Category: foxes in my garden

crafts & knitting · foxes in my garden · garden stuff · general stuff · wildlife

Over the last month

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)42 Comments


The pictures above are a little selection of things from the last month here:

I’ve been working on several new patterns: clothing patterns for the small animals, including dresses, sweaters and dungarees; more small versions of my animal patterns; a regular sized badger and there are a few other ideas that I’m also playing around with.

Spring has been arriving in our garden and the countryside around us, with blackthorn blossom, catkins and the blossoming of our plum tree.

Kit, our foxy visitor, has been coming almost every day. Back in January she seemed to be getting into lots of fights and was quite injured one morning – you can see in the pictures above her patches of missing fur and scrapes but she also had a bad limp and a broken canine tooth. She spent a day licking her wounds and curled upon top of the chicken run – the ivy-covered netting forms a comfy hammock and happily the chickens seemed oblivious and carried on life as normal! More recently I noticed that she was pregnant – she was distinctly plump around the middle and I think that she had her pups on the 2nd or 3rd of March as she didn’t visit on those days and when she arrived on March 4th she was back to her skinny self. Since March 12th she’s back to visiting every day for food and her teats are now clearly visible, so her cubs must be thriving. And yes, I am keeping a fox diary 🙂

The last month has seen unprecedented times arrive around the globe and I think we’re all at least a little afraid right now. I’m trying not to shut out that fear and instead embrace it and let it guide me to socially responsible and sensible decisions. We’re keeping Toby off school for now as he’s vulnerable and we’re practicing ‘social distancing’, going for our wood walks but avoiding other people. That’s something we all need to be doing – not just for ourselves and our loved ones but also for the wider community. If you can go out into busy spaces less then do choose to; wash your hands often and keep compassion and kindness to others as your goal – you never know when you yourself might be in need of the kindness and compassion of a stranger.

Please let’s all stay safe out there and keep others safe through our actions xxx

 

crafts & knitting · food and Drink · foxes in my garden · general stuff · wildlife

Home comforts

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)14 Comments

It was the school half term break here last week and we had a fun time keeping Toby active and busy: lots of wood walks, tandem trike rides, swimming and rides on the mini steam train that he loves. Alongside our outdoor adventures there was also a little time for some indoor comforts: a couple of lazy lie-ins with knitting and tea in bed, quiet evenings by the fire and some baking of raspberry and white chocolate muffins – just the thing to come home to when you’ve had an afternoon in the breezy autumn woods 🙂

The shawl above is being knitted from Elizabeth Doherty’s ‘Rose Gold’ pattern in sublimely soft ‘Nomad’ Yak DK yarn from The Wool Barn I’m hoping to finish off the lovely and unusual side-joined border this week and then it will need blocking (my least favourite part of handknitting) but with any luck I’ll have it snuggled around my neck for our next wood walk, as woolly armour against those cool and intrusive autumn breezes.

I’m also busy with pattern writing, but more of that another time – for now I’ll leave you with some of the pictures I’ve taken over the last 2 months of the fox that has been regularly visiting our garden since early spring, we’ve nicknamed her Kit (from kitsune) …

foxes in my garden · garden stuff · general stuff · wildlife

An early morning encounter

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)25 Comments

Some mornings I wake early and can’t get back to sleep. Sometimes I read, sometimes I knit and sometimes I open the blind and watch the sunrise sky. A couple of weeks back I was leaning out of the bedroom window just after the sun had risen and was sleepily daydreaming as I looked around our garden below. A flash of orange caught my eye, peeking out between the tangle of ivy overgrowing the chicken run and I probably frowned in puzzlement, but it soon became clear that the plastic mesh netting that keeps the chickens safely contained in their run makes a rather comfy hammock for a sleepy fox.

She was completely unbothered by me opening the window and taking pictures of her and carried on dozing in the warmth of the early morning sun for 20 minutes before stretching a little, grooming a little and then setting off on an impressive balancing act along the top edge of the run  – which is a good 9ft above the path. She stopped for a quick sniff and a wistful glance at the now empty bird box that the blue-tits used to raise their family in, before a lithe leap back to the ground and a silent, sure-footed and typically foxy vanishing act.

She still arrives most evenings and some mornings for snacks. We’ve only caught a brief glimpse of one cub and that was a few weeks ago, and though the mortality rate of urban foxes is pretty high I’m hoping they’re safe somewhere and she’s just keeping them well hidden. I’m still thrilled to have the great privilege of her visits, she’s still completely wild, intently alert and intelligently wary of us but she does seem to appreciate the snacks!