Dear Readers, on the nights when the pond is frozen and every surface is touched with frost, there’s something so evocative about the sound of a fox calling at dead of night. At this time of the year, it’s most likely to be a male fox trying to find their partner. Many people have noted that this call tends to be made mostly in the winter, and particularly on cold nights, though maybe the latter is because the sound carries more clearly when ‘earth is hard as iron’

Have a listen to this recording from Wildlife Online.

And here’s a short video from naturalist and artist Richard E. Fuller. He thinks that the bark is territorial, which is another reasonable interpretation of the call. You can certainly hear the fox bark, and another fox answer. Incidentally Fuller is a remarkable artist, and has created a wildlife garden that has been visited by everything from Tawny Owls and Kestrels to Stoats. His website is well worth a look!

I remember being unable to sleep one night, and looking out of the window onto the garden, which was flooded with moonlight. A fox stepped out of the hedge, paused and looked around as if waiting for someone. As I watched, another fox stepped out and stood next to him. They touched noses and then off they want, dissolving into the undergrowth. What a privilege it is to see these animals!

And I remember once staying with my Aunt Rosemary near Creemore in Ontario, and hearing a wholly unfamiliar sound…they sounded eerie to me, but to my Aunt’s elderly dog they must have been terrifying, because she burst into the bedroom in some distress. Coyotes are bigger than foxes but smaller than wolves, but will definitely take on a cat, or a smallish dog, so she was definitely right to be nervous.

Coyote, Photo by Chris Smith from https://www.flickr.com/photos/cjsmithphotography/5509164921

There is something about being warm and cosy and hearing the sounds of the night that is very comforting at this time of year. And very shortly, as dawn breaks, we’ll be able to hear the sound of the robin singing (at least here in East Finchley). At the moment, male and female robins, who both sing, will be defending individual territories, but in just a few short weeks the barriers between them will break down and they will start to think about making a nest. And so the year turns, regardless of human concerns.