Bredbo Valley View farm - providing quality education in Permaculture and sustainable living practices.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Less foxes


You know how I said there was rabbits in the veg patch. I thought I'd get up early this mornig and try to catch the rabbits stealing the Cooks seedlings. So I sneaked out of bed - stealthily (I know - how can such a big bloke be so stealthy?) I tip toed down to the garden and peaked over the fence.


At first I thought I was seeing things, a rabbit of the size I've never seen before. I 've seen hares before and it wasn't one of those - then I noticed, remember it was still darkish, that it was very round, and wasn't moving the way a rabbit does. I decided to bathe it in light and switched on my torch - blow me down of it wasn't a small wombat. I've not seen to many in the wild, so I was pretty chuffed. So how do I keep wombats out?


The fox shooters came this morning, I went out with them for a walk, but I had things to do so came back early. On the way back I spotted a fox playing in the grass, it was a large fox with a very cunning look on it's face. I know they have a den in the blckberri bush close to where I was. The fox, once it saw me, took off up the hill and started to yap at me, obviously it was trying to draw me away from the den. It stop several times and stood looking at me yapping, after about ten minutes of sitting on top of the grassy ridge above the den it took off over the back towards the river.


When the shooters got back they told us they had shoot a single fox. I went to take a look, the fox was an old vixen. It had grey hair all over its body and muzzle - I'd guess it was 8 -10 years old. Taking an older animal like this is probably good. These are the animals that start taking easy targets like our chickens because hunting is too hard. And because rabbits are such a problem I'd rather have a couple of young foxes taking rabbits and the odd chicken then no foxes at all.


Thanks for the reply Mad Cow, I agree small is good and small is better. The markets in Canberra probably do have the snob factor - I haven't been to many, usely the Cook goes early. We would love to start our own market onthe farm - we'll see how we go.


I went for a walk this afternoon to look at our NSF site. I hjaven't walked the whole length of it yet. It was a lovely Autumn day, and teh afternoon was warm with a nice sea breeze. I didn't realise what time it was and the light starded to fade quickly. By the time I got back it was nearly 7pm. Whilst I was out there I saw another two foxes - almost put my foot on one - so there are still plenty out there.

1 comment:

Liz said...

Rabbits are a pain in the rear. My cats have cleaned most of them out here on my place. I know you guys really have a serious problem there best solution to keep them out of your garden is an electric fence. I've had to do that around mine to keep the rabbits,possums,turkeys and chickens out otherwise we'll have nothing left! Watched one of the chickens this morning make an attempt to get in. She didn't stay there for long. As for foxes the only good thing for them as a pest is the bullet. Electric fence might stop your wombat as well. Great animals. I'd be interested to know if you do start a market on your farm. Sounds like a good idea to me.