Noises in the night

 

Noises in the night

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

I was woken from a deep sleep in the wee, small hours. A fox was screaming her unearthly cry and uttering other inhuman, guttural sounds.

Foxes can call at any time of year, but in the December and January of winter in the UK, it is an indication that mating is being invited or enacted. Although dog foxes can call, it is usually the vixen that creates the eery cacophony, advertising that she is ready to mate, and seeking a partner.

Mating can take twenty minutes, and, like dogs, the foxes remain tied until Mother Nature decrees that they can decouple.

The following explains the copulatory tie better than I can:

A breeding tie occurs when the gland at the end of the male’s penis swells up and is gripped by the contracting muscles of the female’s vagina, preventing the two from being separated. A tie is often seen as a sign of a successful mating and is common among dogs, wolves, and foxes.

It essentially locks the male and female together after ejaculation, maximising the chances of successful fertilisation by keeping the semen inside the female for a longer period of time.

People used to throw buckets of water over copulating dogs in the street, which was a cruel and unnecessary reaction, borne of ignorance, or possibly embarrassment if children were likely to witness the sight. With fewer stray dogs, it is rarely seen now.

In addition to screaming, foxes can bark or mutter or sob, and their song can make the blood run cold.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Winter, fifteen years ago

 

Winter, fifteen years ago

Frodo the Faller

We haven’t had an appreciable snowfall in Berkshire for many years, Occasionally, we have had enough to shut the schools, for health and safety reasons, whereupon families dig out their sledges and skis and head for the nearest hills. It’s bonkers!

 Jenna 

It used to be the case that snow fell and covered everything in a thick blanket of deadening white. Crunching through the snow was almost musical, boots squeaking against the crystals. The air burnt one’s nose and throat with cold, and exposed ears tingled. After the snow, the ground remained hard for months in the winter, resounding like a huge drum to footfalls.

It’s always a pleasure to walk with dogs, and see their enthusiasm as they read the landscape. Snow brings fresh excitement and smells. They plunge and leap and nose the unfamiliar white stuff, sometimes eating a mouthful, or finding small mammals underneath, which skitter away as fast as they can from questing muzzles.

Puppy Gus, Jenna, Frodo the Faller, Janice, Buddy Liver Spots, January 2010

Fifteen years ago in January, we had a substantial snowfall. We had at that time two Dalmatians, Buddy Liver Spots, who was blind by then, following an almost fatal attack of meningitis, and Frodo the Faller, and two black Labradors, Jenna and her half-brother, puppy Gus. We kept Buddy on a long lead, as he would otherwise set off purposefully at speed in the wrong direction. The lead allowed him a measure of independence if he wanted it, but he didn’t stray far.

How many dogs can you see?

There are two - Jenna on the left and puppy Gus almost completely covered!

Buddy Liver Spots and puppy Gus

Frodo the Faller and Buddy Liver Spots

They had such fun in the snow!

This year, we have had one paltry snow shower, with heavy frosts most mornings recently, and some fog. I’m not wishing for terrible weather conditions, but it does seem that there is a developing trend for the seasons to become more or less bland. I could live to regret my words!

Frodo the Faller

Bright winter days

Bright Winter Days

Clicking on the photos enlarges them - usually

I never complain about the cold weather when the sun shines for surely everything and everyone feels better then? Our weather can and does change very quickly some days and behaves in contrary fashion to the meteorological prediction. We can set out in bright sunshine, believing that because rain has not been forecast there will be none. On many occasions we are caught out. 

On this occasion it threatened but did not deliver

It makes little difference to the dogs. They may not care to venture into the garden when rain is falling but the woods and forests are a different matter.

We regularly walk in Simons Wood. 

It is full of ancient trees, some gnarled and twisted, some ramrod striaght.

Silver birch bark

Which way is North?

The dogs often find a ball., thoughtfully left behind by another dog. Here Bertie is holding it and Gus and Roxy want it . . .

Bertie drops it and Roxy gets it!

Bertie says, 'Which way are we going now?' Jenna waits patiently.

One might be forgiven for feeling one is being watched. Can you see the faces in the following photos?

Fungi are abundant and often very colourful. 

Almost the first thing  Roxy does when we reach the woods is to pick up a stick. Sometimes, as below, she finds a ball. A ball outranks a stick every time . . .

In the following photos she is brandishing a fair-sized branch and her hackles are up though no strange dog is near her.

Back to the car and then home and - eventually - supper!

Bertie, Gus and Roxy - little Jenna is hidden!

Bertie,  Roxy, Gus and Jenna - happy dogs.

A Pinch and a Punch for the First of the Month

Now that it is October it can no longer be denied that Autumn is well under way and Winter will soon be upon us. October is often a very pleasant month but today is wet and grey.

Frankie and his mother, Susannah, are on holiday, narrowly avoiding Hurricane Matthew. 

A blurry photo taken with my phone of a fast-moving Frankie 

 'Follow Mummy, Frankie.'

You're never too young to learn the rules of queueing.

Susannah was anticipating a twelve-hour flight from Gatwick with some trepidation but her fears were unfounded and Frankie behaved impeccably. There is still the return journey, of course . . .

The birds have not returned to the garden, sadly. Maybe when it is cold and wet and the cats don’t wish to go out they will come back to feed.

Life continues on a smaller scale.

This little creature is a Hairy Shield bug, (Dolycoris baccarum) so called because it is covered in short hairs. It is about 11mm long and widespread, though becoming rarer in the north of the country.

There have been many Red Admirals (Vanessa atalanta) in the garden. This one, appropriately, is feeding on a buddleja, a plant often referred to as the butterfly bush.

Meanwhile, the cats continue to enjoy and explore the garden. 

Isambard

Jellicoe

Herschel

Lenny

Solomon

They go out first thing in the morning and often stay out until dusk or even, in the case of Susannah’s cats, dark!

There have been no more squirrel casualties though the dragonflies, mainly Southern Hawkers, (Aeshna cyanea) do not learn from experience. 

Southern Hawker female laying eggs

They are large, busy predators, hunting insects and catching them mid-air. They can hover and also fly backwards but they cannot escape the claws of cats!

One benefit of the shortening and cooling days is the excuse to have a fire. Today is cold, tomorrow may be warm – the weather is capricious.

I am linking with Eileen's 'Saturday Critters' and Misty's 'Camera-Critters'