Foxes in the Snow :s

Well, last night was the first night for a few days where there's been no snow so we toddled down to the end of the garden to check on everything.

The garlic looks fine, as does all of the bits and bobs in the greenhouse. Including the blueberry bush that turned up midweek from Marshalls...great timing for that ;)

Unfortunately, foxes have been digging up the bed where the strawberries were planted...we've managed to salvage 10 of the 12 plants...the other 2 might recover, but I'm not counting on it. They're basically just roots, with hardly any plant attached :(

The fox also dug through a 3 inch layer of snow to get to an empty raised bed and dig through it. The little blighter must be hungry to be digging for worms and slugs in this weather.

You could see the prints clear as day where they'd come over the 6 foot high fence, through my garden to the strawbs and beds, then on to the neighbours.

We've made a temporary chicken wire shield for the strawbs to keep them safe for a few days, will sort something a little more permanent at the weekend (weather permitting). It's started blummin snowing again tonight :(

No photos because I forgot to put the camera in my pocket, and the path was too icy to walk up and down more than necessary. I'll nip out in the morning when there's a fresh layer of snow down and see what photos I can take.

Been researching fox deterrants, mostly on the GYO forum, and there doesn't seem to be a lot we can do. Human hair, urine and feeding them so they don't dig seem to be the only options. The Hubs will be saving up his urine and we can put that around the beds as a trial to see if it helps, I'm going to get some more chicken wire and netting so we can protect the plants growing too.

I know it's only nature, but it's frustrating.