Foxes and Wild Flowers

Since seeing the vixen ambling through the field with her cub following close behind her (7 days ago) I have twice seen a fox cub alone in our garden and wondered if it is the same one. Both times he has looked a bit lost and confused but he is probably old enough to look after himself and he already seems to have learnt that there are often scraps to be found under the hanging bird tray. No sign of the vixen though, so I went for a walk down the valley to where I have seen her sitting outside her den before. She wasn't there, so I started to look for wild flowers on the SSSI land.

This area used to be prolific in wild flowers common to chalk downland so I was pleased to see that, despite the land having been driven over by big tractors during the scrub clearance, there are still a few patches that the tractor missed and some Orchids and other flowers are coming through.

Common Spotted Orchid




Twayblade Orchid




Vetch

Campion

Spring

Spring is such a nice time of year. There is so much new life, so many new plans and anything and everything seems possible with the summer ahead. I love hanging out the washing and hearing the skylarks high above me and the lambs calling on the hill and feeling the warmth of the sun on my back but I have to do this before 9 o'clock as this is when Biggin Hill Airport comes alive and then the lovely country sounds are interrupted by noisy planes taking off.

Unfortunately spring has its sad moments too. A young dog fox that left its family home down the valley to make way for new cubs and that we often see in or near our garden has been injured. He is quite mobile so there is little I can do to help him as I don't think he could be caught. I will just keep an eye out for him and hope he recovers on his own...maybe I'll put a bit of cat food out to make his life a little easier while he is poorly. Then, this morning while I was watching the fox, a fledgling bird flew into our window and died. Very sad as it was probably on its maiden flight. We don't often have birds flying into the windows anymore since I have stuck fluorescent butterflies on them but I guess this little bird hadn't quite learnt to control his direction.

Another nice part of spring is being able to move the seedlings out of the greenhouse and into the veg patch. The veg garden is really my husband's province but after temporarily taking over last year while he was decorating our bedroom I found I quite enjoyed aspects of it. The trouble is, just like my cooking, I have no idea of quantity and plant far too much so like last year the greenhouse is fit to burst and I don't think it will all fit into the veg patch. We have therefore decided that to make more room we will put some of the more robust vegetables amongst the plants in the flower bed and the purple kale will definitely be one that goes there as when it goes to seed it produces an abundance of very attractive flowers.

I have just come back from a walk down to the SSSI area of chalk downland that was cleared using heavy farm machinery at the beginning of the year and it is a complete mess. Needless to say most of the hawthorn is re-growing. I was told that English Nature had paid £25,000 to have this work done!