25th January 2019
Hounds Off ‘Sleeping Fox’ In Stained-Glass
Hounds Off 'Sleeping Fox' stained-glass window by Paul Snell (20.5cmx20.5cm)
A beautiful Hounds Off ‘Sleeping Fox’ stained-glass window can be hand-crafted specially for you by our wonderful, talented supporter Paul Snell. Each one measures 20.5cm square and will arrive securely packaged to your home four to six weeks after placing your order, complete with a small length of chain for hanging purposes (if you don’t live in an actual church).
Hounds Off ‘Sleeping Fox’ stained-glass windows by Paul Snell cost £70 each plus £6.50 postage & packing.
£10 from each sale to helps fund our work offering help, support and advice to farmers, landowners and rural residents affected by hunt trespass.
If you would like to own one of these bespoke creations then we would all be delighted. Our preferred methods of payment are either bank transfer or cheque, to avoid charges.
Send cheques payable to ‘Hounds Off’ for £76.50 to Hounds Off, PO Box 162, Shaftesbury, Dorset SP7 7AZ. Don’t forget to include your address.
Bank transfer £76.50 to us: Sort Code 09-01-27, Account Number 90028160. Ref: ‘Glass Fox’.
But of course we accept PayPal too. If this is how you’d like to do the money thing then please pay £80 (to cover the extra charges) into our account; [email protected] (ref: ‘Glass Fox’ please).
When a friend tagged us in to a Facebook post which Paul had uploaded, showing the first Sleeping Fox stained-glass window in process, we were genuinely moved by the effort and care being taken over representing our much-loved logo in this way. And it feels appropriate to give a respectful nod towards the man who brought our vision to life in the first place, Boo & Stu artist Stu Jones.
#foxylove
Joe Hashman, Founder; Hounds Off
21st December 2018
Illegal Hunting - Eye Witness Accounts
Surrey Hunt Monitors call illegal hunting out.
On Wednesday I observed the Portman Hunt blatantly chasing foxes in Dorset.
At about 11.30am I saw two quad bikes and some riders appear over the brow of a low hill, then the Huntsman with his pack of hounds at heel. He took them to foxy-looking bit of rough ground and let them go off and sniff around. His voice calls encouraged them and he rolled his tongue in a way which has been practiced by generations of foxhunters and is designed to rouse their quarry.
After a while one hound started to bark. “Speaking,” hunters call it. Then another and another and within seconds all the twenty-odd hounds were on, actively hunting and speaking in unison, running in and out of thick hedges and undergrowth, back and fore between a woodyard and scrubland in pursuit of a fox who was, unseen, twisting and turning in front and trying to shake them off.
The Huntsman was cunningly wearing a black coat so as to blend in with other riders. Once things got going he stood back to make it look like he wasn’t in full control and could claim to a policeman or a Judge that any illegal foxhunting was accidental. Additionally, there were people scattered around in all directions on foot and no doubt some of them would claim they were “laying a trail”.
I knew they were illegally hunting but hadn’t seen the fox so didn’t report the crime.
Hounds hunted locally for well over half and hour. There was a quiet interlude before the noise started again. Can’t be certain what happened there but likely the fox had found a refuge and before the hunt could continue he had to be flushed out with smaller, specialist dogs. That’s why blokes follow on quad bikes equipped with terriers and spades. They deny it, of course they do, but actually it’s a fact.
Then I could see and hear, from my vantage, that the hunt had gone away. Before they disappeared from view they turned left-handed and after that I was unable to keep track.
I was with friends standing on guard on a piece of land where hunting is forbidden. At 12.50pm I saw a small dot moving, left to right, across a field in the distance and lifted my binoculars to have a closer look. It was a fox. I watched him for a few seconds until he ran out of view.
Sure enough, less than a minute later the whole pack poured through a hedge into that same field and followed precisely the same line as I had just seen the fox take. They disappeared from view in exactly the same place too. And following the hounds were the riders. Doubtless they were having a fine old time. “Just like the good old days,” you could almost hear them think.
That’s when I called the police on 101 and reported the illegal hunting as a wildlife crime. I explained exactly what I’d seen. I couldn’t stop the hunt and even if I had captured the scene on film (which I didn’t) the evidence wouldn’t have stood up to dishonest cross examination in a court of law. But at least it’s recorded and has become a statistic (Crime Log Number I19-186), which is important.
Modern day policing is statistics-led. This means that resources are allocated where, statistically, there is deemed to be most need.
My Sister-in-Law wrote the following short letter to the local paper after she witnessed and reported illegal foxhunting recently too (Crime Log Number 8-224), which we publish here because they didn’t.
“Standing in a back garden last Saturday (8 December) I was blessed with the scene of a fox running across the field beyond, its body full stretch as it sped over the grass underfoot. My awe was quickly broken as only a few seconds later a pack of hounds emerged hot on the fox’s tail. To my shock I was witnessing the local hunt in full motion.
“Fox hunting has been illegal for many years so to see the hunt chasing a fox was a shock and deeply saddening. There was nothing to suggest the hunt was going to call the hounds off, which is what I’ve since been told is supposed to happen.
“I am not naive in thinking that what I saw was anything other than what was intended … the chase … the kill and whatever it is that the people who take part in this type of sport get from doing this.
“I didn’t choose to see or be part of what happened just a few metres away from me that day, but it left me feeling distressed and angry.
“Why is it okay to flout the law in this cruel way?”
C Fawcett, Shaftesbury
© Joe Hashman
8th December 2018
Hunting Myths Pt 3: Hunting Is Efficient & Humane
Nothing humane or quick about the hunting & killing of this healthy stag by the Quantock Stag Hounds on August 29th 1995. By definition, without the Hunting Act such atrocities would be legal. Stills grab from film taken by Kevin Hill.
OPINION: Zoologist Jordi Casamitjana writes exclusively for Hounds Off
Mr Barrington claims (Horse & Hound, 11.10.18) that hunting causes less animal suffering than other ways to kill such as shooting. This is not true. He claims that shooters often miss and injure the animals they target (which is true and this is why shooting should also be banned) and so hunting is a better alternative. However, he completely omits three key facts:
1) Only in hunting you have the psychological and physical suffering caused by the prolonged chase, which Professor Bateson and Elizabeth L. Bradshaw famously proved with their undisputed research which led to the banning of staghunting in National Trust land many years ago (a ban which, unfortunately, the NT does very little to enforce).
2) The animals may also be injured by the hounds and not be killed straight away if they managed to hide underground on time or to flee into land the hounds cannot enter.
3) Dogs, like most canids (wolves, hyenas, etc.), would not kill their prey by a quick bite in the neck as felids (cats, tigers, etc.) do, but by biting any part of the body they can reach, and keep biting. Therefore, the actual death along (ignoring the suffering already caused by the long chase) is likely to cause lots of pain and suffering.
Need more proof? If a horse is fatally injured in a race, a dangerous animal escapes from a zoo, or diseased livestock needs to be put down, what is the “humane” method the authorities choose to kill the animal? Do they choose death by “dog bites”?
Mr Barrington often claims that hunting is the most efficient way to control foxes, deer and hare. This is a curious way to use the term “efficient”, as it actually means “achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense.” So, comparing it with other wildlife control activities (unfortunately still legal) such as shooting or snaring, how can it be more efficient?
Productivity wise - in this case meaning number of animals killed - a foxhunt will spend most of the day hunting an average of three or four foxes. Often some of these, if not all, get away. And the “wasted effort or expense” of this? Four or five paid hunt staff, dozens of paying filed riders, large vehicles to move the animals around, maintaining large pack of hounds, all the horses and their keep, expensive uniforms, and even all the policing due to allegations of illegal hunting, and public order issues when hunt saboteurs, hunt monitors or other witnesses are around … compared with a vehicle, a torch and a gun, or a stalker, or just a few snares. The most efficient, really? To be clear I think shooting, snaring and hunting should all be banned because they are all cruel and unnecessary. However, if they are ranked by efficiency, how anyone can seriously claim that hunting is the most efficient?
But let’s be generous and accept that there may be people out there who genuinely believe hunts are real “wildlife managers”. Well, it they want to call them like that then hunts are the least effective, least efficient and least humane wildlife managers in existence. So much so, that it almost looks like rather than be composed by ecologists, zoologist, veterinarians or anthropologists with a deep understanding of wildlife and the environment , they are composed by horse riders, bird shooters, dog breeders, livestock farmers, badger baiters and fox diggers. Oh wait … that’s why!
© Jordi Casamitjana
Zoologist
PREVIOUSLY
Hunting Myths Pt 1: The Snakeoil Salesman
Hunting Myths Pt 2: They Only Go For The Sick Old & Weak
7th December 2018
Hunting Myths Pt 2 (of 8): They Only Go For The Sick Old & Weak
The cover of Horse & Hound magazine, 25 October 2018. Their strapline, circled in red, says it all.
OPINION: Zoologist Jordi Casamitjana writes exclusively for Hounds Off
PREVIOUSLY: Hunting Myths Part 1: The Snakeoil Salesman
Mr Barrington often repeats the classic claim that hunts only go for weak, diseased or old animals. This is completely untrue and there is no need to find any scientific research to prove it. We simply have to understand what hunting with hounds is and how it differs from shooting, lamping or snaring, which are other methods people use to kill wildlife.
Foxhunts, hare hunts, stag hunts and mink hunts use packs of hounds which locate a prey (“quarry”) and begin chasing it following its scent trail. Then, people on horse, motor vehicles or on foot follow the hounds through the countryside. This is the “fun” of the activity. The longer the chase, the better the hunting day. Weak or ill quarry animals would not run but hide as they don’t have the energy to flee, so there would not really be a chase if the hunts targeted those … and without a chase, there is no hunting.
The truth is that hounds do not “decide” to go for the weakest animals as they just follow a scent and have no idea of the condition of the animal they are chasing. This is why the Hunting Act 2004 - that was meant to ban hunting in England and Wales - outlawed the chase of the wild mammal with dogs, not actually the killing. Indeed, it makes it an offence to “engage or participate in the pursuit of a wild mammal with dogs”.
Incidentally, the hounds have been selectively bred over generations to run slower than their quarry but with superior stamina. This is one way to deliberately prolong the hunt and provide good “sport”.
And as far as the claim of chasing “old” animals is concerned, it is important to realise that in autumn each foxhunt engages in cub hunting to train their hounds to kill foxes. They go to woods, copses, fields of standing crops and other places where they know there is a fox den, they surround them so they cannot escape, and then they send the pack of hounds in to kill them. These are “cubs”, not old foxes, and every year an estimated 10,000 fox cubs are hunted by the UK hunts, even now.
Despite the claim of doing “trail hunting” (actually just a cover for illegal hunting) the hunts still need to train their hounds to chase and kill foxes, and they can only do that with the secretive and clandestine activity of “cub hunting” (which they have re-named “autumn hunting”).
Part 3 of this series will be published here tomorrow.
© Jordi Casamitjana
Zoologist
5th August 2018
The Fell Packs & #TrailHuntLies in Cumbria
As part of the wider National Dis-Trust campaign which started in Cumbria, we’re adding this to Hounds Off as a reference point for you to learn more about the fell packs, their abuse of wildlife, and why we’re calling for them to be permanently banned from National Trust land. All of the fell packs were either licensed to use Trust land for the 2017/18 season or given free reign to trespass and kill foxes. Here are a few of the ‘highlights’ of their history (click the links to learn more)…
- In November 2017, the Eskdale & Ennerdale Foxhounds were documented trespassing on National Trust land with terriermen, but subsequently received a licence anyway.
- On 06/09/2017, a representative of the fell packs told the BBC that numerous foxes are ‘accidentally’ killed each season.
- At the Peterborough Hunting Festival on 19/07/2017, huntsman for the Blencathra Foxhounds stated that his hounds can sometimes be unsupervised up to five miles away, meaning nobody knows what they are doing or what they might be killing.
- A supporter of the Melbreak Foxhounds attacked a member of Lancashire Hunt Saboteurs on 10/01/2017 who then needed hospital treatment. The hunt supporter was convicted of assault.
- The Melbreak Foxhounds supplied a fake certificate to the Trust dated 23/10/2016 to help gain a licence, and were granted further licences to use Trust land long after the lie was exposed.
- The Melbreak Foxhounds were filmed killing a fox on Trust land by Cumbria Hunt Watch on 05/11/2015.
- On 15/03/2014, the Ullswater Foxhounds were filmed killing a fox before attacking a hunt monitor, resulting in a conviction for assault.
- The Melbreak Foxhounds killed a fox on 09/03/2014 after chasing it across Trust land, resulting in a police investigation resulting in charges and the subsequent intervention of a member of House of Lords trying to defend the huntsman.
- The Blencathra Foxhounds were investigated for illegally hunting & abuse of hunt monitors in 2013.
- On 24/03/2012, walkers witnessed the Coniston Foxhounds killing a fox and police investigated claims that hunt supporters seriously attacked protestors.
- The News & Star reported on 09/01/2012 about hunting forum users allegedly admitting to illegal fox hunting whilst with the Blencathra Foxhounds.
- A supporter of the Coniston Foxhounds attacked a League Against Cruel Sports investigator on 09/03/2010, receiving a police caution.
- The terrierman for the Ullswater Foxhounds was convicted under the Hunting Act 2004 after digging out & beating a fox to death on 26/10/2009, after it had gone to ground. He continued to be employed by the Ullswater Foxhounds, which continued to be licensed by the National Trust.
- The Ullswater Foxhounds huntsman was in court on 17/09/2009 after a fox was killed by his hounds.
- Huntsman for the Coniston Foxhounds was convicted for criminal damage after smashing the windows of a hunt monitor vehicle on 19/02/2008.
- The Blencathra Foxhounds are believed to have killed a fox on National Trust land on 11/02/2006.
WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT THIS?
- Ask the Trust’s General Manager for Central & East Lakes firstly why the Melbreak have only been suspended, not banned, and secondly for him to stop offering licences to all fox hunts in Cumbria. His email is [email protected].
- If you live in Cumbria and want to volunteer for our campaign, please email us at [email protected] for packs of leaflets specific to Cumbria to deliver/hand out.
- Sign the Keeptheban petition to ban all hunting on National Trust land in England & Wales.
- Grass up the Cumbrian hunts if you see them by emailing Cumbria Hunt Watch on [email protected].
- Follow National Dis-Trust on Facebook and Twitter for updates.
© National Dis-Trust
23rd January 2018
Providing Support For Those In Pain & Distress
Hounds from the Warwickshire Hunt running out of control in Oxhill near Banbury. Pic credit: West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs
Last week we met a woman who had a foxhunt invade her property. She was still raw from the experience and visibly upset when telling us about it.
The local hunt was in the area and had let their hounds run loose on the scent of a fox. The fox ran into private woodlands with the hounds in hot pursuit. A herd of deer in the woods distracted the hounds and they split up to chase the deer in all directions, then cats, a dog and a goat. The woman and her friends were minding their own business just getting on with their day. Then this bedlam descended, literally, upon them. There weren’t enough broom handles or people to cope and anyway, the hounds were only interested in hunting.
This was no fleeting stampede. It took over an hour for the Huntsman to gather and remove his dogs. By then the police had turned up and were also helping. Two weeks later and six cats are still missing, presumed dead. The others are nervous, shy, frightened. It will take time and tlc to recover their confidence.
The woman was traumatised. She shook as she talked. Her eyes welled up when she described how the peace and tranquillity of her sanctuary exploded with animals running left, right and centre when about twenty-five foxhounds in full cry descended the valley with no warning. She expressed surprise at how big the dogs were and shock at seeing a fox flash past at great pace, running for its life. We explained that, actually, hunts across the land are breaking the law. All the hunters have to do is claim it was an “accident” and they get away with it. She now knows first hand the reality of #TrailHuntLies.
Hunt trespass can have a profound effect on people. It traps some in their homes, fearful to go out on certain days of the week in autumn and winter because they never know if the hunt is going to come crashing through their place. That is no way to live.
Imagine stepping out of your back door and being almost knocked over by rampaging hounds, then having someone sat high up on a horse shouting down at you and gesturing to open your gate so they can come in and fetch them. This actually happened in Dorset and now we keep in close contact with the woman and local police. She is clear and so are we - there must never be a repeat of this.
A young mother who had foxhounds come into her kitchen told her local newspaper, “I am shaken and beyond furious. I can’t bear to even speak to the hunt master who obviously thinks that my home, a haven for my children, is fair hunting ground for their hounds to come and go freely with complete disregard for the safety of my children.”
We watched with interest the evidence of terriermen following a hunt in Devon digging out a fox which hounds had run to ground on Saturday. To most right-minded people it’s an open and shut case but we’ve noted the terriermen’s excuse that they did not intend to kill the fox and were merely rescuing their dog. Without doubt they’ll lay that on as thick as possible and trust in the police to do less than a proper job. It grieves us to write that Devon & Cornwall Police have form. Despite this we’ve helped a number of disgruntled locals who have reported trespass and intimidation by the self-same hunt this last fortnight. We always advise involving the police at the outset, firstly by reporting anything which makes you feel concerned or unsafe and secondly, by cc-ing them in to all correspondence. We always live in hope to be pleasantly surprised.
We’ve been having a conversation with woodland owners in Somerset since December. They’re fed up to the back teeth of having the local hunt ripping through their land and terrorising its human and non-human inhabitants. We’ve arranged to meet later this week. So it was wonderful to receive an email from our contact this morning with details of three neighbouring farms who want to keep hounds off their vast acreages too.
January is always a busy month. We believe this is because it’s the fox mating season. Dog foxes are on the move in search of love. Their wanderings frequently take them far away from of their familiar, home patches. A hunted fox will instinctively bolt down a hole but hunts block all underground refuges and so the fox is forced, against its natural instincts, to keep running. Hunts deny this, of course, but we know the truth.
The above is just a snapshot of what we have going on right now. If you’re affected by hunt trespass or know someone who is then please, contact us. Hounds Off will support you. You are not alone.
You can support our work by making a donation or buying some Hounds Off merch. Please consider it. We are all volunteers and cannot survive on goodwill and fresh air alone!
© Joe Hashman
6th December 2017
On Campaigning In The Back Of Beyond
Hounds Off 'No Hunting' notices lined the routes to the Holderness Hunt meet at Churchlands Farm, Winestead, East Yorkshire, on Tuesday December 5 2017.
Lynn Massey-Davis contacted Hounds Off when she heard that the Holderness Hunt was meeting in the next village on 5 December 2017. We helped Lynn to spread #foxylove around her neighbourhood before, during (and after) the suspected illegal hunt. She wrote this blog for us to share and, hopefully, inspire;
I live near Hull and there are many things I am grateful for in my life and one of those things is my love of wildlife and respect for living things which brings me more joy than I can express. The two people I hold responsible for inspiring me on this course are my dad, Bill Massey, a lorry driver and Sir David Attenborough, one of the greatest naturalists of all time. It is these two men, plus one other who inspired me to lead a single-handed campaign against the Holderness Hunt who met in Winestead yesterday, close to where I live.
When I found out the hunt were meeting here I went online to find out if there were any local groups who could help me make it unscomfortable for them and deter them from coming to my patch ever again and there were none. It was hardly surprising, Patrington where I live is 16 miles the wrong side of Hull and no one wants to travel that far, ever! That is why our landscape and wildlife heritage is so wonderful. We have foxes, badgers, owls and even albino hares. As birdwatchers know too, we have the best views available of migrating birds every spring and autumn.
The people too are pretty spectacular – characterful, quirky, old fashioned but independent and free spirited, who love the fact that few fashionable people venture this far.
Being almost alone what could I do? It was unsafe to monitor the hunt directly, but I could still fulfil the main aims of my campaign, to make my opposition to hunting and concern for wildlife known. You too can achieve something even if you are just one. So here, are some ideas for a lone campaigner against a hunt:
Use the internet
We hear so much about the evils of social media, but this is a chance to use it for good. I connected with every anti hunt group I could. Now there are some of them who express their feelings there in a way I wouldn’t choose to myself to be sure, but they are a mine of information and support. It was on Facebook that I found Hounds Off and received masses of helpful guidance.
I also sent emails to the RSPCA, our local wildlife trust and our local newspaper.
From the comfort of my study I researched useful information such as details about the farm where the meet took place and found out that it actually belongs to the Church of England. This made me think, can the church as landlords and one of the biggest land owners in the country be persuaded to do what the National Trust failed to do? My thinking on this is still a work in progress so watch this space…
Use the traditional media
I created a police log where I recorded my concerns that in an area full of wildlife the Hunt were almost certain to break the law. I then wrote a letter to our weekly newspaper explaining how people could report the Hunt using this log number. It was printed and loads of people found me and expressed support.
Write letters
As the advice on this page suggests, emails and letters record your intent. I put the hunt on notice and my letter has been passed around as a template to other groups so that they can use the form of words which are factual, cool and yet firm. I must have rattled them since it came back to me that they had distributed my picture to the followers. Naturally I was concerned so I told the police.
Raise Awareness
At the weekend I printed off and laminated about 50 signs to put around the area. I took someone with me as a witness and to make me feel secure. We asked people if we could put them up on their land. We put up dozens and people were so grateful to me and my staple gun. Of all the people we asked we only had 3 refusals and the aggression which two of them showed was all on their side. I was resolutely polite – you do get an amazing view from the moral high ground.
Schools, colleges public bodies, allotment societies and businesses are often supportive and may give you permission to put up signs in their property. But learn from my mistake, put the signs well inside fences or the hunt followers may tear them down.
I don’t know whether my actions and those of my two helpers saved any foxes yesterday but as they say, Rome wasn’t build in a day. I’m in this for the long haul.
I began this blog by saying I have been inspired by my dad, Sir David and one other. The one other is William Wilberforce born in and later MP for Hull. He didn’t give up easily and spent his whole life campaigning against slavery to win victory as an old man. As I am a descendant of Preacher John Newton, one of Wilberforce’s collaborators I can think of no better guide on this journey. One-day justice will prevail.
© Lynn Massey-Davis
Lynn is a teacher and freelance writer who has lived in Holderness for the last 25 years. She has a family and too many animals and her favourite species of animals are wombats.
28th February 2017
Calling Residents Of Penningtons Lane, Macclesfield & Surrounding Area
Huntsman gathers hounds from private gardens on Penningtons Lane, Macclesfield, Cheshire 25.02.17
You may have read seen the news from last Saturday of hunters and a pack of hounds chasing a fox from open countryside into the edge of town, trashing property and gardens, then cornering the exhausted creature and biting it to death in a private back garden with the shocked residents terrified, upset and powerless to do anything? If not, read it here or watch it here.
I’m glad there were no Saboteurs or Monitors out with the Cheshire Forest Hunt on Saturday 25th February because you can be certain that, had there been, they would have been blamed for the pandemonium caused by the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable. As it is, the hunters cannot shift responsibility for hunting a terrified fox which sought sanctuary in the gardens and patios of a residential street on the edge of Macclesfield. Even before that fox was caught and killed the shocking reality of foxhunting was laid bare. Well done to everyone who has spoken up and not swept this outrageous animal abuse under the carpet.
Incidents like this have happened before and experience suggests will happen again. We will have to wait and see if Cheshire Police have the appetite to meaningfully investigate Saturdays events but whatever happens there is positive, practical action which every resident of Penningtons Lane can take to stop hunting in the future and it is this: make your farm, field or garden a hunt-free zone by following the simple Hounds Off formulas here.
DO ‘HOUNDS OFF’ IN CHESHIRE
Hounds Off exists precisely to support and advise anyone who wants to protect their property from hunt trespass. This website is a resource so please use it. Employ the Cost & Hassle Free Option for Warning Off your local hunt, or the Belt & Braces Approach if you want to be doubly sure. If anything at any stage is unclear then contact the Hounds Off team direct and we will help - that’s what we do.
If you live on or around Penningtons Lane, Macclesfield, Cheshire (or know someone who does) please forward this blog to them and encourage them to warn the Cheshire Forest Hunt off their property.
DO ‘HOUNDS OFF’ ANYWHERE
In fact, wherever you are you can do this. There are at least 200 hunts in the UK and we suspect most of them to be engaged in illegal activity. We know that if you want to keep hounds off our wildlife, Hounds Off really works.
© Joe Hashman
6th February 2015
A Foxy Encounter in Wiltshire
Hounds Off received this email shortly before Christmas. The sender was happy for us to share it as long as he retained anonymity. We’re pleased to oblige:
“Just thought you would be pleased to know of a lovely moment following watching our local hunt run amok in fields adjacent to my small plot.
Following an incursion into this area and my adjoining garden on the previous hunt I determined to observe the hunt from the edge of my plot and if required head the hounds off before they could trespass (on a side note, judging by the chaotic manner in which they were careering backwards and forward across the fields I find it hard to believe that at any time they were following a laid trail).
“Anyway to the magic moment: the hunt departed, heading away from my field and judging by the time of day I felt it would be ok to head home. Walking back along the footpath, over the wall ahead of me appeared a fox who gave me a fleeting glance and headed through the hedge and across my garden to the safety of the cover of my field.
“This magic moment made my day.”
It made ours too! If you’ve had a foxy encounter (or hare-y one!) do let us know. We’d love to share your precious wildlife experiences.
Posted by Joe Hashman
