Foxes, Badgers, Rats and Rabbits

[Billhook]

Here in Lincolnshire I have not seen a Fox or Badger around for a year, they are not hunted or shot as far as I know.  I have not seen a rat for ages or a sign of one but we do have bait traps.  Very few rabbits.  Hundreds of grey squirrels though.  Quite a few deer Roe and Muntjack

Plenty of bird life, Mistle Thrush singing today, every Tit and Finch in the county on  the bird feeder.  Many Carrion Crows Rooks and Jackdaws.  No swans on the lake when there used to be a regular pair breeding.  No sign of the Otters either

Just finding it very strange particularly about the Foxes who were not afraid of me and were seen often both in the day and night.

[Squaredy]

21 minutes ago, Billhook said:

Here in Lincolnshire I have not seen a Fox or Badger around for a year, they are not hunted or shot as far as I know.  I have not seen a rat for ages or a sign of one but we do have bait traps.  Very few rabbits.  Hundreds of grey squirrels though.  Quite a few deer Roe and Muntjack

Plenty of bird life, Mistle Thrush singing today, every Tit and Finch in the county on  the bird feeder.  Many Carrion Crows Rooks and Jackdaws.  No swans on the lake when there used to be a regular pair breeding.  No sign of the Otters either

Just finding it very strange particularly about the Foxes who were not afraid of me and were seen often both in the day and night.

Yeah foxes are usually very adaptable and seem to thrive in all types of environment.

[GarethM]

Foxes & badger population have always been food limiting, robin foxer does a lot of fox control just down the road across Peterborough.

 

The more you shoot the more thinly they spread out, plus if the rabbits have had mixy that does cause a population crash.

Edited February 6, 2023 by GarethM

[kerryp]

Thermal imaging are the death of them lads out for numbers once there gone there gone

[Billhook]

Just had a huge Claas forage harvester cutting the dense Miscanthus today.  The driver has cut several farms and I asked him what wildlife he has seen running out of it.  He said plenty of Muntjac, few rabbits, quite a few pheasants but no foxes, not seen one since he started and there we’re always quite a few in the past 

I find this very worrying as we always had a stable population around here

Seen quite a few dead badgers on the roadside still no rats though, mind you I am not missing them!

[AJStrees]

We had a poorly fox on the estate, we asked a local group who take care of foxes if they would help. They came and took her away, she came back a few weeks ago and looked much better. The same charity do work to help about 1000 orphaned fox cubs a year and they are always looking for places to let them out in the summer time. 

 

Looks like foxes need help at the minute. I see one or two in our woods very occasionally. 

[Macpherson]

All I can say on the subject is that up here in the North West I've been noticing a vast reduction in insect / moth populations over the last decade or so kind of culminating last summer with next to no midges.. while most will delight in this it is still potentially very ominous for most other species and indicative of a massive change in what used to be normal.

 

Not that long ago when I was young it was impossible to drive / ride anywhere fast without accumulating thousands of insects on your windscreen / visor... but not anymore, still almost no one notices...

 

..How much longer can natural life on the planet continue whilst we as a species ignore the poisoners ?

 

Not to mention many different species of trees looking very poorly if not dying ? .. other than of course Ash, which may be soon a thing of the past👎

Edited February 18, 2023 by Macpherson
stuff to add

[petercb]

19 minutes ago, Macpherson said:

All I can say on the subject is that up here in the North West I've been noticing a vast reduction in insect / moth populations over the last decade or so kind of culminating last summer with next to no midges.. while most will delight in this it is still potentially very ominous for most other species and indicative of a massive change in what used to be normal.

 

Not that long ago when I was young it was impossible to drive / ride anywhere fast without accumulating thousands of insects on your windscreen / visor... but not anymore, still almost no one notices...

 

..How much longer can natural live continue whilst we as a species ignore the poisoners ?

Very much the same here in East Northants, generally wildlife at very low levels compared to previous years. Foxes, badgers, hares and rabbits fairly scarce except for the fox we feed every night - hoping he'll leave hens in peace! Very little roadkill to be seen these days which is nice in one way but not so for others. Muntjac doig okay. Come to think of it rats haven't been a problem aroung hen houses this winter.

[Macpherson]

1 minute ago, petercb said:

Very much the same here in East Northants, generally wildlife at very low levels compared to previous years. Foxes, badgers, hares and rabbits fairly scarce except for the fox we feed every night - hoping he'll leave hens in peace! Very little roadkill to be seen these days which is nice in one way but not so for others. Muntjac doig okay. Come to think of it rats haven't been a problem aroung hen houses this winter.

 

Don't really have rats, except for 1 particular neighbour [ cokehead ]😁... 

 

But the whole of natures little companions seem to be vanishing at an exponential rate, birds at the table, small and larger mammals { numbers and species ] not to mention next to no fish in the loch, that have been declining fast for a number of years...

 

What's going on ?.. it doesn't bode well for the coming generations who are likely to have not a single clue as to how nature operates or what used to be normal, cheers.

[Mr. Squirrel]

9 hours ago, Macpherson said:

 

…coming generations who are likely to have not a single clue as to how nature operates or what used to be normal, cheers.

Apparently it’s us who don’t have a clue how ‘nature operates’, hence the decline.