The Fox's Breakfast

Ilex aquifolium 'J.C. van Tol'

I'm constantly amazed at what goes on in the garden behind my back, but this week I was mystified as well. I was preparing a space for planting some camassia bulbs when I unearthed a perfectly good hen's egg, undamaged until I broke it with my fork. It was quite fresh   and I know it must have been buried by a fox because foxes do love eggs. 

                                             

I have caught a fox  bringing an egg into the garden holding it delicately between its teeth, and I have seen one eating an egg on the lawn on a sunny day. 

                                                    

I have discovered that foxes will move the covers off my compost heap to get at eggshells so now I have to pin the covers (old carpet) down with bricks or damaged teapots. But burying an egg for a rainy day? I didn't know they could do that. Imagine the dexterity it would require. I left the egg there and the next day there was no sign of it, just a fox turd as a kind of message which I haven't managed to decode yet. 

For foxophiles, The Wild Life of the Fox  by John Lewis-Stempel (Doubleday 2020) is a very entertaining and readable love-hate anthology of poems, facts and essays on foxes with lots of illustrations.   

                                                       

Finally, my non-prickly, self-pollinating holly bush called Ilex aquifolium 'J.C. van Tol' is full of berries just now. The birds appear not to be interested but holly berries are long lasting, so the birds will deliberately leave them till last and  go for them in late winter.