Is It A Set Fox Breeding Season In The UK Or Is It Changing?

 Here are a few things you ought to know. Firstly, most of what you see in books on foxes is 97% "copied and pasted" from previous works -this goes back as far as the 18th century where it was just common practice.

Most of what you read will have come from someone who originally quoted books on hunting  foxes but just left that aspect out and never mentioned that any of the sourced "naturalists" were also involved in hunting. Hunting countries (territories) controlled their foxes so that they were protected at one point and then cubs slaughtered by hounds at special events at others -killing of breeding pairs of foxes was common and even pregnant vixens (oh, how did foxes die out I wonder?).

Then foxes were imported by the thousands each year and bought by hunting estates and this created problems. Russian, French, Belgian, Netherlands and even Scandinavian foxes all had their own little habits and quirks and here they were thrown out into a strange country with conditions/habitats they were unfamiliar with,

All of the 'great sportsman' thought they knew better than the other and some span tales for one-upmanship or to make it seem they knew more. Some were jokingly exposed over this but "I know my foxes" created a lot of false information -each hunt master also bragged about selective breeding of hounds for "the perfect foxer".

Just as there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that there were fox feeders in hunt country so we know from news accounts that there were foxes in towns and cities going back well into the 19th century and very likely (with the Cur or Common fox) centuries before.

What we see now are not the original Old foxes but descendants of foxes imported and which bred and survived in the UK and after one near extinction after another the population struggled to sustain itself (I won't labour the point as I have posted about this before and it is all documented in The Red Paper 2022).

Roll on the the 2000s were we are seeing wetter then drier weather but not the severe weather we used to get. In the 1970s I walked out of the family home in Southmead, Bristol and the snow reached up to my waist. Over the decades the weather system has changed. In the winter of 2023 the hedgehogs were coming out of hibernation and and in some cases those hibernations were more like long naps between lunches!  Recently hedgehogs have been out again due to a milder snap of weather.

Climate changes.

Although we know that fox numbers in the UK are dropping drastically (no, there are not "large numbers still out there") and continued 'fun' shooting is worsening the situation. However, the main threat in urban areas are cars (at the top of the list) and illnesses (mange, babesia, leptospirosis etc) but there is no shortage of natural food -rats are abundant as are mice and insects and even fruit are available. If an urban fox is starving (as we have found) it is not through being unable to find food.

We have milder weather and plenty of habitat and a good supply of food whether natural or from feeders and when a fox is seen to have mange it can be treated and every success is a plus on the score card for wildlife.  Is this causing some foxes to breed out of regular season?

We know that in 2023 we had both late and early cubs -at least one group of cubs in Bristol in February and another later into the summer and I have heard similar from other parts of the UK (see the Wildlife Aid snippet above from last year). A larger fox with a smaller one could be a breeding pair and not mother and cub. If you have any doubts ask your local wildlife rescue (RSPCA is pointless as it's all black and white to them).

If you do get early or late cubs please let us know as it is useful to see whether things are changing widely or just in certain locales out of "chance".