Furry squatters

I was sitting out in my very urban garden today when I heard a strange noise coming from the garden shed next door. It was a bit like someone with a very bad cough. The house is empty and neglected, so I assumed some kind of tramp or passing drunk was making use of the shed as a stopping-off point. It turns out that I have a rather different sort of vagrant next door. I put my head over the fence and there was a little fox looking up at me! He wasn't in the least scared - in fact he spent some time weighing me up, as though he was wondering whether I was worth sucking up to!

 

Hi ClaraLou. I know urban foxes have a very bad press at the moment - and maybe deservedly so.
In my last garden, which was semi rural I had foxes, and they never seemed to do any damage. I think they just ate all the slugs.
They didn't seem to mind us at all, lay about and sunbathed, and brought the cubs out to play.
Sometimes we found odd things in the garden - childrens toys, odd shoes - that kind of thing.
I think the foxes lifted them from other gardens and left them in ours. They do seem to like to carry things about.
I'm sure they can be a pest in some situations, but they never were to me.
Hope you like your new neighbours.

 

So far we've had no problems, except that they make a bit of a row at night (although rather less than some of the human inhabitants) and the garden sometimes carries an unmistakeable whiff of Eau de Renaud. Sorry to hear about your vege patch, JWK. There was a complaint on another thread recently about an entire crop of leeks being ruined by cats. I have a feeling that foxes are more likely to be the culprits where large areas are affected. They are very cute, though ...