With the nights starting the draw in again and the young birds pottering about carrying out their daily scrap about, the foxes are starting to move in and take what is quite frankly an easy meal. Though my poults have done well so far and seem to be growing at the rate of knots, the ducks have been decimated buy the local Charlies.
I’ve been out with the lamp a few times this year so far, quite recently was a write off night as we pulled a blank and must have seen about half the worlds population of muntjac and fallow instead. But previous to this outing we had a bumper night. Traditional lamping paired with new age night vision and electronic calls allow for a super chance with the elusive fox.
The night started off quiet, the moon was out with all it had to offer which didn’t help our cause in the slightest. As we worked past our local ground, all I could pick up were the small beady eyes of the helpless rabbits sitting in the hedgerows. Until out of nowhere the unmistakable amber glow of fox cubs lit up in the stubble the lamp brushed by. The lamp promptly bought back the dark and the night vision care out to show it’s worth. The new technology allowed for a crystal clear view of them without any of the glare or poor visibility that the lamp would have provided. After removing one of the cubs from the area we proceeded to use the call to try and bring back the second, no luck to be had here so we moved on.
The next field also bought us the sight of another fox. This time it was an adult, out patrolling the cover strip in search of any slacking poults or bunnies. Though this time we drew the short straw as the back drop to the fox wasn’t adequate for the shot. We carried on down the stubble before calling it a night to the sight of our passenger dozing off in the cab of the truck. I’m sure we will be embarking on a few more of these late night expeditions over the course of the next few months before the season kicks in full swing.