB. I'm near Southampton, but if you don't get what you want nearer to you, (which I'm sure you will,) as a last resort get in touch with me, Either a visitor message on my profile page, or send me a private message.....Posie...

conisag · #3 (**permalink**) 04-03-2010, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by posie

Hi James, Welcome to WAB. I'm near Southampton, but if you don't get what you want nearer to you, (which I'm sure you will,) as a last resort get in touch with me, Either a visitor message on my profile page, or send me a private message.....Posie...

Posie, i'd pay to come and see the vixen and her pups play

posie · #4 (**permalink**) 04-03-2010, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by conisag

Posie, i'd pay to come and see the vixen and her pups play

Of course it won't be till a bit later on. Where are you conisag, there is nothing on your posts or your profile page to indicate which area you live in.....Posie...

jamescherowbrier · #5 (**permalink**) 05-03-2010, 07:12 PM

hi,
thanks for the offfer, but at this point southampton is a little out of my preferred reach. i actually went filming yesturday just before dusk with a uni versity HD110 camera in my local allotments. a lady i met their offered me the use of her shed to film from and keep warm and just before dark low and behold a fox came wandering through her lttle plot of land. i had put out some cat food for it which it greatly apprecciated and i got about ten minutes of fantastic footage. when i went back tonight with the same game plan he didn't show. do they often take different routes through their territory from day to day?

davecatt · #6 (**permalink**) 05-03-2010, 08:48 PM

He may have been around and saw you arrive. If you go again take somebody with you and get them to put down the food and walk away while you hide in the shed. Worth a try

Dave

posie · #7 (**permalink**) 05-03-2010, 09:20 PM

Hi James, so pleased you got some footage of Mr Fox.. Our foxes take exactly the same basic route, they wear a path in the grass, and their droppings are always in the same place too. I guess they go off their beaten track, and then back on it again. Hope your good luck continues, ...Posie..

eeyore · #8 (**permalink**) 05-03-2010, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamescherowbrier

hi,
thanks for the offfer, but at this point southampton is a little out of my preferred reach. i actually went filming yesturday just before dusk with a uni versity HD110 camera in my local allotments. a lady i met their offered me the use of her shed to film from and keep warm and just before dark low and behold a fox came wandering through her lttle plot of land. i had put out some cat food for it which it greatly apprecciated and i got about ten minutes of fantastic footage. when i went back tonight with the same game plan he didn't show. do they often take different routes through their territory from day to day?

If you havent already read it i'd strongly recomend getting a copy of david macdonalds "running with the fox" for background reading - the technology he uses is a little dated now but for info on fox habits and lifesyle it is hard to beat.

posie · #9 (**permalink**) 06-03-2010, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eeyore

If you havent already read it i'd strongly recomend getting a copy of david macdonalds "running with the fox" for background reading - the technology he uses is a little dated now but for info on fox habits and lifesyle it is hard to beat.

Thanks for that Eeyore, I too could do with a copy of that book, knowing of their 'habits' will be very useful and interesting...I have never thought of getting a book...I suppose that having the foxes I didn't 'need' it, but I know I will find it interesting.......Posie...

jamescherowbrier · #10 (**permalink**) 06-03-2010, 10:21 AM

thanks for the advice,

I did think that he may have been deterred because there were two men coming and going from the allotment next to the one i was in around the time that he arrived the other day. I didn't stay much longer to see if it just waited for them to leave because the filming conditions had deteriated so much (it got dark).
I have been using infra red lights with a camera trap but the area that the light and camera covers is only about ten foot in diameter so it's not ideal.
I left the food for him last night and went back just before sunrise to see if i could catch him on his way back but he had beaten me to the food. it also appeared that he had scent marked in the area because it stank.
my chances of filming really good footage are limited to dusk and dawn and because the other day i filmed him just before darkness (about 6pm) does this mean that he had only just left the den? o