Wierd Stuff in Garden

[The Medway Handyman]

Our back garden is on two levels, the lower level being used a lot, the upper level mainly grass is little used. SWMBO went to the upper bit tonight and found this weird stuff;

One ladies leather shoe, one mans trainer, four assorted rigger gloves, two large bones and a large amount of what appears to be horsehair stuffing. None of these are ours.

The gloves appear to have been partly eaten or at least ripped apart, the shoes untouched.

No:1 daughters bedroom overlooks the back garden, she has seen what seems to be a family of four foxes using the upper part of the garden as a playground. I assume they have scavenged the weird items elsewhere and dumped them here?

We guess they are living next door under a neighbours shed, judging by the earth around it. The fence between the properties is open boarded.

Are we right is thinking this is foxes? Do they raid bins etc and dump stuff elsewhere?

Would covering the gaps in the fence with netting stop them getting into our garden or can foxes climb?

[Nick]

Could well be Reynard! I expect covering gaps in fences would have little effect. If foxes want to get in they will go up, down in or around. Do you have brocks in your area? I'm not a tree hugger but would suggest that you leave them be, unless they are causing damage. They are a pest but will cause you no harm, unless you keep fowl etc. It might be interesting to find the source of their scavenges; remove the source and the problem will be removed. N

[Tony Bryer]

Yes, if they sniff food they'll rip open rubbish bags and turn over dustbins.

Don't know how they do it, but they can scale garden fences.

[Rob Hamadi]

I once saw a young fox jump up on top of a 5 foot high garden wall, from a standing start, in a surprisingly cat-like manner.

-- Rob

[Autolycus]

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message news:f4a021$bq$ [e-mail]...

Foxes will dig under fences, and will scale fences, even loose-topped wire mesh, with ease. I've watched a fox go over a 6ft chicken wire plus nylon netting fence to kill chickens. They're probably less likely to bother if there's no ready meal the other side, but that fox-ready bird could be a pigeon that happens to be on your lawn.

The only way I found to keep them out was electrified netting, driven by a fairly powerful electric fencing unit and regularly checked to make sure it's not shorted by vegetation. I've still lost birds to a fox that (I think) jumped clean over it from a drum mower parked close to it - I assume that it escaped by barging through the fence with a chicken it its mouth. They leave a lot of blood and feathers.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "The Medway Handyman" saying something like:

You don't live anywhere near Fred West's old house, do you?

[Owain]

Makes you wonder what's really under some of that decking...

Owain