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Suffolk Natural History, Vol. 57
Observations of Foxes from 112, Westerfield Road, Ipswich Our house in north Ipswich is currently within 800 metres of open countryside. Nearby habitats include the old cemetery, Christchurch Park and The Spinney, which runs behind back gardens from Westerfield Road right through to Tuddenham Road. This acts as a green corridor as does the nearby railway line from Ipswich to Felixstowe. The wildlife potential is enhanced by all nearby properties being detached and mainly having large and mature gardens. We had for many years been conscious of fox activity nearby and on 28 April 2020 my wife Marie saw one from our front landing at 11.30 pm, on the other side of Westerfield Road. This was during a Covid19 lockdown. Our neighbour across the road, at number 95, had already informed us of foxes visiting their garden and a week after Marie’s sighting my nature diary read as follows: 5 May 2020: In the seventh week of lockdown, we returned with shopping about 1.15 pm and while Marie sorted out the food in our hall I went through to the kitchen to wash my hands and make us a drink. Looking up I saw a fox halfway down the garden, near our plum tree. I quickly called Marie who said ‘Oh my gosh’ three times and then took sequences of photos, including some with her large zoom camera. Our close focus binoculars were also well used during the two hours and twenty minutes we watched it, with male Orange Tip and Holly Blue butterflies passing by, plus our first two damselflies of the year, Large Red, on the edge of our pond. The fox patrolled virtually all of the back garden except for two narrow side passages- probably fear of being cornered. Marie stood on a stool to take photos but, though it looked our way many times, there was no sign of alarm as we kept our movements to a slow minimum, and it was ages before I could make a drink. Our long observation was helped by no perceptible noise from either side or the back of our garden, all having noisy children. The experience was also enriched by the play of sun and shadow as the fox moved around with the light polishing its nose and reflected in the bright eyes. It patrolled the lawn, occasionally digging for something edible and drank with a delicate licking from several water bowls and even from our pond, walking along the edging slabs and investigating the small frog sculpture, making this our closest view. Fortunately, I had filled these water bowls before we went out. Several times it lay flat out like an old rug, seemingly dozing but with ears still twitching, very hairy and dark tipped. It often yawned, exposing sharp white teeth and a bright red tongue, adopting many contorted positions to roll, scratch and groom, presumably to rid itself of fleas or other irritants. The body was from the head the normal ruddy brown but fusing into grey, including the long tail with a white patch where it began, on the right, and a short white tip. It finally went to the back of our garden and jumped over the fence, possibly using a nearby tree stump as a launching pad. However, it then returned and finally left for a second time, with a seemingly easy fence jump. It used several of our garden paths and what appeared to be urinating turned out to be a pile of faeces. At no time did it move quickly and raised its body from the rear haunches with a slow and fluid movement.
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 57 (2021)